#E3 2020 updates

[demilypyro]

At what point in time did you see a giant hammer and go “yeah, that’s my main.”

Monster Hunter: World is a 2018 action role-playing game developed and published by Capcom. The fifth mainline installment in the Monster Hunter series, it was released worldwide for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2018, with a Windows version following in August 2018. In the game, the player takes the role of a Hunter, tasked to hunt down and either kill or trap monsters that roam in one of several environmental spaces. If successful, the player is rewarded through loot consisting of parts from the monster and other elements that are used to craft weapons and armor, amongst other equipment. The game's core loop has the player crafting appropriate gear to be able to hunt down more difficult monsters, which in turn provide parts that lead to more powerful gear. Players may hunt alone or in a group of up to four players via the game's online multiplayer.

Announced at E3 2017, Monster Hunter: World adopts the series' standard formulas from its older home console roots and recent handheld games to take advantage of the higher processing power provided by modern consoles and computers. Changes made in Monster Hunter: World include creating environmental spaces that are fully connected and removing the "zones" that were necessary for the PlayStation 2 and handheld games, more advanced monster artificial intelligence and physics, a more persistent cooperative multiplayer experience, and a refinement of the game's tutorials and user interface to help with bringing new players into the series. These changes led Capcom to plan for the game's simultaneous release worldwide, since Monster Hunter as a series has generally languished outside of Japan partially due to disparate release schedules. Capcom also opted to support online play between these different geographic regions for similar reasons. The delay for the Windows release was attributed to Capcom seeking to make sure its first foray into the Windows market was optimized for players on computers. By April 2020, updates to the game were synchronized among all platforms.

Monster Hunter: World received critical acclaim upon release, with critics praising how Capcom was able to make the game more accessible to new players and to Western markets, without detracting from the series' core gameplay elements and enjoyable difficulty, and fully taking advantage of the computational capacity of modern consoles to create living ecosystems, with some even calling it the best in the franchise. Monster Hunter: World is the single highest-selling game in Capcom's history, with over 21 million copies shipped by July 2022. A DLC expansion pack, subtitled Iceborne, was released for home consoles in September 2019 and for Windows in January 2020, and reached 10 million sales by December 2022. The next mainline installment, Monster Hunter Rise, was co-developed alongside World and announced for a worldwide release on Nintendo Switch in March 2021, with a Windows version released the following year.

[cardboard-aliens]

KEN RECEIPTS POST

Collection of articles and interviews regarding Ken Levine. I originally had these on a different post, but it was an addition on someone else's post and I felt bad giving them a notification every time I updated it LOL

(Click the source post for updated links, because gamers will not stop interviewing Ken so I always have more to add.)

Interviews and News Articles:

A look inside BioShock Infinite’s troubled development: talks about constant cuts, shifts, and reboots, how due to poor management there was no playable version of BioShock Infinite a year out from launch, how the team had to pull a year of crunch to finish the game with some people pulling 12 hour shifts (and then they try to make the crunch sound cute by saying married couples that worked there could have lunch and dinner together)

The final years of Irrational Games, according to those who were there: Article that mentions how belligerent Ken was in the work place, to the point 2K had to mandate sensitivity training, and that external firms were brought in to address the issue.

GDC '08: Ken Levine on BioShock's 'stupid story': article where Ken talks about BioShock's development and needing to cut down and rewrite the game's story a year out from launch, very much like how Infinite's development went.

Ken Levine: scripting Elizabeth "is the most complicated thing" in Bioshock Infinite: where they admit the e3 demo was mostly scripted and cutscenes and that there was a lot of ambitious stuff they wanted to do dynamically, but as we can see in the final product, got cut due to the reasons above

BioShock Infinite artist almost resigned over game's depiction of religion: an artist having to threaten to quit to get Ken to rewrite offensive parts of the game, along with the fact it doesn't sound like Ken knows how to write characters lol

Ken Levine and the Infinite Idaho: LONG article about a fanboy busting a nut over Ken, but if you scroll down to the section called "Breaking the arm off" or ctrl + F "Nate Wells" there's a section about how a lot of people quit during Infinite's development, including the Art Director for Infinite (and BioShock, along with being Jack's VA) Nate Wells, after Ken cut hundreds of hours of work on Shantytown because it was "ugly"

Ken Levine Defends BioShock Infinite’s Most Controversial Scene: (this website hates my VPN LOL) Interview where Ken defend's Daisy's death, by comparing her, the black slave, to Andrew Ryan, a white capitalist, while plugging his oppression creates oppressors and saying Elizabeth is the only character in the franchise to break the cycle of abuse

Faith In Rapture – Ken Levine Shares Thoughts On Creating Authentic Diversity: first half of an interview where Ken talks about Tenenbaum's autism saying "Because of her autism, it never cracked through" in regards to her empathy towards the little sisters

Conflict In Utopia - How Relationships Are At The Heart Of Ken Levine's New Game: second half of the interview, where he goes back to abuse is an inescapable cycle and that Elizabeth is the only one to over come the cycle of abuse--and she's the heart of the BioShock franchise which is 🤡💀🤡

We are Ken Levine (@iglevine) and Andres Gonzalez from Irrational Games. Ask Us Anything: AMA to promote BaS- I linked to the exact part where Ken tells people not to make Elizabeth porn because she's his daughter- despite the fact he's advertising a DLC where her boobs are even bigger and she moans over music.

TheBioshockHub Interviews Ken Levine! | Ken Talks Bioshock, His Inspirations & More (2020/2021): Interview with Ken where he say's he didn't know Ayn Rand was politically relevant and that he didn't read Atlas Shrugged until after BioShock was out, forgetting Daisy and her VA's name, and continues to reiterate how the BioShock franchise is supposed to be about how abuse is an inescapable cycle--unless you're his favorite character Elizabeth, and admitting he knew this would be his last part of the franchise and that he wanted to neatly tie the story up (🙄we know how neatly that went)

BioShock Remastered - Director's Commentary: another reference of Ken saying the BioShock franchise is Elizabeth's story, and BaS was about making her the heart of BioShock.

The Next Video Game From BioShock’s Creator Is in Development Hell: Talks about Ken's bad management as he sinks his new game exactly like how he did Infinite, but this time he pushed away everyone who kept that game afloat

Why everyone’s laughing at BioShock’s Ken Levine: Article where Ken said he figured out "how to write good characters" but it was just the basic way everyone writes characters.

Bioshock Infinite's Elizabeth shaped by Ken Levine's experiences: BONKERS article where Ken compares Elizabeth, a fictional character, to a REAL WOMAN he dated who was being abused and then said "but my OC is a better than her."

Thegamebriel Interviews Ken Levine the creator of bioshock: Interview with Ken where he notably compares BioShock 2 to someone "dating your ex girlfriend" and says he didn't want to play the game.

BioShock Infinite: 10 Years Later (ft. Ken Levine): An interview Ken did where he says he was "Upset" about BioShock 2 because he didn't see any games happening in the future of Rapture.

Ken Levine on BioShock: The Spoiler Interview: Interivew where Ken mentions a story idea where the main character was a cult deprogrammer, and talked about the kidnapping those guys would do; referencing "deprograming a lesbian" as an example of that work. He back tracks saying that was not something you would do in the game, but it makes my skin break into hives out that he mentioned it at all.

Looking Back On BioShock With Its Creator, Ken Levine: Another source of Ken only reading The Fountainhead and not Atlas Shrugged, and that he only discovered Rand's work mid development of BioShock. He also states that BioShock is not meant to be a criticism of Objectivism.

BioShock Creator Moved Away From the Franchise Because He Felt ‘Trapped’: Interview where Ken says it was his idea for BioShock to become a "Call of Duty blockbuster" and then immediately jumped ship on the franchise to make Judas. Which just looks like a bootleg BioShock game.

SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS:

Tweet where, when gay marriage was legalized in America, Ken said "but what about the Lutece twins?".

Ken retweeted an edit of Elizabeth holding a Ken body pillow.

Years later he retweeted edit of the same image but with Austin Wintory editing his face onto Elizabeth's.

Tweet were Ken defended transphobe and anti vaxxer Gina Carano when she got fired from the Mandalorian.

Tweet where Ken defended Elon Musk.

Tweet where Ken says BioShock: Rapture isn't canon because he hasn't read it.

Facebook post where Ken share a photo of a kid flipping him of so his friends would defend him.

Ken Seeing this Verge article that criticized Elizabeth saying:

and then saying on his facebook:

(which is. entirely missing the point. because he made elizabeth brutalized eye candy. her character is entirely defined by men.)

An old post, that I believe is from the scrubbed Irrational games forum (Furthest back I can trace it is to this post), where he explains Elizabeth's fragility and stealth gameplay was not stereotypical and sexist.

Photo of Ken from a print PC Gamer feature called "The New Game Gods" with a PRETTY questionable quote.

Youtube video of Ken and Troy Baker yelling at Courtnee Draper to get "authentic" acting. She's egging them on but it feels SUPER uncomfortable.

[icology]

Happy Summer Game Fest day! ☀️🎮

In lieu of our beloved E3 (rest in peace. you are SO dearly missed), SGF is now the show to tune into when we want to see the latest announcements from devs all over the world. This year, Epic Games is participating again, and in case you forgot, they’re now the ones to look out for as GenDesign struck a publishing deal with them in 2020!

As usual, there’s no clear indication that we might see an announcement from the team tonight, but I’ll be tuning in either way and I’ll be ready to celebrate with you all in case we get something.

Summer Game Fest is live tonight, at 5pm PT / 11pm CEST and you can watch it via the Youtube link down below!

[thecastingcircle]

Original host Jessica Chobot and inexperienced new host Heather Amaro

S8.E1 ∙ The Madhouse

Wed, Aug 14, 2024

Josh, Phil and Heather investigate what may be the most haunted building in America: the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, where thousands died after disturbing medical procedures. It's said their angry ghosts roam its now-abandoned halls.

S8.E2 ∙ Trapped in the Asylum

Wed, Aug 21, 2024

Josh, Heather and Phil continue their investigation into a haunted lunatic asylum. They encounter extreme paranormal activity, capturing stunning evidence that convinces them this is their most terrifying expedition yet.

S8.E3 ∙ What Lurks in Loch Ness

Wed, Aug 28, 2024

Phil and Heather investigate the world's most iconic cryptid, the elusive Loch Ness Monster. Joined by actor and monster hunter Rhys Darby, they journey deep into the Scottish wilds to explore new evidence beneath Loch Ness' murky waters.

S8.E4 ∙ Haunted Savannah

Wed, Sep 4, 2024

The team heads to America's most haunted city: Savannah, Georgia. They investigate horrifying reports of violent paranormal activity inside one of its oldest buildings, the Sorrel-Weed House, where a family died in shocking circumstances.

S8.E5 ∙ City of Ghosts

Wed, Sep 11, 2024

Heather and Phil continue their investigation of haunted Savannah, Georgia. Their quest takes them deep into the wilderness, where they discover a place of terrible tragedy that many locals believe has led to powerful paranormal activity.

The first five episodes are out for season 8. Still no official pictures have been released and Discovery's website has not been updated.

HA has no other IMDB credits, no experience. So I don't know how she got the hosting job.

[ai-play]

iOSの位置情報のトラッキングには、以下のような制限事項があります。

- iOSでは、バックグラウンドで位置情報の更新を受け取るには、特別な設定が必要です¹。まず、Info.plistファイルにLocation updatesというバックグラウンドモードを追加する必要があります²。次に、LocationManagerオブジェクトのallowsBackgroundLocationUpdatesプロパティをtrueに設定する必要があります³。また、showsBackgroundLocationIndicatorプロパティをtrueに設定すると、バックグラウンドで位置情報を使用していることをユーザーに通知するインジケーターが表示されます。

- iOSでは、バックグラウンドで位置情報の更新を受け取ると、バッテリーの消費が増えます。バッテリーの消費を抑えるためには、LocationManagerオブジェクトのpausesLocationUpdatesAutomaticallyプロパティをtrueに設定すると良いでしょう。このプロパティをtrueにすると、iOSが位置情報の更新を一時的に停止することができます。位置情報の更新を停止する条件は、activityTypeプロパティによって変わります。activityTypeプロパティには、AutomotiveNavigation, Fitness, OtherNavigation, Otherの4つの値があり、それぞれに応じた移動パターンをiOSに伝えることができます。

- iOSでは、位置情報の精度を指定することができます。LocationManagerオブジェクトのdesiredAccuracyプロパティには、BestForNavigation, Best, NearestTenMeters, HundredMeters, Kilometer, ThreeKilometersの6つの値があり、それぞれに応じた精度の位置情報を受け取ることができます。精度が高いほど、バッテリーの消費も高くなります。位置情報の精度は、アプリの目的や必要性に応じて適切に選択する必要があります。

以上、iOSの位置情報のトラッキングの制限事項についての回答でした。ご参考になれば幸いです。😊

ソース: Bing との会話 2024/3/2

(1) Handling location updates in the background - Apple Developer. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/handling_location_updates_in_the_background.

(2) 位置情報を正確にトラッキングする技術 in iOS — (第3回 .... https://medium.com/location-tracking-tech/%E4%BD%8D%E7%BD%AE%E6%83%85%E5%A0%B1%E3%82%92%E6%AD%A3%E7%A2%BA%E3%81%AB%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AD%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E6%8A%80%E8%A1%93-in-ios-%E7%AC%AC%EF%BC%93%E5%9B%9E-%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A7%E3%83%88%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%82%AD%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0-%E7%B2%BE%E5%BA%A6-%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%83%86%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E6%B6%88%E8%B2%BB-a49c3cdb4a5a.

(3) [iOS14]WWDC 2020 Core Location 新要素 Preciseについて. https://qiita.com/satoru_pripara/items/7dbaf59dc840d679751c.

[bryan360]

Just like that, it's knowing to be true.

🐰🖌Maxwell: Man....That stinks real hard....<=( Sorry, gaming fans. Looks like It's digital events or something instead; hoping for Nintendo mostly.

[coykouchou]

Other TV Guide news for today:

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Have Tested Positive for Coronavirus​

Every New Original Movie and TV Show Coming to HBO Max

The Unicorn's Walton Goggins Finds His Light In These Exclusive Pics From Watch Magazine

The 100 Season 7: Premiere Date, Spoilers, Episode Count, Casting, and More

[maigeiko]

Hello! I was wondering if there was any websites in order to ask questions about Maiko and how to become one?A few days ago I had gotten in contact with an okiya in Tokyo and I was wondering if there was anymore just in case I do not get into the okiya?

Hello!

I'll limit myself to Tokyo, but if you want to try other cities as well, feel free to message me again:

Hachioji

Fuminoya ふみ乃家 (fairly new okiya, took in their first Geisha apprentice in late 2021: https://fuminoya-wakaba.com/article.php/recruitment

Kikuyoshi 菊よし (website is out of date, the Hangyoku shown in the roster is retired since 2019 already) http://kikuyoshi.main.jp/otoiawase/

Yukinoe ゆき乃恵 (the biggest okiya in Hachioji, had 2 new Geisha debuted in 2021) http://www.aoiro.gr.jp/yukinoe/bosyu.htm

Note: as far as I saw, they are looking specifically for girls who live in and around Hachioji.

Omori

Yoshinoya 由の家 (the okiya where Kimichô once debuted. I'm not sure how up-to-date the site is, the "news" section was last updated in 2018) http://yoshinoya-geigi.com/recrutment/

Mukojima

Futaba ふ多葉 (a ryôtei which also seems to function as okiya. the website looks rather out of date, but they had a Hangyoku to debut just last year) http://www.ryotei-futaba.com/sub6.html

Fujihana 藤花 (opened in 2020, has had no debuts so far) https://r.goope.jp/fujihana/free/recruit

Sakaeya 榮家 (regularily having debuts, so don't be fooled by the dated website layout) https://www.mukoujima-sakaeya.jp/recruit.html

Kagurazaka

Geisha union (if I remember correctly, they offer recruitment infos through instagram. I didn't see anything related on their website): https://www.instagram.com/kagurazaka_kumiai/

http://www.kagurazaka-kumiai.net/

Shinbashi

Geisha union (it seems they are looking for written applications, but also have a phone number added) https://shinbashi-kumiai.tokyo/%e8%8a%b8%e8%80%85%e3%81%ae%e4%bb%95%e4%ba%8b%e3%81%ab%e8%88%88%e5%91%b3%e3%81%8c%e3%81%82%e3%82%8b%e6%96%b9/

Hope this helps! And good luck with your undertaking.

[felassan]

PINNED POST

 PIN: ‘Current upcoming BioWare franchise & related stuff’ calendar

This post is frequently updated and edited as new information emerges and as time goes by. Post last updated: January 23rd 2025.

Early 2025: Another patch for DA:TV is coming

February 4th: Electronic Arts Q3 2025 Earnings Conference Call. These usually take place at 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

February 15th: 5th Annual Canadian Game Awards. DA:TV is nominated in many of the categories

November 7th: N7 Day 2025

December 4th: Dragon Age Day 2025

(Sometimes release dates for books/comics etc vary from the dates given in the original news announcements and/or between retail outlets, so may be incorrect or subject to change over time. Dark Horse dates tend to be accurate, Amazon listing dates sometimes change.)

Notes: BioWare have said that further patches for DA:TV are upcoming. E3 is officially dead.

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[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

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(Older dates now under cut as this post was getting too long.)

2020

October 3rd - Gamers For Groceries charity Twitch stream. This game dev variety show will include interviews and writer insights, and feature talent from BioWare including PW, John Epler, Sheryl Chee & Presley Hynes. Two DA-heavy panels are “Examining Blackwall, Sera and Iron Bull” and “Redesigning Dragon Age Audio Assets”

October 21st - Mass Effect: The Complete Comics collection releases [date from Dark Horse]

October 23rd - The next Twitch stream in a series from Summerfall, with Liam Esler playing through DAO while David Gaider gives interesting dev commentary. 5pm PST

November 2nd - N7 Week 2020 begins. The BioWare Gear Store N7 Week discount promo begins. The N7 Week 2020 Tee and N7 Car Emblem become available in the store

November 3rd - The N7 Backpack becomes available in the store

November 4th - The Mass Effect Magnet Set becomes available in the store

November 5th - The Paragon Renegade Mashup Hoodie becomes available in the store

November 6th - The UNC N7 Watch becomes available in the store

November 6th - The next Twitch stream in a series from Summerfall, with Liam Esler playing through DAO while David Gaider gives interesting dev commentary. 5pm PST

November 7th - N7 Day 2020. The BioWare Gear store N7 Week discount promo ends. N7 Week 2020 ends

November 7th, 8am PST - Rumored BioWare Blog update with Mass Effect news (remaster?)

November 7th, 11am PST - Special N7 Day panel, ft. Jennifer Hale (Shep), Mark Meer (Shep), Raphael Sbarge (Kaidan), Ali Hillis (Liara), Courtenay Taylor (Jack), Steve Blum (Grunt), Kimberly Brooks (Ash), AWR (Traynor), William Salyers (Mordin), D. C. Douglas (Legion), plus devs PW and Karin Weekes

November 7th, 1pm PST - Episode 1 of the BioWare Base online, featuring developer interviews

November 7th, 2pm PST - Special N7 Day tabletop RPG game “Omniblades in the Dark”, ft. Austin Walker and special cast of players

November 11th - BioWare: Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development book releases [date from Dark Horse]

November 12th - Last day to enter the store’s N7 Week merch giveaway

November 17th - Dragon Age: The Last Court game deactivates in the Keep

November 20th - The next Twitch stream in a series from Summerfall, with Liam Esler playing through DAO while David Gaider gives interesting dev commentary. 5pm PST

December 4th - Unofficial Dragon Age Day 2020. The BioWare Gear Store are doing a flash sale and a giveaway, along with stocking some new DA products

December 4th - BioWare are/were supposed to be doing a Twitch stream as it’s DA Day. It was originally going to be at 9am EST or earlier, but it was postponed. At the time of writing it doesn’t sound like they’ve decided on a new time/date yet. It sounded like tuning into it would be a good idea

December 4th - The next Twitch stream in a series from Summerfall, with Liam Esler playing through DAO while David Gaider gives interesting dev commentary. 5pm PST

December 10th - Tune into The Game Awards for a special look at the next Dragon Age. Show starts at 4pm PST. Pre-show starts at 3.30pm December 18th - The next Twitch stream in a series from Summerfall, with Liam Esler playing through DAO while David Gaider gives interesting dev commentary. 5pm PST. This one is their final end-of-year stream before they take a break for the holidays. Stream cancelled due to tech issues

December 31st - Flash Player browser support ‘dies’ and Dragon Age: Journeys may no longer be playable as before (though as you can see from the link if you download the Newgrounds Player you should be able to keep playing it indefinitely)

2021

January 15th - The BioWare Gear Store’s last Holiday sale ends

January 17th - Episode 2 of Mass Effect: C-SEC, a 4-episode TTRPG show (D&D 5E, ME homebrew) from Roll4It. Mark Meer is part of the cast. 6pm GMT

January 24th - Episode 3 of Mass Effect: C-SEC, a 4-episode TTRPG show (D&D 5E, ME homebrew) from Roll4It. Mark Meer is part of the cast. 6pm GMT

January 31st - Episode 4 of Mass Effect: C-SEC, a 4-episode TTRPG show (D&D 5E, ME homebrew) from Roll4It. Mark Meer is part of the cast. 6pm GMT

January end - The Twitch stream series from Summerfall, where Liam Esler plays through DAO while he and David Gaider give interesting dev commentary, returns after their holiday break. Update: No word recently on this front

February 1st - TheGamer.com’s ‘Mass Effect week’ began and will run til Feb 5th. This week is devoted to articles, news, dev and actor interviews, stories and other behind-the-scenes and never-before-seen info and material, as a celebration of the upcoming remaster

February 1st - Matthew Goldman began ‘12 Days of Dragon Age’ on his Twitter, in celebration of being on DA for 12 years. He’s posting interesting things from the vault for this period. Update: These images were posted for Day 12

February 2nd - EA earnings/investor conference call, as their quarterly report should be out. Sometimes snippets emerge from these. Update: Some snippets emerged

February 5th - TheGamer.com’s ‘Mass Effect week’ ends

February - Matthew Goldman’s ‘12 Days of Dragon Age’ ends

February 2nd - GameInformer’s ‘Mass Effect month’ began. They have exclusive content to reveal including exclusive interviews, and a whole month of additional celebratory content due to the upcoming remaster

February 23rd - The Art of the Mass Effect Trilogy: Expanded Edition book releases

February 28th-ish - GameInformer’s ‘Mass Effect month’ ends

March 4th - Dragon Age: The First Five Graphic Novels TBP collection releases

Mid March-ish - Dark Fortress #1 (see below) preview may be available. These normally come out a couple weeks before release at the earliest. Update: Out now (spoiler warning for link)

March 31st - Issue 1 of Dragon Age: The Dark Fortress releases. This miniseries will have 3 issues and feature Fenris, Autumn the Mabari, Vaea, Ser Aaron, Francesca, Tessa and Marius. This series will continue and conclude the larger overarching story that has been ongoing in recent comics [date from Dark Horse]

April 13th-ish - The MELE official website will update with another post like this one providing information about the game and the changes it contains (a look at the remastering process with a strong focus on the visual changes across the trilogy). This post is said to be the 2nd of two [the timeframe given was “next week”, said on April 6th]

Mid April-ish - Dark Fortress #2 preview available? These normally come out a couple weeks before release at the earliest

April 18th - Episode 2 of Mass Effect: MERCS, a 4-episode TTRPG show (D&D 5E, ME homebrew) from Roll4It. Mark Meer is part of the cast. 6pm BST

April 25th - Episode 3 of Mass Effect: MERCS, a 4-episode TTRPG show (D&D 5E, ME homebrew) from Roll4It. Mark Meer is part of the cast. 6pm BST

April 28th - Issue 2 of Dragon Age: Dark Fortress releases [date from Dark Horse]

May 2nd - Episode 4 of Mass Effect: MERCS, a 4-episode TTRPG show (D&D 5E, ME homebrew) from Roll4It. Mark Meer is part of the cast. 6pm BST

May 5th - Lead DA Producer Scylla Costa is hosting a talk session titled “Challenges of Dragon Age production during the pandemic” (two) as part of Brazil’s Independent Games (BIG) Festival. Limited capacity, requires registering to attend, free to do. Streaming online at 6pm UTC-3

May 12th - MELE pre-load on Origin and the EA app will be available from 6pm EEST

May 14th - Mass Effect: Legendary Edition releases (trailer, trailer 2)

May 15th - JHale is holding a live MET cast and crew reunion in honor of MELE, ft. MET and MELE devs, and VAs. It will be streamed on JHale’s YouTube channel: watch link. Noon - 1.30pm PDT

May 11th - Jason Schreier’s new book Press Reset: Ruin and Recovery in the Video Game Industry releases. BioWare are mentioned in it according the Google Books preview (there were insights into DAI’s development in his prior book)

Mid May-ish - Dark Fortress #3 preview available? These normally come out a couple weeks before release at the earliest. Note: No preview emerged for #2, so it may be the same for #3

May 22nd - Gamers for Groceries 2 [schedule]. Some DA writers and editors are taking part again in this game dev variety Twitch/charity stream. GFG 1 contained lots of DA & ME insights/trivia etc. 1pm MST - ~7pm MST

May 24th - DA Narrative Director John Epler’s chat with the Zero to Play podcast, on how stories are told in games and what it’s like to work on DA, comes out

May 26th - Issue 3 of Dragon Age: Dark Fortress releases [date from Dark Horse]

June - According to a Community Manager on Polish EA Answers HQ, a new patch for MELE is due to be released soon, which will include various updates such as localization fixes. The stated time period was “early June”

July 22nd - EA Play Live. Pre-show starts at 10am PT / 1pm ET, main show follows. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to. A new DA4 teaser dropped at EA Play Live 2020. Update: BioWare have confirmed that they will not be at EA Play. [elsewhere, E3 2021: Game On is scheduled for June 12 - 15th and Summer Game Fest began June 10th. EA is a partner in SGF]

July 31st: Free Mass Effect Bonus Content download on the MELE website expires, unless it’s expired already by then as download capacity was reached

August 4th: EA’s investor/conference call for Q1 ‘22. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

August 16th - 20th: TheGamer’s Dragon Age Week. This week will involve lots of celebratory coverage on the series, featuring original interviews with folks like devs and voice actors, insights and never-before-seen details and content

August 25th - 29th: Gamescom. Opening Night Live is on August 25th, 8 - 10pm CET and “Geoff Keighley is once again putting on a unique show for new announcements and world premieres.” The pre-show begins at 7.30pm CET. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to. A new DA4 trailer dropped at Gamescom 2020

October 20th: Dragon Age: Dark Fortress Hardcover collecting all 3 issues releases [date from Dark Horse] October 23rd: Gamers for Groceries 3, 1pm MDT (schedule). This is a game dev variety Twitch/charity stream. DA devs will be taking part, answering fan questions about companions

November 7th: N7 Day. November 7th - November 13th: Mass Effect N7 Week in the BioWare Gear Store, a sale on ME merch

December 4th: Unofficial Dragon Age Day. Nothing official hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but always a fun unofficial day and celebration! New DA4 content dropped on Unofficial Dragon Age Day 2020

December 4th  - December 10th: Dragon Age Week in the BioWare Gear Store, a sale on DA merch

December 9th: The Game Awards, 4pm - 8pm PST. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to. A new DA4 trailer dropped at TGA 2020. At TGA 2021, the Next Mass Effect has been nominated in the special category of ‘Favorite Moment of TGA 2020′, for its reveal trailer. Update: Do note BioWare have now said in a blog “We’re excited for next year when we can talk more about what we’re working on”, seemingly advising there will not be any DA content at TGA

2022

April 21st - April 24th: The BioWare Gear Store will be in attendance at PAX East 2022 with a merch stall (Booth #22059). There is an accompanying celebratory site-wide 20% off sale during the same period

May 2022: ?¿? Some folks hopefully tinfoil (emphasis on the “hopeful tinfoil” :D) that this tweet containing a DA4 news wish-meme refers to the month of May in the year 2022

May 28th: Gamers For Groceries 4. 3pm EDT. Pre-show starts 1 hour before. This is a game dev variety Twitch show for charity (for a great cause!), with interviews, trivia and more. In previous GFGs there have been insights on previous games, trivia etc. this year once again some BioWare devs including writers are special guests. [full schedule]

June 9th: Summer Game Fest 2022, 6pm GMT. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to. EA are one of the publishers involved

June 13th: Some EA game digital extras/bonus content (such as wallpapers, soundtracks & art books) will no longer be accessible from Origin or through the EA app. See EA’s page here for more info on these changes and what they advise to do, and also here

August 2nd: Electronic Arts Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call. 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

August 23rd - 28th: Gamescom 2022. Opening Night Live is on August 23rd at 8pm CET. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to. A new DA4 trailer dropped at Gamescom 2020. Update: It sounds like EA have confirmed that they won’t be at Gamescom this year August 24th: Dragon Age: Wraiths of Tevinter releases. This hardcover collects Dragon Age: Deception, Dragon Age: Blue Wraith, and Dragon Age: Dark Fortress into a single volume

October [?]: Gamers For Groceries 5? This is a game dev variety Twitch show for charity (for a great cause!), with interviews, trivia and more. In previous GFGs there have been insights on previous games, trivia etc and some BioWare devs have taken part. During GFG4 it was said that there would be a GFG5. Date is a guesstimate based on previous GFG dates

October 11th: Starting from today, EA is retiring BioWare Points and they will no longer be available as a form of currency on the Origin Store

October 20th: EA is shutting down the “MP Screenshots Server” of Dragon Age: Origins (online component)

November 1st: Electronic Arts Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call. 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these November 7th: N7 Day 2022. Some members of the Mass Effect cast are doing an N7 Day reunion Q&A panel along with signings and line readings at 12pm noon PT. Submit questions here and watch live here. The BioWare Gear Store N7 Week sale begins today and runs til November 13th

November 13th: Last day of the BioWare Gear Store N7 Week sale

November 23rd: EA will be retiring Heroes of Dragon Age. As of this date, HoDA will no longer be available to download and EA will no longer be supporting the game (new in-app purchases have already been suspended and new customer support requests are no longer being attended to). Gems will still be able to use in game until January 24th 2023, when the servers will be disabled and the game will no longer be accessible

December 1st: The first episode of Dragon Age: Absolution is premiering on an episode of Netflix Twitch show ‘Geeked: Toon In’. 5pm PST. At the end of the most recent episode the host said “We will be here on December 1st and it's gonna be Dragon Age Day so make sure you tune in to Toon In, we're gonna have a whole bunch of cool surprises”. The showrunner and some voice cast will be appearing

December 4th: Unofficial Dragon Age Day 2022 December 6th: MELE comes to PlayStation Plus

December 8th: The Game Awards 2022, 4:30pm PT. Nothing officially hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to. It’s worth noting that in their most recent blog post BioWare said that they were “closing this year out” with the contents of that blog post, and that when asked if we could expect to see DA:D at TGA Jeff Grubb tweeted “No”

December 9th: Dragon Age: Absolution, a 6 episode Netflix animated series, debuts. All episodes drop on this date. According to Wikipedia, Dragon Age: Absolution is a Netflix original, and according to Netflix Help, "Netflix original TV shows and movies are typically released globally at 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time”

2023

January 24th: Due to EA retiring Heroes of Dragon Age, after this date Gems will no longer be able to be used in-game. After this date the HoDA servers are being disabled and the game will no longer be accessible January 25th: First issue of new upcoming Dragon Age comic Dragon Age: The Missing releases

January 31st : Electronic Arts Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call. 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

February 22nd: Second issue of Dragon Age: The Missing releases

March 29th: Third issue of Dragon Age: The Missing releases

May 9th: Electronic Arts Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call. 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

May 10th: Fourth issue of Dragon Age: The Missing officially releases (the original Dark Horse page publication date changed from April 26th til May 10th, and then the whole comic became available to read early on Apple Books on May 1st, possibly in error)

May 29th: BioWare Mega Collection game bundle sale on Steam ends. Bundle includes every Dragon Age and Mass Effect game and all their DLCs for $20, and the Mass Effect in the bundle is MELE

June 8th: 1pm EST. Pre-sale for the Dragon Age - Selections from the Original Game Soundtrack 4LP Vinyl Box (a Deluxe box set coming from spacelab9) is tentatively scheduled to begin on Spacelab’s website. Equivalent pre-sale the BioWare Gear Store is tentatively scheduled to begin on June 21st (Spacelab advised dates can and do change). Each outlet will offer their own exclusive vinyl color variants

June 8th [?]: Kicking off the summer round of game industry showcases, events and expos (where news sometimes emerges), it’s the Summer Game Fest 2023 live showcase, 3pm EDT. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to. EA are one of the publishers involved in SGF 2023. (Note: Jeff Grubb has tweeted that he doesn’t expect to see DA:D at this summer’s game events). Also at SGF, the Xbox Showcase is on June 11th.

June 21st: Pre-sale for the Dragon Age - Selections from the Original Game Soundtrack 4LP Vinyl Box (a Deluxe box set coming from spacelab9) is scheduled to begin on the BioWare Gear Store. The equivalent pre-sale on Spacelab’s website began on June 8th 1pm EST. Each outlet will offer their own exclusive vinyl color variants

August 1st: Electronic Arts Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call. 2pm PT.  Sometimes snippets emerge from these.

August 22nd [?]: Gamescom Opening Night Live 2023, 8pm - 10pm CET. Streaming live on their channels including Twitch and YouTube. Gamescom 2023 itself is from August 23rd til August 27th. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to

September 5-6th: The Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Boxset, a collection of reprints of World of Thedas volumes one and two, releases. Dark Horse lists Sept 6th as a release date. Other outlets such as Amazon list Sept 5th

October 4th: Dragon Age: The Missing paperback (collects all issues, 1 to 4) releases

October 17th: Dragon Age: The Official Cookbook Tastes of Thedas releases. The publication date on the listing originally was 31st December 2023, then this tweet advised the cookbook is coming in Fall 2023. Amazon (dot com) and other outlets such as Barns & Noble now advise October 17th on the listing

November: This month is the estimated beginning ship date for orders of the Dragon Age: Selections From The Game Soundtrack 4LP Box Set vinyl

November 1st: Electronic Arts Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call. 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

November 7th: N7 Day 2023

November 12th: N7 ‘Day’ Mass Effect cast reunion on Jennifer Hale’s YouTube channel, with various ME voice actors. 1pm PT

November 28th: The latest estimated ship date for orders of the Dragon Age: Selections From The Game Soundtrack 4LP Box Set vinyl from Spacelab

December 4th: Dragon Age Day 2023

December 7th: The Game Awards 2023. 4.30pm PT. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to. Update: going by what was said on DA Day, it does not sound like DA:D/BW will be at TGA.

2024

January 30th 2024: Electronic Arts Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call. 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

May 7th 2024: Electronic Arts Q4 and FY 2024 Earnings Conference Call. 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

The run-up to Summer 2024: According to a BioWare blog post, they will have more to share about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf “as we approach Summer 2024″

May 23rd 2024: Last day that Dragon Age: Inquisition is available for free from the Epic Game Store

Summer 2024: Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is officially slated to have its “full reveal” in “Summer 2024″. According to a BioWare blog post, this is when they will show new trailers, show gameplay, answer questions, and announce the release date.

“All Summer” 2024: “More [DA:TV news/info is] to come”

June 9th 2024: Xbox Showcase livestream event (10am PT) at SGF. Shinobi602 said that there will be a trailer for DA4 coming soon at SGF or the Xbox Showcase. Jeff Grubb said that DA4 will be at the Xbox Showcase. Therefore we can probably assume from these comments that a DA4 trailer will appear at the Xbox Showcase.

“Later this year [2024]”: Jeff Grubb’s latest on the anticipated release window for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is that last he heard, it’s planned to be released later this year. This isn’t a guarantee and it could still slip, but he reported that internally this is when BioWare expect to release the game and that they are feeling pretty confident about this. Given that DA:D is officially slated to have its full reveal in Summer 2024, that would likely  place “later this year” in the second half of 2024, after summer (so Fall/Holiday). further, EA currently plans to release DA:D at some point in FY25, which runs from April 1st 2024 until 31st March 2025 (see “March 2025″ entry below).

June 11th 2024: DA:TV first official gameplay reveal, as announced by BioWare. 8am PT on the official Dragon Age YouTube channel. (but join the chat early as they said they have some surprises ready!)

also June 11th 2024: Summer Game Fest first impressions of DA:TV. This sounds to me like when, for those press & others who attended SGF who played DA:TV to get hands-on-impressions, interviewed devs for coverage etc, an embargo is lifted and they can release their coverage.

June 14th 2024: Discord Developer Q&A on DA:TV, taking place on the official BioWare Discord. 10AM PT. [Discord link]

June 18th 2024 and the following few weeks: Game Informer cover story on DA:TV releases. [info] - Update: The cover story has come out, and the writer advised that they will have more DA:TV features going up at least every other weekday for the next few weeks, if all goes according to plan

June 23rd 2024: Last day of this celebratory 20% off site-wide Dragon Age sale in the BioWare Gear Store (20% off discount codes stack with this)

June 25th 2024: The next Game Informer article on DA:TV will come out

June 27th 2024: Game Informer article drop. 3pm ET

July 1st 2024: Game Informer article dropping. 3pm ET

July 4th 2024: Game Informer article dropping

July 8th 2024: Game Informer article dropping. 3pm ET

July 10th 2024: Game Informer article may drop

July 15th 2024: Game Informer article dropping. 3pm ET

July 17th 2024: Game Informer article may drop

July 19th 2024: Game Informer video dropping

July 22nd 2024: Game Informer’s final piece of DA:TV coverage may come out

July 25th - July 28th 2024: Dragon Age at San Diego Comic-Con - DA can be visited at the Dark Horse Comics Booth (2615) during this time

July 25th 2024: Dragon Age at San Diego Comic-Con - DA:TV acting talent signing ft. the actors of Neve, Harding, Lucanis and Emmrich. 3pm - 3:50 pm PDT

July 25th 2024: Entertainment wiki platform Fandom’s ‘Fandom Party’. 7pm til 11pm PDT at SDCC (Hard Rock Hotel), “presented by DA:TV”. This is a “preview event” to “unveil” DA:TV, and guests “will explore a variety of fan-first experiences including the opportunity to learn more about DA:TV”. There will be a Dragon Age-themed scavenger hunt interactive experience that leads to a custom photo booth, among other things

July 26th 2024: Dragon Age at San Diego Comic-Con - DA:TV acting talent panel ft. the actors of Neve, Harding, Lucanis and Emmrich. 3:15pm - 4:15pm PDT

July 28th 2024: Dragon Age at San Diego Comic-Con - DA:TV dev team signing. 3pm - 3:50 pm PDT

July 30th 2024: Electronic Arts Q1 2025 Earnings Conference Call. These usually take place at 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

August 2024: BioWare announced on July 31st that sometime in August they will release a new roadmap, more looks at DA:TV, and the official release date

August 20th 2024: Gamescom Opening Night Live 2024. Gamescom 2024 itself is from August 21st til August 25th. Nothing hinted, confirmed or guaranteed but may be something worth keeping an eye on/tuning in to - update: this article states that DA:TV & BioWare won’t be at Gamescom

August 15th 2024: DA:TV release date trailer and announcement. The trailer premieres here at 5pm UTC+1

August 15th 2024: DA:TV pre-orders open

Week of August 19th 2024: DA:TV high-level combat and PC (as in computer) spotlight

August 24th 2024: The high-level combat content is dropping on this date

Week of August 26th 2024: DA:TV companions week

August 27th 2024: Full screenshots of each companion are dropping

August 29th 2024: Episode 1 of the new Dragon Age podcast, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance. 6am ET / 3am PT. This episode features Nadia and Elio

August 30th 2024: DA:TV developer Discord Q&A. 11am PT

August 30th 2024: This DA:TV giveaway ends

Week of September 2nd 2024: Michael Gamble mentioned that there will be a deep dive into progression at some point this week. BioWare said that this would be a spotlight on progression systems, and that those include skill trees, items, and companions

September 2nd 2024: After this date the review embargo on reviews of Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game is lifted

September 3rd 2024: DA:TV IGN First month-long exclusive coverage begins

September 3rd 2024: 22 minutes of new DA:TV exclusive guided commentary gameplay with BioWare is releasing from IGN, featuring Corinne Busche and John Epler. 5pm BST

September 4th 2024: Michael Gamble mentioned that he heard there is a deep dive on DA:TV progression systems coming on this date in the morning. It’s said to be about 10 minutes in total and include a blog

September 5th 2024: Episode 2 of the new Dragon Age podcast, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance. 6am ET / 3am PT. This episode features Harding

September 12th 2024: Episode 3 of the new Dragon Age podcast, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance. 6am ET / 3am PT. This episode features Davrin

September 19th 2024: Episode 4 of the new Dragon Age podcast, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance. 6am ET / 3am PT. This episode features Bellara

September 19th 2024: Thoughts on DA:TV from a hands-on DA:TV preview event are coming out from shinobi602 and many others. Note that on this date, the embargo for attendees of the recent preview event is lifted (at 8am PT) meaning that a lot of new info and some spoilers will come out around this time

September 26th 2024: Episode 5 of the new Dragon Age podcast, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance. 6am ET / 3am PT. This episode features Taash

September 26th - 29th 2024: Tokyo Game Show 2024 (TGS). Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a partner title in the lineup

End of September/early October 2024: End of the DAT:V IGN First month-long exclusive coverage

October 3rd 2024: Episode 6 of the new Dragon Age podcast, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance. 6am ET / 3am PT. This episode features Lucanis

September 2024 and beyond: BioWare said that much more is to come for Dragon Age: The Veilguard in September and beyond

Early October 2024: modiphius.us orders of Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game only will start shipping

October 10th 2024: Episode 7 of the new Dragon Age podcast, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance. 6am ET / 3am PT. This episode features Emmrich

October 14th 2024: Pre-load for DA:TV is available on Xbox Series X|S. 9am PDT

October 17th 2024: Episode 8 of the new Dragon Age podcast, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance. 6am ET / 3am PT. This episode features Neve

October 18th 2024: From today fans can pre-order the Official Soundtrack album of Dragon Age: The Veilguard on iTunes and Amazon Music

End of the week beginning October 14th 2024: modiphius.us orders of Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game which also included the Mass Effect miniatures should have started shipping by this time

Later in October 2024: Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game and the Mass Effect miniatures should be available from your FLGS in US and Canada later in October

October 22nd 2024: Currently listed release date for Mass Effect: The Official Cocktail Book according to publisher Insight Editions’ product page for it

October 23rd - 27th 2024: Paris Games Week. DA:TV will be there and attendees will be able to play the game at the booth

October 27th 2024: MCM Comic Con London DA:TV panel titled “Beyond The Veilguard: BioWare on the return to Dragon Age” ft. dev Scylla Costa. 12:10pm - 12:55pm. The panel will give a behind the scenes look at the return to Thedas and a glimpse of what to expect in DA:TV

Week beginning October 28th 2024: modiphius.net orders of the Mass Effect miniatures only are expected to ship the last week of October

October 28th 2024: The review embargo on Dragon Age: The Veilguard will lift and reviews will come out. Lifts at 8am PT

October 29th 2024: Pre-load for DA:TV is available on Playstation 5. 9am PDT

October 29th 2024: Electronic Arts Q2 2025 Earnings Conference Call. These usually take place at 2pm PT. Sometimes snippets emerge from these

October 31st 2024: Officially-announced worldwide release date for Dragon Age: The Veilguard! The worldwide release time is 4pm GMT. There is no pre-load for PC; the game can only be downloaded on PC from this time

November 1st 2024: Formal release of the Dragon Age: The Veilguard Official Soundtrack album, via Lakeshore Records

November 1st 2024: New DA:TV merch items collection from Dual Wield Studio launches. 11 AM PT

First week of November 2024: modiphius.net orders of Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game are expected to start shipping in the first week of November

November 5th 2024: At 5pm PST pre-orders close for this new Dragon Age: The Veilguard map of Thedas item. The item is expected to arrive by Winter 2025

November 6th 2024: The Dragon Age: The Veilguard art book The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard releases. I have put this here as Dark Horse lists this as the release date for both the standard and Deluxe editions. This article says it releases on November 5th bookstores and November 6th in comic shops

November 7th 2024: N7 Day 2024

Late November 2024: Mass Effect: Priority Hagalaz - The Board Game and the Mass Effect miniatures should be available from your FLGS for UK and EU in late November

December 3rd 2024: ebook version of the DA:TV art book The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard releases

December 4th 2024: Dragon Age Day 2024

December 4th 2024: 2 hour BioWare developer AMA on the Dragon Age subreddit. 12pm PST / 8pm GMT

December 12th 2024: The Game Awards 2024. Streaming live at 4.30pm PST. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a nominee in the Innovation in Accessibility category. You can vote [here] and watch free on YouTube and Twitch. Voting closes some time before the show. Update: It was also nominated for Players’ Voice

2025

[ironicscavenger]

YEAR IN REVIEW | 2021

2021 was a mixed bag. I wasn’t very prolific, nor did I get many notes. But I did reach 700 followers, and completed a short story from start to finish. That is quite an achievement. So, here is a summary of what I was up to this year.

The Highlight

The one thing I was very steady at, was “Bridges Burn”. Some months, it was the only thing I posted. I am very proud of this story. I put a lot of effort in it, especially the ending. Also, coordinating with Caroline was hella fun. Definitely the best part of my year.

My favorite post per Month

Like always, I chose based on what I liked, not which got the most notes. Most of them are from “Bridges Burn”. Also, SNTM has its own category, so they will (mostly) not be included on this list.

January | This was a slightly eventful month, but this was my favorite edit of the year. More interesting things that happened: I started Bridges Burn, I discovered Sim Ripper, and there were so many reblogs. I’m hoping to reblog more this next year and give more attention to the community.

February | Not much happened. Only Bridges Burn. This one’s my favorite of the lot.

March | Same as February. So many Gianlerette reblogs.

April | [TW: depression] I was in a sad mood that month, and did some weird edit, but I worked hard on it and I loved it anyway. Honorable mention is this edit of Piper.

May | Same as february/march. Honorary mention is this edit I made for mermay.

June | This was my most busy month. I made so many edits for pride month. I also updated the character page, which is always fun. Honorable mention: create a minor sim challenge.

July | Octavia walking out of her children’s life was the highlight of the story. Truly iconic.

August | I kicked off the epilogue. Only 10 posts total that month, 5 of which were original posts. Yikes.

October | January made her first official appearance on the story.

September | I did it. I finished “Bridges Burn”. I am beaming with pride. Honorable mention: I changed my icon.

November | The Emersons made a brief comeback. Honorable mention is their kitchen renovation. Turns out I love decorating things. Who knew?

December | Only things I did was work on SNTM a bit. So those edits (1 2) go here cause it would be empty otherwise.

SNTM

I put together some statistics about the series this year. We finished Episode 3 and are about halfway through Episode 4. I had quite an uninterrupted streak which lasted about 7 weeks (I think). Hopefully we can get back to schedule soon. Otherwise, these are the highlights. PS: The minutes don’t count the full E3 video, just the little parts.

Thank you!

Finally, I like to thank you all for sticking it with me this year, even though it was a mess. And to all the new followers, thank you for taking the chance, and I hope you’re not regretting your decision.

Goodbye 2021!

Past Reviews: 2020 | 2019 | 2017

Holiday Special: Previous | Next

[steelpath]

A brief summary of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s segment during Indie Gamer’s interview with Leth

A few weeks ago we got some interesting information on Team Cherry’s whereabouts in an interview with Leth, who is responsible for their marketing. He has recently also announced a partnership with the new indie-game, Crowsworn, which was also a subject of the interview.

You can follow Leth on Twitter and Twitch!

You can watch the entire interview which includes information on the indie-game Crowsworn on YouTube.

Here we’ll summarise a few of the topics that have been discussed!

Absence

Leth apologised for the absense of Team Cherry, most prominently their lack of blog-posts on their official website. He doesn’t want to pressure them into updating, but he also wants people to know that it’s Ari and William directly whenever Team Cherry updates. More blog posts are planned so the drought will end, likely when Silksong’s development is nearly concluded.

Marketing & Development

The interview focused heavily on Leth’s job in marketing, so Leth went into depth about managing the marketing for Silksong and Crosworn.

One of the things he made very clear is that he was trying his best to calm down the hype for Silksong, as too much hype can cause a game to disappoint regardless of quality, bringing up No Man’s Sky as an example.

Silksong’s development had different obstacles to Hollow Knight, mostly because the massive scale that it has in comparison to its predecessor. The game is significantly larger than Hollow Knight and, by extension, will take longer to make.

Another big issue is one that might’ve been mentioned before. Leth has talked about it before, but Team Cherry has a tendency to forget when to stop introducing new ideas into the game. He found a solution in which Ari and Will write down a wishlist for content that they can include now and things that they should save if they ever decide that another sequel will be made.

In regards of returning characters Leth could not make a statement.

Luckily Ari and William are not entirely on their own, as they hired employees for animations and for porting the game to other consoles, which suggests that Silksong will make it to PlayStation and Xbox at some point.

A playable public demo before launch has unfortunately been debunked, but interestingly, Leth mentioned that he has not played Silksong before aside from the e3 demo. This is because he only plays games when they are essentially complete, hinting at that Silksong is still not entirely finished.

Nintendo Switch Launch

Leth stated that he and Team Cherry were appreciative of Nintendo as their partner and that they have been a great partner to work with. Leth isn’t aware of the actual dynamic between Ari and William and Nintendo. His job is more about connecting them and less about being involved. He also established that Silksong won’t be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch, only that Nintendo is their current priority.

Release Price-tag

With Hollow Knight there was a debate on whether to make it $15 or $20. Leth stated that the pricing of Silksong, despite its scale, will be similar to this price.

Merchandise

Leth affirmed that Team Cherry would continue their collaboration of official merchandise with Fangamer and has already been in contact. A Collector’s Edition like the Hollow Knight one produced earlier is definitely planned, but will likely release at a later point to account for any additional content that may follow.

EDGE Magazine

Team Cherry wanted to make their interview with Edge Magazine sooner, however they simply weren’t ready. Since PlayStation was marketing the original Hollow Knight at the time however they found the timing perfect for the interview to be made.

Tidbits

The game is finished when it’s finished.

Team Cherry is very hard at work with Hollow Knight Silksong. Leth asked fans to be patient and trust them and assured that the game will be released as soon as it’s ready.

Leth confirmed that the release date of June 12, 2020 was a placeholder which was made public by accident by Steam when an update changed the way that Libraries worked. The date was picked by adding two years to the Nintendo Switch port of Hollow Knight. Team Cherry did originally target a 2020 release-date, but the scale of the game prevented this.

Leth once riled up the chat during an Indie Direct with “ascend with Gorb”, for which he now feels guilty as fans were left disappointed.

Apparently TC had to buy the domain name silksong.com from someone who wanted a lot of money for it. Silksong.com now redirects to the normal site. 

Team Cherry took some time off at the tail-end of February. Indie Gamer talked about theories for a new release date, one being June 14th. Leth didn’t comment.

Hornet has a run-toggle which alters some of her moves.

[locke-writes]

Noah’s Watchlist

Here’s the list of what I’m watching. Some items on this list will be added to The Fandoms List in the future but please let me know if there’s something on here that you’d request for as some shows/movies I might not be considering adding.

Feel free to provide any recommendations!

Updated: Jan 13, 2025

Currently Watching:

Criminal Minds (S7:E1) - Rewatch

Boy Meets World (S1:E6) - Rewatch

Animaniacs (S1:E2) - Rewatch

Naruto (S1:E3)

Doug (S1:E4) - Rewatch

Normal People (S1:E5)

Sense8 (S1:E1) - Rewatch

X Files (S3:E9)

A Series of Unfortunate Events (S3E3)

Misfits (S2:E5)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (S3:E20)

All That (S2:E3) - Rewatch

The Powerpuff Girls (S1:E5) - Rewatch

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (S1:E5) - Rewatch

Recently Watched (Films)

The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021)

The Rescuers (1977) - Rewatch

Mars Needs Moms (2011)

Shrek (2001) - Rewatch

Shrek 2 (2004) - Rewatch

Audible (2021)

Beauty and the Beast (1991) - Rewatch

New In Town (2009)

That Thing You Do! (1996)

Sliding Doors (1998) - Rewatch

Primal Fear (1996) - Rewatch

Palm Springs (2020)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Robin Hood (1979) - Rewatch

Girlfriend’s Day (2017)

The Great Mouse Detective (1986) - Rewatch

Aladdin (1992) - Rewatch

Chicken Run (2000) - Rewatch

Pocahontas (1995) - Rewatch

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) - Rewatch

Inheritance (2020)

A Man Called Otto (2022)

Sleeping Beauty (1956) - Rewatch

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) - Rewatch

How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days (2003) - Rewatch

Vincent (1982) - Rewatch

Begin Again (2013) - Rewatch

Paddington (2014)

The Sword in the Stone (1963) - Rewatch

La La Land (2016)

WarGames (1983)

Six Days Seven Nights (1998)

Big Top Pee-Wee (1988) - Rewatch

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) - Rewatch

Anastasia (1997) - Rewatch

Hugo (2011) - Rewatch

Ant-Man (2015) - Rewatch

Music From Another Room (1998)

Cyrus (2010)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Pete’s Dragon (1977) - Rewatch

The Little Mermaid (1989)

Big Night (1996)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010) - Rewatch

The Lovely Bones (2009)

District 9 (2009) - Rewatch

Pinocchio (1940) - Rewatch

The African Lion (1955)

Una (2016)

Punch (2022) - Rewatch

Hercules (1997) - Rewatch

eXistenZ (1999) - Rewatch

Upcoming:

Lucifer

The Witcher

Atypical

Sex Education

Spider Man: Into the Spider-verse - Rewatch

Halt & Catch Fire - Rewatch

The Old Guard

Nurse Jackie

Dead to Me

The Punisher

Merlin - Rewatch

Daredevil

I Am Not Okay With This

Happy

The Magicians

Never Have I Ever

Twin Peaks

The Guild

Jane the Virgin

The Politician

The Night Shift - Rewatch

Jessica Jones

Booksmart - Rewatch

I, Frankenstein - Rewatch

The Great

M*A*S*H - Rewatch

Fresh Off the Boat

Little Fires Everywhere

Single Parents

Sabrina the Teenage Witch - Rewatch

Superstore

Blue Bloods

Black-ish

Law & Order SVU - Rewatch

Atlanta

Adventure Time

Looking For Alaska

Preacher

Killing Eve

Fargo (FX) - Rewatch

The Orville

The Three Musketeers (1993) - Rewatch

Newsies (1992) - Rewatch

The Mandalorian

Big Mouth

Mr Robot

Bridgerton

Gothika (Rewatch)

A Monster Calls

After Life

Blood of Zeus

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

A Million Little Things

The Rookie

Black Adder

The Mighty Boosh

ER

10 Things I Hate About You (Rewatch)

The Mighty Ducks

Gargoyles

That’s So Raven (Rewatch)

Even Stevens (Rewatch)

Wandavision

Falcon & The Winter Soldier

Loki

9-1-1

9-1-1: Lone Star

Young Frankenstein (Rewatch) - Suggestion

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother - Suggestion

NBC Hannibal - Rewatch

Suicide Squad - Rewatch

The Suicide Squad

Trollhunters

Django Unchained

Hunter x Hunter

Pinky and the Brain - Rewatch

Chowder - Rewatch

Take Shelter

The House That Jack Built

Willy’s Wonderland

The United States of Tara

Party Down

Firefly

Midnight Mass - Rewatch

The Faculty (Rewatch) - Suggestion

Hawkeye

Legion (FX)

Encanto - Suggestion

Yellowstone - Suggestion

Maya and the Three - Suggestion

This Is Us

The Sandman

Being Human (US) - Rewatch

[clownkiwi]

Can you give me a tldr, I’m not reading all that.

LMAO IDK HOW I CAN GIVE YOU A TLDR OF THAT!!!! i tried to make all my predictions as concise as possible?????

um. ok, here i go. so, remember the announcement cycle of sword/shield in 2019??? ya know, the february announcement, the june direct, the e3 news, the august direct, the new news in the september nintendo direct, the dex leak from the demo and the dlc in 2020??? that, but with gen 9, featuring very similar reactions

i also predicted gen 9's story as having similar rivals from sword/shield, there will be no "villainous team" as they'll be replaced by the twist villains, a corporation with an evil ceo. you kill the ceo, you defeat the elite 4 and champion and the games over

either gen 9 will feature post-game content ala the free content updates from legends arceus, or they'll pull a sword/shield and release post-game content through paid dlc

also people will call gen 9, overall, a huge improvement over sword/shield with inspirations from legends: arceus (in terms of gameplay), there will be some critics going on about the less powerful graphics and dexit will be another point of criticism again, altho ppl should be over it, im pretty sure???

i also joke about the development cycle of recent pokemon games throughout that whole post

um. is this a concise tldr???? i genuinely dont know LOL

[quaculaarchive]

the

Sims is a series of life simulation video games developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts. The franchise has sold nearly 200 million copies worldwide, and it is one of the best-selling video game series of all time.[1]The games in the Sims series are largely sandbox games, in that they lack any defined goals (except for some later expansion packs and console versions which introduced this gameplay style). The player creates virtual people called "Sims," places them in houses, and helps direct their moods and satisfy their desires. Players can either place their Sims in pre-constructed homes or build them themselves. Each successive expansion pack and game in the series augmented what the player could do with their Sims.The Sims series is part of the larger Sim series, started by SimCity in 1989. Game designer Will Wright was inspired to create a "virtual doll house" after losing his home during the Oakland firestorm of 1991 and subsequently rebuilding his life.[2][3] Replacing his home and his other possessions made him think about adapting that life experience into a game. When Wright initially took his ideas to the Maxis board of directors, they were skeptical and gave little support or financing for the game. The directors at Electronic Arts, which bought Maxis in 1997, were more receptive—SimCity had been a great success for them, and they foresaw the possibility of building a strong Sim franchise.[2]Wright has stated that The Sims was actually meant as a satire of U.S. consumer culture.[4] Wright took ideas from the 1977 architecture and urban design book A Pattern Language, American psychologist Abraham Maslow's 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation and his hierarchy of needs, and Charles Hampden-Turner's Maps of the Mind to develop a model for the game's artificial intelligence.[2] The Sims was the first game in the series. Developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, it was released for Microsoft Windows on February 4, 2000.[5] The game used dimetric projection and featured open-ended simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual persons ("Sims") in a suburban area near SimCity. Seven expansion packs and two deluxe editions with exclusive content were released. It was repackaged in several different formats, and different versions of it were released on several different platforms. By March 22, 2002, The Sims had sold more than 6.3 million copies worldwide, surpassing Myst[6] as the best-selling PC game in history at the time. The original game, all seven expansion packs, and the two deluxe edition content packs constitute the first generation of the PC. Maxis developed all PC releases. By February 2005, the game had shipped 16 million copies worldwide.[7]

Livin' Large

House Party

Hot Date

Vacation

Unleashed

Superstar

Makin' Magic

The Sims 2 (2004)[edit]

Main article: The Sims 2

Electronic Arts released The Sims 2 on September 14, 2004. The sequel, developed by Maxis, takes place in a full 3D environment as opposed to the dimetric projection of the original game. Sims age through seven life stages, from infancy to old age and subsequent death. Another major feature is the aspiration system. Each Sim exhibits wants and fears according to its aspiration and personality. Consequently, the level of the aspiration meter determines the effectiveness of a Sim at completing tasks. The fulfillment of wants provides aspiration points, which can be used to purchase aspiration rewards. The game also features clear days of the week, with weekends when children can stay home from school and vacation days when adults can take time off work.

The Sims 2 is set some 25 years after the original game. For instance, the Goth family has aged significantly with Bella Goth mysteriously vanishing ("dying") at some point in the 25 years. Because the entire game has progressed from 2D sprites to 3D models, all content in The Sims 2 had to be created from the ground up. Due to this, The Sims 2 was not made backward-compatible with any content from the first generation of the main series. However, some objects and features from the original series were remade for the sequel.

Electronic Arts released eight expansion packs and nine stuff packs for The Sims 2. Over 400 items were also released for the game via The Sims 2 Store. Also, items, including pre-order items, were released over the life cycle of this generation.

The Sims 2 had received eight expansion packs:

University

Nightlife

Open for Business

Pets

Seasons

Bon Voyage

FreeTime

Apartment Life

The Sims 3 (2009)[edit]

Main article: The Sims 3

Electronic Arts released The Sims 3 on June 2, 2009.[8] The sequel was announced by EA in November 2006. The game is set 25 years before the original game and features an open, seamless neighborhood, improved Sim creation tools, enhanced build and buy mode functions, and the introduction of wishes and goals. The game introduced a new form of directed gameplay through small, step-wise goals presented as opportunities for the player to pursue or refuse. The Sims 3 sold 1.4 million copies in the first week, making it the largest release in PC gaming history at the time.[9]

The Sims 3 is set 25 years before the Sims 1. For example, the Goth family is much younger, and Bella Goth, an adult in the first game, is a child and is named Bella Bachelor.

Eleven expansion packs and nine stuff packs were released for the third generation of the series. Also, many items are available online for additional fees at The Sims 3 Store.

The Sims 3 had received eleven expansion packs:

World Adventures

Ambitions

Late Night

Generations

Pets

Showtime

Supernatural

Seasons

University Life

Island Paradise

Into the Future

The Sims 4 (2014)[edit]

Main article: The Sims 4

Electronic Arts announced The Sims 4 on May 6, 2013.[10] The announcement stated that the game was in development by Maxis. The Sims 4 takes place in an alternative setting/timeline from the game's previous installment. Later in 2014, further details on features and gameplay were announced. The release date of September 2, 2014, was announced at E3 2014.

As of November 2020, ten expansion packs, nine game packs and seventeen stuff packs have been released, and updates have added content that was previously absent due to time constraints, such as basements, ghosts, pools, modular stairs, toddlers, new careers, terrain tools and additional skintones.

The Sims 4 has received ten expansion packs so far:

Get to Work

Get Together

City Living

Cats & Dogs

Seasons

Get Famous

Island Living

Discover University

Eco Lifestyle

Snowy Escape

Spin-offs[edit]

The Sims Online[edit]

Main article: The Sims Online

In December 2002, Electronic Arts released the Maxis-developed The Sims Online, later named EA Land. It recreates The Sims as a massively multiplayer online game, where human players can interact with each other. The spin-off did not achieve the same level of success as the original. Reviews for The Sims Online were lackluster; many likening its experience to an enormous chat room. On August 1, 2008, EA Land was shut down.

The Sims Stories[edit]

Main articles: The Sims Life Stories, The Sims Pet Stories, and The Sims Castaway Stories

The Sims Stories is a series of video games from The Sims series released in 2007–2008 based on a modified version of The Sims 2 engine. The modified game engine is optimized for play on systems with weaker specifications, such as laptops. As such, its system requirements are lower than that of The Sims 2, but it can still be played on desktops.[11] The series is introduced mainly for three segments of the market: those who wish to play The Sims 2 on their laptops (which usually have lower specifications); those who wish to engage in other activities such as instant messaging while playing the game, and; those who are new to the franchise. In addition to a Free Play mode with classic, open-ended gameplay, the games contain a structured, linear Story mode where players are required to complete a series of goals to progress in the storyline. While Life Stories and Pet Stories each contain two separate stories, Castaway Stories contains one story that is double the length of any one story in the first two games. As an introductory series, major features are removed or modified from those in The Sims 2. For example, fears are completely removed in all three games, and the elder life stage is completely removed in Pet Stories. Officially, the save files from this series are not compatible with the main The Sims 2 games. However, players have experienced success in adapting some files.

Three games have been released to date.[12]

The Sims Carnival[edit]

Main article: The Sims Carnival

The Sims Carnival was a casual game brand of The Sims. It had two separate product lines. First, it was an online community of crowd-sourced web games. Second, it was a line of packaged game titles sold via retail stores and digital download.

The Sims Medieval[edit]

Main article: The Sims Medieval

The Sims Medieval is an action role-playing spin-off game released in 2011. It is set in medieval times, and although it is based on The Sims 3 engine, it plays very differently. The Sims Medieval has one expansion pack, Pirates and Nobles.

The Sims Social[edit]

Main article: The Sims Social

Launched in August 2011, The Sims Social was a Flash-based game developed by Playfish for Facebook. EA announced the game was upgraded from Beta to Live status in a press release issued on August 23, 2011.[13] Due to players' negative responses, the game has been shut down and was removed from Facebook on June 14, 2013.

Console and handheld versions[edit]

The Sims era[edit]

Main articles: The Sims (video game), The Sims Bustin' Out, and The Urbz: Sims in the City

The Sims is the first console release that shares the same name as the base game in the first generation of the main series.

The Sims Bustin' Out is the second title in The Sims console series. Bustin' Out was released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and N-Gage in the fourth quarter of 2003. Sims can get out of the house to visit other locations such as Shiny Things Lab or Casa Caliente. There are two modes. Bust Out Mode, which has mission-based gameplay, and Freeplay Mode is open-ended gameplay very much like the original The Sims PC game. The second Sims game was not on the PC; it was a follow up to The Sims, which was very similar to Bustin' Out, except the aims were shifted to getting job promotions and constantly fulfilling goals to get ahead in the game. The PlayStation 2 version also features the option to play online, though EA no longer supports it.

The Urbz: Sims in the City is a game focused on Sims living in an urban setting, presumably within Sim City. The player must earn a reputation and complete tasks for characters. It was released for Xbox, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, and Game Boy Advance. It features Black Eyed Peas as NPCs.

The Sims 2[edit]

Main articles: The Sims 2, The Sims 2: Pets, The Sims 2: Castaway, and The Sims 2: Apartment Pets

The Sims 2, The Sims 2: Pets, and The Sims 2: Castaway have been released for various platforms including the Wii, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, and Nintendo DS systems. The Sims 2: Apartment Pets, considered a sequel to The Sims 2: Pets by Electronic Arts, was only released for the Nintendo DS.

In addition, EA has released several The Sims titles for the iPod Nano (3rd and 4th generation), the iPod Classic, and the iPod (5th generation). Some of these titles include: The Sims Bowling,[14] The Sims DJ,[15] and The Sims Pool.[16]

MySims[edit]

Main articles: MySims, MySims Kingdom, MySims Party, MySims Racing, MySims Agents, and MySims SkyHeroes

MySims is series of console games created by EA for the Wii and Nintendo DS (with SkyHeroes being the exception). They feature Chibi-like characters (a tiny bit smaller and similar to the Wii's Mii avatars). The first game in the series was released in September 2007. It is also known for being the first Sim game released in Japan. MySims SkyHeroes, the newest addition to the MySims line of games, was released in September 2010.

The Sims 3[edit]

Main articles: The Sims 3, The Sims 3: World Adventures, The Sims 3: Ambitions, and The Sims 3: Pets

The Sims 3, The Sims 3: World Adventures, and The Sims 3: Ambitions were released for the iPhone/iPod Touch. In addition, The Sims 3 was also released for Android mobile systems and the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS in October 2010, and the Wii in November 2010, and the Nintendo 3DS on March 25, 2011 in Europe. The 3DS version of the game was launched with the console. The Sims 3: Pets was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS.

The Sims 4[edit]

Main article: The Sims 4

Versions of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles were released on November 17, 2017.

The Sims FreePlay[edit]

Main article: The Sims FreePlay

The Sims FreePlay is the first free-to-play version of The Sims for iOS and Android, was released worldwide on December 15, 2011 for iOS devices, and on February 15, 2012 for Android. The game made it to Kindle Fire on October 2012, to BlackBerry 10 on July 31, 2013 and Windows Phone 8 on September 2013. Unlike other Sims games, The Sims FreePlay runs in real-time and takes real-time to complete actions. Players can progress through 55 levels and unlock new content, create up to 34 Sims, build town map buildings, complete goals to earn Lifestyle Points, Simoleons, Social Points, and XP (Experience Points). All of these (except for Social Points) can be obtained by baking, planting, going to school (Only for preteen and teens), or working. To get Social Points, you will need to go to neighboring houses or add your Facebook friends.

The game is updated with new content and has events and competitions, announced on the official Facebook page. Several updates for the game have been released.

The Sims Mobile[edit]

Main article: The Sims Mobile

The Sims Mobile is the second free-to-play version of The Sims for Android and iOS, The Sims Mobile was announced on May 9, 2017, in a launch trailer with a soft launch for Brazil, and was released worldwide on March 6, 2018. It features multiplayer and story-mode elements in an attempt to offer a playing experience akin to the main Sims installments.

[retronator]

The last 10 years of pixel art

Retronator the blog is exactly 10 years old right now (+ an hour or so more since I can’t seem to stop editing this post)!

I want to take this opportunity to look back at the teenage years of the 21st century and reflect on how the pixel art scene has grown over the years. I only promise a personal perspective, pieced together from my faulty memory and a bit more reliable archive of 1,700 posts on this blog.

2010

Social media sites emerged already in the late 2000s (Facebook launched in 2004, Twitter in 2006, Tumblr in 2007), but it took quite some time before they caught on, especially outside the US. I joined Tumblr in July 2010 and there were relatively few pixel artists active on the site. @jinndevil​ and @unomoralez​ go the farthest of those that I followed. The first post I reblogged was a Back to the Future piece from @megapont​ (via some blogpost share, since Megapont duo didn't join till 2013).

What was huge on the network however was sharing retro-gaming artworks by blogs like @it8bit​ and @gameandgraphics​. This included many pixel art pieces and it helped grow a community of fans that adored both old games and pixels.

2011

I'd put 2011 down as the start of the hi-bit era of pixel art games, championed by the release of the iconic adventure game Sword & Sworcery. Pixel purism of the initial pixel art movement was left behind by mixing pixels with high-res special effects like soft shadows and vignetting. Also, spaghetti legs started their fad period.

Artists such as @probertson​, @drewpixel​, and @merrigo​ started their days on Tumblr, gathering huge audiences over the years. Meanwhile, Retronator grew to a whooping 100 followers by the end of the year.

2012

Tumblr's fan spirits were going stronger and stronger, to which I threw my own logs on the fire by releasing Tribute, my biggest and most popular piece of fan art I created so far.

The highly anticipated FEZ got released (to critical acclaim and other more controversial consequences), further bringing pixel art in front of the mainstream gaming audience.

From newly-followed artists, @johanvinet​ was damn inspiring with his smooth animations. Anything GIF did immensely good on the Tumblr dashboard.

2013

This was THE year for Tumblr. So many new artists joined, it was hard to keep track. Anyone from established names like Mojang's art director @jnkboy​ and @konjakonjak​ of Noitu Love 2 fame (later Iconoclasts) to pixel art beginners such as @waneella​, now one of the most well-known illustrators in the scene.

The push for modern art direction with pixel art games wasn't stopping either. Not that amazing, more traditionally styled titles (with fresh color palettes) weren't present, as Chasm's debut on Kickstarter showed, but it was Hyper Light Drifter that really stole everyone's heart (machine) on the same crowdfunding platform. Gradients and smooth dynamic shading became unapologetically part of the pixel art (gaming) vocabulary from then on.

When Papers, Please got released at the end of the year to universal appraisal, a new example was set for showing that pixel visuals don't necessarily need to be the most polished, technically-impressive pieces of artistic expression, they can also be simple—the majority of detail-filling can be offloaded to the player's imagination.

2014

Pixel purist ideology was a highly debated topic. Dan Fessler, the background artist on Chasm, did a strong push against the tighter set of constraints which said you should only use 'clean' tools such as the pencil and color fill to complete your artworks. Dan instead only cared about clean results, pioneering in the process the technique of HD Index Painting that used the depths of Photoshop layer magic to get otherwise identical results. And there were plenty of others right around the corner that wouldn't even care about keeping the results married to traditional pixel art ideals.

Still, the majority of pixel art at this point was very orthodox. I started the Artist Feature series that showcased my favorite artists and none of them did anything controversial (nor they needed to). The biggest break from the old days was mainly highly increased color counts that allowed for subtle transitions without dithering, and free color picking without creating predefined color palettes. Octavi Navarro started his highly iconic @pixelshuh​ scenes, and the completely unknown @8pxl​ started her journey towards experimentation with pink sky gradients.

Even more importantly, Pixel Dailies were born on Twitter, following Ben Porter's 365 days of doing pixel art daily.

2015

I called 2015 The Year of Pixel Dailies in the end-of-the-year article in my newly started Retronator Magazine. The Twitter community really exploded this year, bringing in many new artists to the medium, with Pixel Dailies serving as a platform to raise visibility to everyone, old and new. I found out about @weilarddrake​ and @orange-magik​ this way, Slynyrd, @iceztiqarts​, @igorsandman​ … Other freshly-discovered people on tumblr were @kirokazepixel​ (one of the most prolific artists on the scene), @faxdoc​ (his learning journey was inspiring enough for its own article), and Talecrafter with @deathtrashgame​ (starting a whole new style of aliased, low-res painting without caring about individual pixels).

The discussion whether pixel art could survive past its nostalgic roots was still in the air, stirred by opinions such as A Pixel Artist Renounces Pixel Art. History is proving them wrong however, with pixel art stronger than ever in 2020. It's not a visual language people born after the 80s couldn't understand.

New-school voxel art pieces started trending with the advent of Magicavoxel, pioneering the development of pixel art's sibling in 3D. The first pixel art convention Pixel Art Park was held in Tokyo. And (important for me personally), I came up with Pixel Art Academy, an adventure game that would take my ambitions in pixel art education into the future.

2016

After 9 years in development, Owlboy released! Also Hyper Light Drifter! And Stardew Valley! And Kingdom! Pixel art games were not dying, they were on the rise.

Edge (the popular British video game magazine) published a special 200+ page issue called Art of the Pixel. It featured contemporary artists outside the gaming context, championing the aesthetic's transition from its video game roots into its own art form.

Pedro Medeiros of @studiominiboss​ started his famous series of GIF tutorials, subsequently encouraging many others to share their knowledge in the popular square format. Tumblr still saw new artists joining the platform, such as @motocross-arts​ and @apolism​ (two thirds of the Japanese trio The Ultimate Pixel Crew), while others like @6vcr​ started their first pixel explorations that year. @brunopixels​, an old-schooler on the platform like me, sparked the Octobit movement, a pixel art alternative to Inktober.

2017

Further new names on Tumblr included @guttykreum​ (outdoorsy perspective pieces) and @scrixels​ (one of the most consistent daily posters with over 1,000 artworks by now).

The annual Shibuya Pixel Art Contest joined Pixel Art Park at promoting the art form in Tokyo, Japan (and worldwide really). Lospec became the new go-to resource site for pixel art, picking up the mantle from PixelJoint and Pixelation that—while still active—stagnated technologically and feature-wise.

More than anything, pixel art games were everywhere. Maybe it only seemed to me this way since I was able to go to the Game Developer's Conference as press and had the chance to interview many many people in the scene, leading to over half a year of daily content on this blog. Indie games felt stronger than ever with so many of us full-on realizing our dreams of creating our own games professionally. The one that left the biggest splash on the scenes was no doubt The Last Night, announced front and center in-between AAA titles during Microsoft's E3 conference. The brothers Soret pushed the art direction even beyond the hi-bit era moniker, fusing 3D, shaders, and modern cinematography with pixels in an iconic combination that, like Sword & Sworcery's spaghetti legs, was so atmospheric that it couldn't be resisted by future imitators.

2018

Another game that pushed technological boundaries was Pathway, finally stepping into full light in 2018 and releasing one year later. I still think it has the most advanced pixel art graphics engine to date, using voxels and other tricks under the hood to deliver a completely dynamically lit environment while retaining the pixel-perfect 3/4 view aesthetic. Pixel art games were firmly part of mainstream gaming by now, with Celeste winning many awards alongisde pixelish Return of the Obra Dinn, further cementing the presence of pixels as an ever-evolving medium capable of expressing very different art styles.

I decided to focus solely on developing Pixel Art Academy in 2018, putting this blog on relative hiatus with very sporadic updates towards the end of the year. But I never let it die. I thoroughly enjoy writing about the scene and my interest in the art form only grows with time.

2019–2020

Ironically, the closer the years are to the present, the less I remember what things stood out most. Maybe it's because my brain hasn't had the chance to automatically prune my memories yet from the overload of information that is the interwebs these days. Pixel art seems so out there, so much of my everyday life, encompassing me on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, DeviantArt … Even on TikTok you see kids zooming out of their freshly pixelized Minecraft photographs they call pixel art. The medium is alive, and more than ever.

As for the Retronator blog, from its zero followers exactly 10 years ago, it grew to 100 after a year and a half, 1000 the year after, 10k when it was 5 years old, and 30k just last month. Tumblr is still the platform where most of you follow my pixel art reports and I don't intend to stop anytime soon.

Here's to the next decade! Thank you all for reading. <3

[roodllle]

Year in Review - Animal Crossing New Horizons

I started writing this review/criticism in May of 2020 but decided to update it as the year went along and post it on the anniversary of NH’s release. I would like to preface that this is mostly going to be full of questions of criticisms, I love this game. I have not been able to put it down since I got it on March 20th. My first AC game was NL and then I played HHD. I was ecstatic when they announced NH at E3 2019 and kept trying to find other games to fit in my AC shaped hole in my heart but I wasn’t able to fill it till this game came out. I feel like the pace of the game is great with how you build up to unlocking terraforming and 5 stars, and I feel like the updates are well timed especially with how crazy 2020 was for everybody. That being said there were some things that irked me. 

Some of the points I will bring up came from other people/commenters I have seen on here, Discord, Reddit, and Twitter that I also agree with. Some other points are from Youtubers such as ShayMay and ChuyPlays. And others are from me. 

With that out of the way, let’s get on with the review. Warning, I guess, don’t expect this to be an essay, this is just a patchwork quilt made up of thoughts.

Terraforming

I wish cliffs/tiers had a smaller level? Like how we’re able to make stepping stones for our rivers if we don’t want to put a bridge down/use our vaulting pole. I just wish there was a cliff alternative. 

Another cliff alternative would be if we could put bridges between cliffs. I think we’ve all been there where we see this picture 

          thought ‘we can do that!!” then realized it was photoshopped

When we go into terraforming, I wish a grid showed up on our island. It would make it much easier to avoid hitting the wrong square when I’m trying to change a river. 

Having us be able to “close” a waterfall from a lower level but not create a new on at the same spot. 

Also the fact we can add a 4th tier but can’t put anything on it is just strange to me. I know we have to have a limit to how high we can go, but at least let me put nature stuff, such as trees/flowers/bushes, on top of it instead of just a flat piece of land. 

Houses

Why no ceiling items? Find it odd they added a bunch of stuff in HHD and didn’t add that to the new mainline game

There’s no reason I can think of to why we can’t access our storage when we’re crafting inside our house. 

Buildings

Dodo Airlines

The Dodo Islands right now are very boring and barely use them. I have enough money and materials to not go farming and save up all my NMTs for when I go villager hunting, which has also become a rarity. I think it would be a good idea to make some islands seasoned themed. Have them be all rare, but have an island where it’s fall and has maple leaves falling, a cherry blossom one, one with snowflakes. I wouldn’t recommend they make Holiday themed ones, but having seasonal ones would be nice.

When I mess up a dodo code or accidentally hit ‘make a bridge’ instead of incline, etc. why do I have to restart the ENTIRE conversation instead of the characters just being “oh? did you mean “x” or “would you like to retype it?” like is it that hard??  

Resident Services

As much as I love Isabelle this game has made me very indifferent towards her. I think they gave her a role that didn’t need to exist. They could have either let us roam around without any warnings to who was roaming around our island, in the campsite, or any weather updates. Just have us rely on our villagers, the TV, and our eyeballs. OR they could have given us a social media like app and/or a weather app. Instead, they gave us Isabelle that only announces something once a month.

Nook’s Cranny

This might just be me but can they add a little DIY area in the store? Maybe just make to where you can only customize things?? This is more out of convenience than an actual problem  

Speaking of customization, since you can make medicine but also buy can we do the same for the custom kits and bait. Like make it where we can buy bait and also make our own custom kits? I just think it’s weird that they give us either/or for medicine but not for the other 2 that I honestly use way more than medicine.

Why do the Able Sisters get to have all of the colors of an item in their shop but Nook’s Cranny can’t? And why can’t we just be able to customize all items that have multiple looks/colors? Example, why can’t I just be able to change the wood type for the antique set instead of having to buy each one? I get that the furniture catalog is already small, but that’s not my fault. They’ve decided to not add past furniture sets into NH. 

Able Sisters

Let us multi select clothes instead of it just being how much we can wear. idc if it’ll just put those clothes in our personal storage and then we’ll have to run home and put it in that storage, I just hate having to walk back in and out every time I want a dress in multi colors. ALSO tell us if we already bought it, like a little storage icon or something

Why can’t we hang any article of clothing on the back wall, why do we have to either make it or have the OG qr designer come to our island? 

Why can’t we have the transparent option when designing clothes? I think it would make many designer’s lives easier instead of having to make 8 versions of the same outfit.

NPCs

I have played this game almost every day since it came out, minus 2 days. I have also been able to make friends on discord that help with trading/cataloging/etc. I have all of Saharah’s, Kicks’, Label’s, and Redd’s items. I have all of the fish/bug models I want and have no desire to “catch them all”. I haven’t talked to Wisp in months because I have most of the items and his idea of “expensive” is 10k bells. The only NPC I actively look forward to is Celeste because even though I now have all of her DIYs, she still gives out star fragments, regular large or horoscope, when I talk to her. 

What I’m wondering is if they’re planning on doing anything else with these characters. Before I speak further I’m going to weed out characters that I am actually fine with. CJ and Flick will always be there if I want a bug/fish model, I understand that Saharah/Kicks/Redd have a ton of stuff to get and w/o the help of my discord friends, I probably wouldn’t have gotten everything till late 2021. 

So that leaves Label and Wisp. I understand Wisp is there for beginners, but now that I’m at a point where I am a bell millionaire and have most of the Nook’s items cataloged, there is no reason for me to talk to him. I wish Nintendo had put in a system where depending on the person who Wisp is talking to, it determines how much money you have in your bank account/looks at your catalog, Wisp’s item’s worth goes up.

As for Label...I never saw her as viable. I also thought the tickets were dumb and you don’t even have to talk to her to have her items show up in the shop the next day. I think it would be great if when you bought all of her items, she decided to join the Able’s sisters in their shop like in NL and then have Gracie show up in her place for the weekly NPC. 

Where is Blanca? Or Brewster? Or Shrunk, Katrina, Gracie, or Kapp’n and his family? I understand we will probably never see characters like Harriet or Pete because they have been replaced by a new system, but what is the excuse for these other characters? I’m hoping they show up in year 2 of NH but...we’ll see.

Villagers

I think having your first villagers living in basic homes is a good idea but one that quickly gets annoying. I found Sherb while villager hunting for the 1st time and have had him ever since, but his house is stuck at basic lazy setup. Instead of me going back and forth on whether or not i should trust somebody enough to hold Sherb, get somebody else out, then get him to move back to my island, You can have it to where you let them leave, then just wait till he comes to the campsite to visit and reinvite him. You get his actual house and he still remembers you. This could also go for you accidentally letting somebody go or letting somebody go then regretting it. Also it’d be fun to see some old villagers again.

I was curious and looked back on past games to see how many new villagers were released each game and NH has been the least amount. NL released 112 new villagers in total while NH has released 8. I’m hoping they might release more down the line but, hella disappointing imo. Along with the Sanrio update and adding those characters to the game, I am more hopeful that they’ll be adding new characters!

Having an “event” of sorts where you visit a villager’s house and they’re looking inside their closet. They look at you in surprise when you walk in and sheepishly explain that they were going through their clothes/items. They then decide to ask you for help since they can’t decide what to get rid of/what to keep and think you have a good eye for that sort of thing. Basically, a way to get rid of any clothes/items your villager somehow received bc I guess Isabelle scolding them isn’t enough.

A big problem I feel like everybody has is the villager dialogue. Yes they added sub personality types for each personality but they are not perfectly cut in half, ex. are the Sisterly types where there are 4 B types and 20 A types, like?? How I have “fixed” this problem is by having one of each personality type on my island so I always have different conversations with my villagers, but I understand not a lot of people do that. Some people just want normal/peppy types on their island bc they’re cute as hell, I get it. I know it would be...difficult to come up with unique dialogue for all 399 villagers, including Sanrio, but....you could at least for the “gimmicky” villagers. Some examples of these villagers are Ribbot and Sprocket, Lucky and Ankha, the super hero squad, and Kabuki. 

Quality Life stuff

Why cant we sit AND wish on stars? And I don’t mean the sit emote; why can’t I sit on a bench and wish on stars?

It sucks when I’m about to hit my rocks or just do a lot of dig work and then my shovel breaks in the middle of it. To show the tool is about to break, cracks should start to form on the handle and get deeper/longer as you keep using it, starting when you have 5 uses left. You can also add an auditory element by making the tool sound like its struggling when you are using it. Net/Shovel/Axe/Fishing Pole can have cracks show up on the handle, Slingshot can have crack show up at the bottom of the 2 spokes while having 1 at the top of the handle. And the watering can have cracks at the base of the can.

If our inventory is full when I dig up a flower, why can’t I replace it with another flower to bury? And if I can dig up an item at an diagonal item, I should be able to bury it again at the same angle.

Other

Having more...liveliness?? on the island, idk how else to say it. Example is whenever you travel by plane there's a chemtrail in the sky afterwards, maybe just seeing other planes go by throughout the day. Maybe you can get a hint Redd or Gulliver will be visiting you tomorrow if you see their boats beyond the horizon, Redd’s just crusin’ and the Gulls’ boats looking messed up. On a week where you don't have a new camper, maybe have an old villager visit. That leads me too

I wish villager’s doors could count as “exterior decorating” and we can just put any ornamental on there instead having to hope that your villager will put the wreath on their own door. 

Conclusion

If you read this whole thing holy shit, thanks!! Go treat yourself on my part lol If you disagreed with me or whatever feel free to chat with me about it!