#not a fan of the one person = one unique power setup but whatever its popular rn and xmen did it well so it is possible

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy VI Review

Year: 1994

Original Platform: Super Nintendo (originally released as Final Fantasy III in the West)

Also available on: Playstation One (Final Fantasy Anthology), Game Boy Advance, Android, iOS, Steam

Version I Played: Game Boy Advance

Synopsis:

Terra is a slave used by the Gestahl Empire because of her magic powers. The Gestahl Empire seeks to hunt down espers (summons) and harness their powers too, effectively killing them. Terra escapes their clutches and falls into the hands of the Returners – a small band of rebels hoping to return freedom to the world.

Gameplay:

Final Fantasy VI doesn’t exactly add anything super-new to the gameplay unlike its predecessors. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong or boring with it. It has an ATB system and each character, like in Final Fantasy IV, specialize in certain jobs. Therefore, each character has a special unique ability that no other character can perform.

I find the style of the game unique for its time because you can easily split the game into two parts. There's a pivotal point in the story that changes everything. The first half is a typical story-driven RPG. The second half is actually more open world. With a huge cast of characters, you are not actually required to end the game with all of them. The second half of the game offers a unique style where you can take on the final boss with what you’ve got, or hunt down the rest of the cast members and then take on the final boss.  

 Graphics:

This is the SNES in its prime. Character sprites are much bigger, and the world looks so much more detailed and vibrant. Shadow looked weird though. Sometimes you had to squint to discern what his face actually looked like. Other than that, the game looks great! It’s notable for utilizing more graphics power from the SNES in some cutscenes, and also when you fly an airship.

The PlayStation One version again has a FMV sequence that hasn’t aged well at all. Okay, maybe it’s a tad bit better, but that’s not saying much.

Story:

One of the biggest debates in recent Final Fantasy fandom is asking whether Final Fantasy VI or Final Fantasy VII is better. While I won’t get into Final Fantasy VII much now, it was always the most popular game in the series. It seems that in recent years, gamers have retroactively judged Final Fantasy VI as the best Final Fantasy game of all time.

I wish I had appreciated more when I was a kid. When I first played it then, I actually despised it. I was much more critical about stories back then. For whatever reason, I didn't think the world building was coherent. I also wasn’t used to Final Fantasy games by then.

I finished Final Fantasy VI about four years ago, and that time I was taken by it. I became enlightened and completely changed my opinion of it from sour to sweet. I wish I could erase my memory on playing it only so that I could experience it for the first time and appreciate it for the first time. I had already known most about what happened in the story, so I really wish I could experience the shock and awe of it brand new. Final Fantasy VI does things with its story that no other Final Fantasy game has done. It has drama, it has brevity, it has an amazing cast of heroes and villains. To date, it has the most playable characters in a Final Fantasy game.

The plot even incorporates a little opera that you sit through.

 At first glance, Final Fantasy VI seems derivative. There is once again an evil empire seeking to control the world, and there is once again a rebellion. People often make the parallel to Star Wars, much like Final Fantasy II. The name “Returners” doesn’t quite stick with me personally as the name of an epic rebellion. Final Fantasy VI also created the recurring characters Biggs and Wedge, a further nod to Star Wars.

But you have to look past the simple setup of a ragtag rebellion fighting an evil empire. First of all, the steampunk setting is one of the most original in a Final Fantasy game to date, and hasn’t really been revisited. The world dabbles in late 19th century architecture, with fine arts and opera. The empire is only beginning to realize the ancient power of magic, and combines it with technology to make “Magitek”, starting a sort of “industrial revolution”. The opening scene to this game is one of the most memorable. Terra, under the empire’s mind control device, in her magitek armor with Biggs and Wedge, trudging through the snow as the opening credits roll by, comes off as a real live-action movie.

 While the official creators say that there isn’t a main character, I still say it’s Terra. If not, she’s at least the most important. She propels the plot forward. She’s one of those rare great female protagonists in a video game RPG. She’s more than just “a strong female character”. She has depth as she tries to find her place in the world, and other characters, such as the thief Locke, try to help her.

 Also, just like Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI has its own villainous goofball - Ultros.

He’s not quite as charming as Gilgamesh, but he acts in the same manner regardless.

 Each character has their own story – no matter how small or big. They’ve all lost loved ones, or suffered hardships, and the central theme about the entire game is really about grief and dealing with it even in the face of nihilism.

 Nihilism comes in the form of Kefka - Emperor Gestahl's court mage. Kefka did the whole nihilistic evil clown thing before Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. Kefka retroactively rose to popularity, rivaling longtime favorite villain Sepiroth from Final Fantasy VII as the best Final Fantasy villain.

 Final Fantasy VI deals with heavy topics. I was shocked that it even dared to show a scene of attempted suicide. Things get dark. Really dark. But Final Fantasy VI deals the darkness with such elegance. I admire its ability to treat such heavy plots for basically children.

The ending to this game is probably the most epic out of any Final Fantasy game. I can gush with details but this is meant to be a spoiler - free review. I just have to say – E P I C. But the most admirable thing I just have to say is that it treats Terra’s journey with the utmost respect and tact. It doesn’t try to define her by having some hokey romantic subplot.

Music:

Another legendary score. Given the tone and atmosphere of the story, the score reflects something darker. Right away, the opening titles before you begin is accompanied by foreboding music. With the exception of battle themes, the story demanded that Uematsu put away most of his drumming and rock undertones for a more conventional, instrumental score with pathos. It sounds most like the score to an actual fantasy movie, very operatic and Wagner-like.

Shadow’s theme sounds inspired by typical Western movie fare, being that he is a drifter. In fact, Final Fantasy VI’s score is diverse in tones with its character themes, which is obvious once you think about where all the characters come from. Cyan’s theme has Asian influences. The theme for the Veldt, a stretch of wilderness, has a jungle beat. Then of course there’s the opera music. Many Final Fantasy concerts, such as Distant Worlds, play the opera about the fictional characters Draco and Maria. Kekfa, the villain, has a jovial but sinister theme scattered throughout. Terra’s theme is practically the main theme of the game, and it too is referenced throughout.

The end credits song is a whopping 21 minutes and 36 seconds. It goes through every single character’s theme and more. The entire soundtrack is 3 hours long. I don’t think any other game at the time had a soundtrack that long.

 Notable Theme:

 “Dancing Mad”

To me, Dancing Mad is Nobuo Uematsu's magnum opus. It is a sprawling 8-minute epic for the final battle.

Verdict:

A must-play. Any RPG fan will love this game. Any RPG fan SHOULD play this game. There’s nothing obnoxious or vainglorious here. Every subsequent Final Fantasy game tried to live up to its drama and scope, but with all of them falling short ever so slightly.

Direct Sequel?

No. Thank God.

[taffystake]

The Wicked + The Divine - Adaptation of Archetypal Creatives In The Wicked + The Divine

Now then, before I start, I would like to be very clear: This is not meant to somehow establish that the characters of Wicked and The Divine are basic character archetypes. The characters of Wicked and The Divine are extremely unique, nuanced, and each have unique narratives. All I aim to do with this piece is to establish the archetypal creatives that the gods of Wicked And The Divine are modeled after. I was inspired to this after seeing the most recent issue and the story developments there.

Secondly, while I will be picking a chief style of creative person for each of the gods, this will not be the only one they represent for the most part. It's just the one they draw most heavily on and informs the way their story plays out within the comic.

And finally, I will be avoiding spoilers for the comic until the end, after outlining the creative types that each god embodies. Then, I will explain why these things are so notable and what they mean for the storyline as we approach the end. So with that mostly sorted out, let's get down to brass tacks. Order in this case will be mostly by how easily I can place each character as a specific sort of creator.

So, let us start off with the one whose creative type can be seen in who he takes his design from: Baal. Baal’s ability is taken directly from his own belief in his superiority, that he is better than everyone. So, as he believes this and gains fans who also believe in it, he has to act grander and  more exceptional to match the superiority that his fans have granted him. And to avoid spoilers, I will say nothing about how this ties into the events of the latest issue beyond saying that this is entirely why he only says the two phrases, no justification between. Because he believed he was the superior and that made him what he was. And yes, most of this also applies to the man from whom Baal’s look was taken from: Kanye West.

Next up, let’s take a look towards the one-time lover of Baal, Inanna. With Inanna, we have someone whose abilities are taken from their want, their need, to stand out amongst the crowd. And so he channels that energy into his looks, what he creates, and makes it his persona. Makes it so everything about him is to be the unique one, the one who does things that seem outlandish in order to gain some attention. And it shows in the musician chosen to be his inspiration: Prince, a man whose most notable things outside of his musical talents were his unique outfits and his temporary name change to a symbol called the “Love Symbol”.

Thirdly, we have the mobile rave himself: Dionysus. Here, we have a person who finds himself driven and almost dutybound to brighten and help people. With his particular talents, how he accomplishes this is by helping them out of the dreariness and lack of contact that the regular world has and welcoming them into the small collective that he creates with his talents. He takes this selfless want to help people to the extreme, shown in how his own abilities prevent him from going to sleep and how he keeps using them despite this eventually deadly side effect. And while there isn’t as easy a one to one for the sort of person he was inspired by, it’s simple enough to consider him a broad strokes interpretation of many DJs.

Next on the block is Tara, the most hated of the Pantheon despite her own best efforts. And she draws her powers from her efforts to be normal, to act like the people she is playing to. This even extends to the point that she attempts to perform for an audience without her natural abilities but instead from something she created outside of her persona’s talents. But, even with all these efforts to be ‘the normal girl’, Tara still believes herself to be superior to her audience. She flipped out when her effort to create music without use of her talents bombed, and blamed it on the audience before ending up ostracized by the fans of the Pantheon for ‘wasting’ her talents on her own efforts to create something else. Now, while her style and that are not as easily pinned down as with Baal and Inanna, her attitude and general personality archetype can be identified to general females in pop music in the modern day. But, to give a strong example, Tara’s hatedom and her own ‘girl next door’ schtick are most likely lifted from Taylor Swift.

The Morrigan is our next stop on this tour of the Pantheon and their multitude of creative personalities. And with her, we reach a creative type that tends to end up romanticized in fiction but that is not typically as great in real life: someone who draws their creativity from mental illness. In The Morrigan’s case, its her shifting between her three selves that stands in for most mental illness rather than a more direct attempt to represent Bipolar Disorder as might be assumed by the trio setup she has. And from this, we see how she draws her creative efforts from her mental illness, allowing her create her own thing with this persona. But it’s not like she only has a mental illness in order to facilitate her having some talent, with her illness resulting in many scars and other issues for our next one to be covered. Would give a real life music example but…..that doesn’t exactly seem cool, so….let's give the example everyone jumps to when they think tortured artist: Vincent Van Gogh.

Baphomet’s entire creative type is the non-believer, someone who considers themselves utterly lacking in the talents to create whatever it is that makes them so powerful and known. In Baphomet’s case, this is due to the circumstances that granted him his godhood being so inextricably linked to The Morrigan rather than anything that he would consider having made himself. With this creative, they typically end flipping between more on large bouts of introspection and self-pity and extroverted efforts to distract away from this tumultuous internal life. One major concern with this type of creative is the fact that they will typically remain close to whatever abuse it is that granted them their ability to be creative, which can result in a great number of issues that will be covered at the end of this massive write up. I would give a real life example here but….that feels a little slimy.

And now we reach Urdr, the closest this list has to a midway point. And here, we get an interesting creative that….ends up hard to define concretely mostly due to their presence being mostly built off of being against things. With Urdr, we have a creative who aims to point out the problems with the field they are skilled in. With Urdr in specific, that means proving that the miracles each god performs is a sham. And with this method, the creative ends up in a cycle of attempting to disprove themselves by….doing the things they are trying to disprove. For the prime example of this mindset and creative output in action, it might be best to look at the earlier musical work of Ke$ha, where she was parodying party girl songs to the point it could be easily read as just more party girl songs.

Sahkmet stands as an inverse to Baphomet. Whereas Baphomet draws his creativity from embracing and wallowing in his abuse, Sahkmet’s creative type instead embodies someone who draws their creative drive from their efforts to avoid whatever abuses have befallen them. Which is why her character is so associated with practices that amount to rampant hedonism, with extreme amounts of sex, drugs, and liquor that all end up being how she creates. If you want to see this sort of mindset in a musical artist, the best example would be to look at the character Ke$ha played during her earlier albums. While it may not be accurate to the person she actually is, the character represented there is someone who very much hides away from any pain in the world through party girl antics.

Amaterasu, the God in this iteration of the Pantheon who is a very special case. Mostly because she takes her exceptionalism to heart much like Baal, but takes it to heart in a very different way. With Amaterasu, she represents a creative who gains their creativity from their own beliefs and uses her works as a way to convey her specific beliefs to people. And because of this, an innocent belief in the superiority of their spiritual ideas generally develops within the creative, whether they acknowledge it or not. While I am not particularly familiar with precise real life examples for this type of creative that are agreed upon, I do know that they exist out there.

Lucifer, the eternal rebel. And yes, Lucifer’s creative type is that simple: she represents the rebels, the people who derive their energy and creativity from going against the grain of society. Whether it be against the time’s cultural norms, a specific political system, or simply rebelling against what's mainstream, going against something is what they end up known for and what they usually make their best work in response to. While you could theoretically point at any number of punk bands and find an okay example, the top example would be Green Day. To be specific, the band during one album that is still hyped as their best work, American Idiot.

And now let’s cover one god who you don’t encounter until much later into the comic series, Persephone. Who…..you probably already know where she comes from if you look into the comic with even a casual glance. Well, let’s go. Persephone represents a creative type that is similar and different from the everyman that Tara is: the fan ascended. Someone whose most notable work before becoming empowered with creativity was following and being a fan of another creative to a massive degree. They tend to draw their creativity initially from borrowing ideas that the person they were a fan of has or had done creatively. To find this sort of person, you can typically look towards someone most famous for doing covers of other peoples’ songs or who are most known for directly using someone else’s style.

Woden. If you know the comic at all, you may have just inadvertently rolled your eyes because….yeah, Woden is a slimeball. And good news, the creative he embodies definitely ends up usually being a creepy slimeball like this. Woden’s creative type is a manager or producer who does not have a great deal of musical talent, but has the ability to make sure others are empowered to be creative. Y’know, within the boundaries he sets for them. So while he may not be the one making his art, he is at least able to generate exceptionalism within others. For an example of this that….isn’t as slimy as Woden can be, you can look at producers like DJ Khaled for a person whose exceptional skill is getting exceptional people together more than it is being personally exceptional.

And to round out our collection of gods and goddesses, we have Minerva. Now, while it isn’t shown well in the first few issues, Minerva occupies what I would consider one of the creative types that is quintessential: the legacy creative. Someone whose talents and exceptionalism are inextricably linked to her family to some degree, rather than being exclusively their own. And they get their creative energy by drawing on this history in order to best implement what has come before into the current age of creative endeavours. And for an example here, you can look at...pretty much any son or daughter of a musician who went into music, although it's usually most directly represented by those who go into the same genre of music as their parents.

So there we go, all of the wide variety of creatives represented most prominently by the gods and goddesses of The Wicked + The Divine. To all those not interested in spoilers, you may exit this post at this time.

Seriously.

This will be major spoilers for the most recent issues.

Like…...will shatter how you see the initial issues level of spoilers.

Just making sure all y’all who want to read on regardless understand what’s happening here.

Okay?

Okay.

So, why are all these creative types so important to the Pantheon in the most recent issues? Simple. Because the 2 year time limit on their lives is not a set timer for when their godhood burns through them and kills them. It's the average amount of time it takes for the personas that their creative types represent to become more of their personality than what personality they possessed before their godhood. And once a god or goddess buys into their own hype to that degree, their actions slowly become more reckless and self-destructive until their own godhood ends up killing them not through burning them out, but by their god-enhanced nature making them commit to actions that get them killed. The best example of this conclusion can be seen in the special comics that have been released over the years, with the 1300s Occurrence comic demonstrating it most clearly with the nun Lucifer who vastly exceeded the typical 2 years a god lasts.

And the god’s godhood consuming and killing them in this manner is what allowed for the relinquishment of their powers in the latest issue. By acknowledging that they are actual people with their own personalities and that they are not simply the personas that their creative types are engineered to display, they become able to move beyond their godhood and all the things it grants. You can even see through their creative types why it is that they said what they said when each relinquished their power and can even infer that Persephone was the first to do so because of being a fan of the Pantheon and being able to see this perspective once she was able to experience what being part of the Pantheon is actually like.

So yeah.

Also, this is my insight/neurotic ramblings. None of this is confirmed. Hell, Kieron Gillen might spot this post and call it out for how ridiculously wrong it is because I missed something or ended up focused on an aspect of a character that wasn’t as represented in the comic as I remember it being. But it feels very fitting for a comic about fame and creativity to have its massive storyline end with a story that acknowledges how to move beyond your own hype and internalized ego to continue being creative and improving your art. So that’s why I will stand by this as a decent interpretation of events.

[gamingtech]

How Musicians Used Gaming Tech To Adapt To A Gig

This consists of all writing, design, programming, artwork, music, advertising and they even publish their very own games. Slightly Mad Studios is an unbiased video game company founded in 2008. With so much new and shiny gaming tech having dropped this 12 months, it is good to see a well-recognized face crop up from time to time. Taking benefit of Logitech’s Lightspeed wireless know-how, a pro-grade connection working at a blindingly fast 1ms, this is a sleek and stylish keyboard with floating keys and gorgeous RGB.

Boneloaf was setup 'to make video games and toys informed by an adolescence spent watching bizarre Filmation and Hasbro cartoons, playing multiplayer arcade and console video games, and drawing silly characters'. Edge Case Games are the team behind Strike Suit Zero, the dogfighting recreation is the first to ride the wave of the space fight revival. Founded in 2012 by business legend and creator of the God Game style, Peter Molyneux. It is, nonetheless, necessary to verify you’re getting the absolute best internet design for your cash. Watch out for businesses who depend on templates; whatever you get from them goes to be mass-produced and severely missing in creative aptitude.

Team Strawdog has a collective flair for inventive and revolutionary authentic ideas for console and informal games, and has particular experience in producing games for digital distribution platforms. GamesChart is a free monitoring and monetization plugin for online & mobile games. The GamesChart community uses a hybrid of sport discovery & in-game advertising to assist big name publishers like EA, Disney & Ubisoft purchase new players for their on-line and cell games. Betify is a mobile application that enables its users to play challenge-based social games.

And high spec gaming headsets present crystal clear communication for conference calls. Every peripheral has a use, be it personal, inventive or skilled. What you won't anticipate is a proliferation of glowing neon colors, the whirr of high-end cooling fans, or the clatter of mechanical keyboards.

Your cellphone, your mouse, your headset, any two devices can be charged simultaneously. Good time administration and the ability to manage a number of tasks along with sturdy team-working skills and the ability to work in a quick paced on-line setting. We are in search of a Category Manager to affix our current product group who will be reasonable for the Profit and Loss of key brands or classes and managing key vendor relationships. You will be a powerful negotiator who loves a deal and thrives in working in an entrepreneurial surroundings. You will need good business acumen and the power to work in a quick previous environment selling throughout multi channels. In other instances, attendees can come together in fastidiously crafted virtual worlds, their avatars co-created with totally different personalities and branding in mind.

The area's brand new, free service for job seekers and employers, recruiters and schooling leavers, to connect, find jobs, publish vacancies and entry the wealth of assist measures which have been carried out across the region. In maybe one of many extra symbiotic fusions of music and 3D worlds, the Belfast post-rockers opted to combine their love of epic movie scores with a trippy Unreal Engine creation. While this ambitious A/V set received a trial run by way of a handful of pre-lockdown exhibits over the past twelve months of being stuck indoors, this bold new 3D project has morphed right into a world of its own. “I think that as an artist, you’re afraid that people aren’t going to like your character. In this age now where everybody’s a YouTube star – all of that comes along with it. For me, the internet makes it easier to let everyone know that I’m coping with a lot of shit on a daily basis and that I make a lot of errors.

They specialize in creating recent and engaging video games experiences. With the development of technologies and the rising demand for photorealistic graphics, 3D virtual reality and video games as a service, the means ahead for the gaming trade will solely continue to grow and innovate. Positech Games is a online game developer based by the former Lionhead Studios programmer Cliff Harris.

Eleven Hundred Agency shall be selling Two-Up Digital’s unique position in the business with content creation and media relations actions. The reality is that 20 plus years in the past, I took the decision that I needed to make a dwelling off of playing music. And, you realize, generally you got to have a song in a film, that’s the functioning actuality for a lot of people. With the identical people who type of criticize Refused for selling out, I mean, my actuality is that I even have to pay hire at the end of the month. “I wanted to keep my streams detached from music,” she continues, “ as a end result of I don’t feel comfortable singing if I’m not with Lacuna Coil.

Over the years Llamasoft has released over 30 video games on almost 20 platforms, garnering plenty of awards alongside the method in which, as properly as a loyal group of fans. A precision mouse for FPS games may additionally be used for fine detail picture editing. A mechanical keyboard designed for consolation and satisfying typing makes long coding and writing periods a breeze.

The staff came collectively after giving up their jobs developing AAA games to bring one thing new to cellular gaming. GameDigits is a company dedicated to creating enjoyable video games for cellular devices. They have the expertise to produce top quality games to the very best normal.

With over a decade of expertise in the field, they work with a range of partners including marketing and advertising agencies, independent recreation builders, and solo artists. Hanako Games is an unbiased online game improvement company that develops PC video games largely involving feminine protagonists, centered on fantasy-and anime-inspired style. The website provides free demos for the entire video games together with downloadable wallpapers. Hanako Games is an affiliate of Winter Wolves, Tycoon Games and sakevisual.

While it might be pricier, the best internet design agencies are nearly at all times the most inventive. Another essential aspect of gamifying the net design process is repeated engagement with the viewers. Any decent sport could have some type of mechanism to maintain players coming again, a core gameplay loop. A well-designed website ought to be the identical, internet hosting features or services that convert viewers into new customers, and retain previously transformed prospects as nicely.

Get helpful recommendations on tips on how to use firm credit score stories when making potentially crucial enterprise decisions. Purchase the company report or an Annual Subscription to view this info. I provide one to 1 classes online or walk and talk until we're out of lockdown fully.

Amuzo harness the ability of play to interact, educate and inspire cell audiences all over the world. They design and develop award-winning, chart topping apps and video games that join a variety of the world's prime brands with their audiences. The duo left Freestyle in 2012 and arrange indie studio Pixel Toys where they began to work on cellular games. Drop Dead Interactive are an independent video games creator, considered one of their games is Gear Gauntlet, a fun but rage inducing 2D action arcade game.

Backed by world famend businesses and the UK government, it'll enhance the development and adoption of emerging applied sciences. Making an actual, everyday difference to individuals from the boardroom to the manufacturing unit floor. Switching from a profession in publishing to technology in her late twenties, she then launched her personal company.

Many of one of the best internet design studios use equipment initially designed for gaming. And why not” Gaming PCs are ubiquitous, powerful and so they look damn good when the lights go on. And whereas they might not be the first thing you think about whenever you think of web design, they’re far more widespread than you suppose. However, the wireless know-how which has caught my consideration and brought a sparkle to my eye this yr is wi-fi charging. Again, not exactly new-new, but Qi charging has really gained traction. HyperX has launched this 12 months, a wi-fi gaming bundle featuring a Qi charging dock that can assist a number of units.

Wireless keyboards and mice used to be less responsive and competitive gamers typically discovered them unreliable as a outcome of a slight delay. However, wireless peripherals have vastly improved and are set to be in style this yr, leading to improved setups for builders and players alike. These days, corporations don't have any selection but to be artistic and supply attendees extra than simply info. Those not keen to push the boundaries are shortly seeing a discount of their attendees’ consideration. Adopting some the methods seen within the esports gaming area and adapting them for B2B summits and conferences is a method to guarantee you maintain your audiences’ consideration, regardless of the distractions. Walk again in time in an event and you could remember that “games” involved a pencil and a chunk of paper, or a white board.

The firm designs front finish web sites and apps in addition to running the whole back workplace expertise platforms required to assist the rigorous online betting business. System three Software is a online game developer and publisher based by Mark Cale. NDreams are a videogame developer/publisher based mostly in Farnborough, UK that concentrate on creating amazing virtual actuality video games, worlds and experiences. The Ninja Theory studio satisfaction themselves on striving for the best production values and regularly pushing the boundaries of technology, artwork and design to create evermore exciting online game experiences. Virtual reality already exists within the gaming industry, nevertheless, it’s nonetheless in its infancy.

Mars on A Stick is an unbiased software program developer ready to benefit from all rising digital markets. Little Wolf Studio specialize in creating new, surreal and beautiful experiences for gamers of all ages. The progressive software permits dealerships to create a fully interactive showcase of their full range of fashions, designs and choices. Playmob is a cause advertising platform designed for ahead pondering organizations which have huge audiences, strong values and a deep commitment to doing good. Their mission is to ‘Set Creativity Free’ and create digital experiences for children as wealthy in creative potentialities as a sheet of paper. The indie recreation developers create their very own recreation titles similar to their first industrial sport ‘Look Out Below’ which came out in 2013 and are currently working on a game called Kindred.

Fundamental Games are a firm believer in nice games being constructed on sturdy foundations and aim to get the core game-play right first after which building up that actually mind-blowing experience. The Supermassive Games studio has received quite a few awards, together with a BAFTA for Until Dawn. The studio additionally works with GamesAid, other charities and educational institutions, delivering each high-end interactive drama and boundary-breaking VR.

They work with a variety of sport publishers, brand owners and digital companies. They have also worked with Cancer Research UK, Knux and an Unnamed HTML5 sport for BBC. Wales Interactive satisfaction themselves on being an unshackled independent developer making their very own concepts completely from our Pencoed studio in South Wales.

“Games studios have the opportunity to develop their own IP with skills traditionally used in mobile games growth for leisure now being turned to social good. In a world the place musicians are being compelled off the street and onto the web to survive, it’s reassuring to see so many different abilities adapt so well to a post-coronavirus society. Fan Studio has been a top iPhone game improvement company for years and is the company of alternative for a lot of businesses across UK, UAE, Canada and USA. Firefly Studios Limited is a online game developer fashioned by Simon Bradbury and Eric Ouellette. Skatanic Studios is a one man sport improvement studio based mostly in Brighton, United Kingdom and headed by Media Production graduate Matt Gambell. Space Ape are a mobile/social gaming startup with a diverse staff of highly gifted and experienced game makers, creating video games that hundreds of thousands of individuals play and love.

[joyfulfryer]

Best NutriChef air fryer to buy (5.6 Qt): EXPERT SAYS SO

Taday, the discussion is all about – “which is the NutriChef air fryer to buy?”

The NutriChef Halogen Oven is pretty much identical to an air fryer and might be even better! This kitchen appliance utilizes infrared and halogen lamps to superheat the air when a fan forces it around the meal. It’s sort of like a convection oven.

It’s true that, this setup could cook food 3 times faster than a basic convection oven! The NutriChef Air Infrared/Fryer Convection Halogen/Oven is identical to an air fryer because it “fries” your food without using any oil.

By the way this 5.6Qt. model is better than Brentwood air fryer in terms of serving bigger families.

So, is it worth the money? Can it provide you crispy chicken like you get in restaurant, without playing with your health?

For a few more such answers, we need to dive deeper in this review!

Best NutriChef air fryer to buy?

NutriChef Air Fryer 5.6 Qt XXL 1800W: Ultimate choice

CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON!!

NON-VEG DISHES 91% VEG DISHES 87% SNACKS 90%

Design

We compared the design and durability of this nutrichef model against Toastmaster air fryer, and Elite platinum air fryer. The results were awesome with all three little models.

Use the NutriChef Air Infrared/Fryer Convection Halogen Oven to defrost, roast, broil, bake, grill, steam, and BBQ. However, talking about baking, models like Ultrean Air Fryer, and Elite air fryer do a better job.

Cook anything from a full-sized turkey to frozen food in this incredible appliance.

All you gotta do is put your food in the NutriChef and then turn it on. You could watch it cook and also monitor the outcome smoother than in an enclosed air fryer. Using the added racks, you could double up your cooking place and get ready for an entire meal at once.

The detachable components are the exterior wipes clean and the dishwasher safe.

Specs & Features

SPECIFICATIONS Product Dimensions 15 x 15 x 10 inches Item Weight 15.4 pounds Materials Stainless steel, glass, plastic Color Clear and silver Capacity 13 quart (13.0” x 6.7”) Temperature 149°F – 482°F Timer 60 minutes Included Components Food racks, cooking tray, tong Power 120V, 1200 Watt

SPECIFICATIONS Adjustable Time & Temperature The NutriChef air fryer comes with a digital LCD panel with touch key controls so you could simply insert meal inside the hot air fryer, then set the temperature and time and let it cook your meal healthily and efficiently. Variety of Uses The air fryer is ideal for chicken, ribs, steak, shrimp, fish. It has the capability of broiling, roasting, baking, grilling, and BBQ, and its own Teflon fry basket PP housing is also stain-resistant and smoother to clean. Also good for desserts and pastry soufflés. For Health Enthusiasts The oilless air-fryer convection oven needs little to no oil included when cooking. Well, The convection toaster oven was laboratory experimented to prepare every type of healthy meals more effectively to achieve delicious and low-fat food with advantages. Better Than Conventional Frying Unlike the deep pan fryers, this 1800-watt high power commercial dry fryer provides you immediate and even cooking due to the integrated convection oven dashing vortex fan, which gives rapid air circulation for even cooking. Perfectly Crisped This electric multi cooker cooks meal crispy and brown on the outside and also keeps them moist on the inside without excessive use of oil, which is having too much fat. Prepares ideal tasting crispy skins and great for making potato fries.

What makes you buy it?

You may wonder what’s our personal choice. Thus, we’re presenting you with the editor’s choice that is the NutriChef Digital 5.6 Qt XXL Air fryer. You’ll get all the functions that you require for getting a great cooking experience in your kitchen. You’ll be capable of making food identical to that of a chef without effort.

There’s more of this Nutrichef digital air fryer article that you’ll be enlightened to know about. Thus, we have successfully listed down all the essential functions which will make you aware of why it’s a perfect choice.

Big basket capacity

having the air fryer which has a basket that can permit you to cook for just family members is sometimes not enough, and it could waste a lot of time and effort when you are cooking for more people. There’s a necessity of cooking for guests as well. That’s one of the main reasons when the 5.6 Qt XXL basket comes pretty handy.

Modern operating system

This air fryer is all about the fusion of smartness that this advanced era holds. You’ll have to operate the air fryer with touch keys and a digital LCD panel. You’ll be capable of setting the temperature much easily, which starts from 140 – 392 degrees Fahrenheit. The timer could be set up to a total of thirty minutes.

Proper safety maintenance

You could maintain health and safety at all times when cooking food with an air fryer. You could smoothly clean the detachable frying basket and stain-resistant as well.

Furthermore, you’ll be able to just simply let your food cook and do any chores without worrying about the food getting burned. As the system would get automatically shut down after the time is over.

CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON!!

Nutrichef Air fryer Vs. Crux Air Fryer

Looking forward to purchasing an air fryer, and if you are confused between these two models? Well, to help you out, we’ve got highlighted down some true facts regarding both of them.

The crux air fryer isn’t meant to be used for heavy duties. If you think you do not require an air fryer for use on a daily basis, then this choice is surely reliable. But you could surely look up to Nutrichef air fryers for daily use.

The basket capacity of the Crux air fryers isn’t as big as the Nutrichef ones. So getting the crux air fryers for huge families is not totally suitable.

The Crux air fryers are quite affordable compared to Nutrichef ones. But the versatility and quality will be lower than the Nutrichef.

Why is Nutrichef Air fryer better than Crux Air fryer

SAY YES TO NUTRICHEF Suitable for any heavy duties as it runs with the power of 1800 watts. Rapid hot air circulation instantly permits the cooking of food to be finished evenly. Very high in terms of versatility. Not only spicy and savory items, dessert and sweet items could be prepared. Six pre-programmed cooking modes are available for easy cooking. An easy press-button is available to safely remove the frying basket for cleaning.

Let’s conclude NutriChef Air Fryer Review

FINAL WORD Save the counter space with NutriChef Air Fryer/Infrared Convection Oven/Halogen, and avoid using your oven in summer. There are many racks suitable for unique types of food, including steak, chicken, ribs, shrimp, and fish and could be layered. Users are happy about how easy it’s to steam vegetables.At thirteen quarts, you could cook for the whole family, and you could have one dishwasher safe cooking vessel to clean up the whole thing. It comes with several presets or selects your own time and temperature.People loved how it doesn’t heat up the house and how a whole chicken took only forty-five minutes. It turned out ideally crisper on the outside and also juicy on the inside.To sum up, looking at all the functions that this NutriChef Digital Air fryer has, you would surely love using it once you have invested in it. It permits you not only to fry but also bake, broil, grill, and roast as well.If you are not really purchased an air fryer, then this NutriChef Oven will be a perfect entry into the market. It could do all the things which an air fryer could do, plus more! We highly suggest this model.

CHECK NUTRICHEF 5.6 QT PRICE ON AMAZON!!

Other models worth consideration

1. Nutrichef Digital Air Fryer 6.8 Qt XXL Review (premium Value)

Are you looking for an air fryer that will consist of all the features to achieve all the requirements that you can’t also think of? If that’s the case, then you would love the Digital Nutrichef Air Fryer 6.8 Qt XXL that comes at a premium value. It’s high in terms of durability and versatility as you get to operate a ton of tasks apart from frying.

There’s more of what you should know about Nutrichef digital 6.8 QT air fryer article. Hence, we’ve listed down all the essential features of this fantastic air fryer below.

Nutrichef air fryer recipes improves your health

Under healthy conditions; you could do a ton of things with this air fryer. With just a bit or no oil, you would be able to fry, bake, roast, broil, and grill to get ready delicious meaty recipes. This would also reduce the fat intake, and you would start leading a healthy lifestyle.

Talking about Nutrichef air fryer recipes, you can prepare over a hundred recipes with this one. These recipes include:

Cinnamon and Sugar Doughnuts

Fritata

Meatloaf

Scotch Eggs

Butter Cake

Crab Croquettes

Chicken Parmesan

Buttermilk Biscuits

And the list continues….

Even cooking

Compared to any other pan fryers, you should stay assured that whatever you fry will have a nice crunch outer layer, which will be revealing a moist and juicy inner texture whenever you take a bite. It has been manufactured to ensure that the food is evenly cooked and nothing remains raw anyhow. This is possible just because of the robust power that this air fryer has. Yes, it can go up to 1350 watts.

Smart technology

Just like the mobile phone you own, you could run this incredible air fryer using simple touches of your fingertips. The LCD touchscreen will guide you and also let you know what you’re doing. You could easily set the timer, and the temperature as the touch keys have clear information engraved.

Pros and Cons of Nutrichef Digital Air Fryer 6.8 Qt XXL

PROS The air fryer could be detached very smoothly. Smooth to clean air frying basket as it’s dishwasher safe and also stain-resistant. The inner surface of the air fryer is non-stick for meals to not get attached when cooking. Hassle-free and Smart operating system. Safe for placing the air fryer on kitchen countertops. The huge sized basket permits you to cook for up to 5 – 6 people.

CONS It doesn’t come with a warranty.

CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON!!

2. Nutrichef Air Fryer Oven 2 Quart Reviews

So many air fryers from NutriChef are there to select from. However, not all of ‘em are amongst the top-rated ones. Thus, if you need one Nutrichef air fryer that’s one of the best, then you would love the Nutrichef Air Fryer Oven 2 Quart. As we said, as it’s one amongst the top-rated, it’s because of the incredible features that it has that we have listed down below.

The 2-quart capacity of the basket

If you have a family with just two to three members in it, there’s no need to own an expensive air-fryer that will have a huge capacity. This 2-quart capacity air-frying basket would help you a lot to prepare a perfect quantity of the meal for your small family. You could prepare evening snacks or even a tiffin for your only kid in tummy-filling amounts.

Healthy cooking

This air fryer has experimented in the laboratory. And it has been manufactured in a perfectly great way so that you could cook foods in a healthy condition. You would no longer be required to let in harmful radicals in your body because of deep frying in oil. As when cooking food with this air-fryer, you will require no oil at all.

Simple operating system

This air fryer is mostly liked by the kitchen chefs because of how basic it’s for operating. You would basically turn the rotary controls for configuring the desired time and temperature. And then, you could simply just switch on your air fryer by pressing the start key. Your food would be cooked perfectly.

Pros and cons Nutrichef Air Fryer Oven 2 Quart

PROS The frying basket is removable and dishwasher safe, which makes cleaning very easy. Very versatile as it could be used for BBQ, baking, grilling, and as well as frying without using oil. The surface of the air frying basket is non-stick. Easy rotary controls for configuring temperature and time. Perfect for cooking multiple amounts of recipes.

CONS Absolutely zero

CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON!!

3. Nutrichef PKAIRFR 48.5 Infrared Convection, Halogen Oven Countertop Air Fryer review

You surely need an air fryer which will let you see through when the food is being cooked inside. If that’s what you like, you will find the Nutrichef PKAIRFR48.5 Air Fryer pretty much convenient. The frying basket is created up of glass that permits you to see through. You could carefully observe the look of the food as well. There is more of the air fryer, which you will surely love.

Unique technology

The cooking tech consists of a halogen lamp, which makes sure the food is cooked evenly. The outer part of the food would be perfectly cooked, and the inner will remain moist and juicy for you to enjoy every single bite that you would be taking.

Ready to use

You won’t require to preheat the air fryer because the rapid air circulation increases the temperature that you have set very immediately.

Built-in safety

The air fryer has been manufactured to be safe for use. When you get busy with something, while the food is cooking up inside the air fryer, your food won’t get burned because of the overtime cooking. Once the timer stops, then the automatic shut down system of the air fryer would stop the air fryer from any work. This system definitely helps you have busy days as keeping a watch over the air fryer could surely get you late.

Easy to store

The air fryer would go very well with your small or big kitchen counter. You could simply place it on the top of the counter, and it won’t take up a large amount of space. It would go with any type of interior decor you are having in your kitchen.

Pros and cons

PROS The cooking bowl is pretty easy to clean and rust-resistant as it’s constructed with stainless steel. It comes with the rotary control, which is a quite convenient operating system for utilizing the air fryer. Safe cooking made sure an automatic shut down system of the air fryer. Pretty Safe for storing the air fryer on the kitchen counter. Huge basket capacity up to more than thirteen quarts, which is perfect for cooking meals for huge families.

CONS The frying basket must be handled carefully when cleaning as it’s made up of glass; it could break when the fryer falls off accidentally. Well, every single air fryer out there may get damaged if falls off your kitchen’s platform!

CHECK PRICE ON AMAZON!!

Should you buy this NutriChef Air Fryer ?

When it comes to healthy, tasty, and soul-pleasing food altogether, NutriChef air fryer models prove to be perfect, and out of all wonderful models from this company, the 5.6Qt. The model really wins your heart.

Not just various food items that we prepared in these air fryers were crispy, but also so moist and soft from within! Especially, the chicken dishes were much better than several expensive air fryers!

Yes, our top recommendation remains the 5.6Qt. Model, but if you feel that any other of the above-mentioned air fryer can do a better job for you, then surely go on!

Nutrichef Air Fryer Buying Guides

1. Is Nutrichef air fryer healthy?

The Nutrichef fryer is healthy. You would be able to arrange hygiene and health at all times. Once you’re done with the cooking, you could basically remove the frying basket and wash it, so any microorganism doesn’t grow inside later onwards.

You will require a little bit or no oil at all to make whatever you want. The main purpose of deep oil frying gets eliminated when you get to invest your money in Nutrichef air fryers.

2. Is a Nutrichef air fryer worth the money?

Yes, indeed. The Nutrichef Air fryers provide you the versatility you require for having an incredible cooking experience. All of the air fryers permit you to prepare grilled meat, steaks, and fry various foods. You will get to handle your health and look up to becoming slim and fit as your meal will not be oily anymore.

You will get the complete liberty of cleaning the frying basket as it could be easily removed whenever needed. However, if you have to cook just for one, buy Bella 1.6 qt air fryer.

3. What can I cook on a Nutrichef air fryer/ convection oven?

Using the Nutrichef convection-oven/air fryer, you could prepare a grill, BBQ, roast of any meat, fry everything that you prepared yourself, or you can fry any frozen food that you like. There isn’t any limitation to what type of meat could be used.

You would get to know all the kinds of recipes that you could prepare if you only search for the air fryer recipes from google. Regarding consistency, Tristar air fryer is a bit better choice (may live for up to 5 years!).

[nemolian]

Build a Timeless Streaming Audio System with These Speakers and Add-Ons

I love my smart home, but if there’s one area I prefer more old-school tech, it’s audio. A good set of passive speakers can last you a lifetime, and you can swap in new amplifiers, receivers, or streaming add-ons whenever the tech world moves to a new audio platform—that way, you don’t end up wasting thousands of dollars on a Sonos system that dies a slow, painful software death.

Build a Piecemeal Stereo System That Lasts

If you want a true, old-school stereo with separate components that you can mix and match (and will stand the test of time), you’ll want to start with a pair of passive speakers. Passive speakers don’t plug into the wall—they connect to an amplifier or receiver using speaker wire, and receive power from that instead. That means no matter what happens to your receiver, or wireless streaming platform, you’ll be able to keep using those speakers for years.

$13

From amazon

728 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

Right now, the $270 ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 are widely regarded as some of the best passive bookshelf speakers you can buy for an affordable price. A 6.5-inch woofer ensures you cover a wide range of sound, and the flat black finish is understated enough that it’ll blend in to your shelves nicely. If you don’t have quite that much to spend, there are decent speakers on the lower end, too. Pioneer’s Andrew Jones-designed series is great, and has bookshelf speakers for just over $100. Or, if you’re a fan of the more unique, bright Klipsch sound, their entry level reference bookshelves are $140. If you have more space to dedicate, a pair of tower speakers like Polk’s T50 at $130 are a great buy. And for true budget speakers, I always look to Parts Express’ Dayton sub-brand—their B652-AIRs are only $50 on Parts Express’ site. (On the other hand, if you have money to blow, look at KEF’s LS50, which are incredible bookshelves for $900.) Heck, you can even add some outdoor Polk Atrium4s if you want to expand your system to the backyard.

$280

From amazon

17 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$135

From amazon

5 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$118

From amazon

237 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$109

From amazon

84 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$68

From amazon

11 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

Of course, you’ll need an amplifier or receiver to power any of these speakers. For a simple stereo setup, something like the Sony STRDH190 or Yamaha R-S202BL will do you good for under $200, though if you plan on using them in a home theater, you may want something with room to grow into a surround sound system, like the $330 Yamaha RX-V485 for 5.1 audio or its bigger brother for a 7.2 or 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos setup at $500. (I’m currently using the Pioneer VSX-LX03, which can go all the way up to 5.1.4 for only $400—a steal compared to its competitors.) If you need something smaller and cheaper, Dayton’s DTA-120BT2 is a good option for small stereo systems, and even has Bluetooth built-in.

$148

From amazon

30 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$400

From amazon

2 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$399

From amazon

7 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$130

From amazon

G/O Media may get a commission

Whatever you do, when buying audio equipment, make sure you do a little research and make sure your speakers are well suited for your amp (or vice-versa)—otherwise you may not be able to get enough volume, especially with some of the cheaper amps out there. And buy from somewhere with a good return policy, so if you don’t like the way your speakers sound, you can swap them for something else.

Grab Some Standalone Powered Speakers for Simplicity

Putting together a full stereo isn’t for everybody. If you aren’t looking to “get into audio” and want the simplicity of a Sonos setup without the expiration date, a set of powered speakers may be a better choice. You won’t need a receiver or speaker wire, since the speakers have an amp built-in—just plug the speakers into the wall, plug your music player into the audio jack, and start jamming.

Audioengine is an extremely popular brand in this realm, with their $350 HD3 speakers being some of the most well-regarded. Edifier is another, with options ranging from the $100 R1280T to the $350 S1000DB. If you want something a bit more standalone, Klipsch’s The One is a cool retro-style speaker with Bluetooth and auxiliary input for $280, though you can grab one refurbished for $200.

$349

From amazon

10 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$100

From amazon

510 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$297

From amazon

14 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$200

From amazon

G/O Media may get a commission

In home theater land, you can also use a soundbar to supplement any other speakers you have in the house. I’m personally a fan of the Sony HT-Z9F, which has three channels for clear dialogue, a wireless subwoofer, and virtual processing that delivers an impressively wide soundstage for movies—on top of some solid music performance, of course. Samsung’s soundbars sound even better, albeit with a larger footprint and extra speakers that bounce sound off your walls for that wider soundstage. On the budget end, Yamaha makes some great options, as does Vizio.

$698

From amazon

9 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$1.1K

From amazon

1 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$300

From amazon

614 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$150

From amazon

687 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

Stream Throughout the House with Wireless Add-Ons

Gathering your speakers is the meat of this project, but it doesn’t end there—after all, your music still has to come from somewhere, and most of these speakers don’t have Spotify built-in.

A lot of receivers and soundbars, on the other hand, do support streaming services like Spotify and wireless protocols like Bluetooth, Apple’s AirPlay, and DTS’ Play-Fi. That’s awesome, but the beauty of this setup is in its modularity: when a new service comes out your gear doesn’t support, you can add it on yourself. Or if your home theater supports AirPlay and your outdoor speakers don’t, you can add on a module that brings them together for one seamless, whole-house system.

Generally, I recommend a protocol that uses Wi-Fi over Bluetooth, since Bluetooth isn’t really meant for syncing a whole-house system together. If you’re an Apple user, AirPlay is the obvious choice. Apple discontinued their amazing AirPort Express, and I’m still bitter about it, but you can find them used and refurbished all over the web. Heck, I’m still using my old Wireless G version, which I grabbed on eBay for super cheap—its wireless chip may be outdated, but for AirPlaying MP3s, it still works wonders. You can also AirPlay music to any Apple TVs you have around the house.

$195

From amazon

G/O Media may get a commission

https://smile.amazon.com/Apple-TV-32GB-Latest-Model/dp/B075NCMLYL

If you’re more of a Google household, Google’s Chromecast Audio is similarly discontinued, and similarly available in used and refurbished form around the web. The regular Chromecast can hook into a receiver via HDMI and play audio over the same protocol. Sadly, the Nest Mini still doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack for plugging in external speakers, but I’m still holding out hope for the future.

https://smile.amazon.com/Google-GA00439-US-Chromecast-3rd-Generation/dp/B015UKRNGS

Thankfully, the competing voice assistant, Alexa, has you well covered in this realm. Most of Amazon’s Echo devices have a 3.5mm line out jack that can plug into your speakers—that way, you just tell your $50 Echo Dot to play whatever you want, and it’ll head straight to your nice bookshelves. The cheaper Echo Input seems to be out of stock, and potentially discontinued—but it’s all over eBay for virtually pennies. Amazon also sells the $200 Echo Link, which supports higher-fidelity audio, and the $300 Echo Amp, which has an amplifier built-in for your passive speakers—though that gets you into “could be deprecated at any point in the future” territory, which isn’t ideal for a $300 product. I’d rather get a standalone amp that’ll last well into the future.

$30

From amazon

4979 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$200

From amazon

8 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

$300

From amazon

5 purchased by readersG/O Media may get a commission

Personally, I’m using Alexa to get audio to all my speakers around the house, but I’m not particularly married to it. And that’s the beauty of a system like this: if you decide you’re done with Amazon one day, you can swap over to Apple’s AirPlay without spending hundreds or thousands on a new speaker system. If AirPlay goes the way of the dodo, you can jump on the latest and greatest protocol without skipping a beat—and your large array fo speakers will continue pumping out tunes for years to come, with no planned obsolescence getting in the way.

via:Gizmodo, February 13, 2020 at 06:48PM

[daniel11ryan]

10 Best Games to Play on Xbox

Xbox has brought a revolution in the gaming world and has proved its prowess for it.  People from all over the world are crazy about getting the experience of gaming on this gaming device.  Microsoft has innovated a lot to make Xbox gaming friendly and launched several games over time, which was welcome by the people whole-heartedly.

If you are a fan of online gaming, then you would not disappointed with the games on Xbox as abundant of games are available for Xbox at affordable prices. Among these thrilling and exciting games, the best 10 you should play are:

Gears 5: This game will entertain you a lot as it is a third-person shooter video game and could be enjoyed with multiple players. If you have played Gears 4 earlier, then playing Gear 5 would be much exciting for you as it has elements and some characters of Gears 4 also, which includes Kait Diaz, Del Walker, and JD Fenix. So, it becomes necessary for the gamer to play Gears 4 to get an understanding of the proper storyline of Gears 5.

The Outer Worlds: The plot of The Outer world is full of exciting and unforgettable characters, which includes a preacher and an angel preaching tranquillity and freedom. The story has spoilers also who kept stirred while helping to move the storyline further, which is featuring a post-colonial society where exploitation is at its height. The game has RPG elements along with a lot of guns and other weapons to give you a thrilling experience.

DEVIL MAY CRY 5: Even though the game is in its 5th series but still could be welcomed by the newcomers also as with the introduction of new characters, the storyline has been made more alluring. You get thrilled while playing with the three main characters who are fighting with evil spirits to save the world and human life. The game put the player in suspense as it did not give any idea about whatever happening or going to happen in the game, putting challenging situations and new approaches to explore to fight with the enemy.

Apex Legends: Apex Legends are designed much like PUBG and Fortnite but is still very much peculiar in style of combating the enemy with different types of weaponry. It is worth suggesting to try this game if you are an online gamer as the game is not only accessible but exciting also.

RESIDENT EVIL 2: The story beats of this game has been exalted by using present-day hardware and refined controls so a person playing RESIDENT EVIL 2 could get immersed into the thrill and enjoy optimum. This game contains a beautiful story, and with the introduction of characters like Leon and Claire, the makers have tried to give the story a realistic look.

Control: A third-person shooter game is not enough description for this game as it involves a government that is working in secrecy and has gained new supernatural powers all along with the game so that it could fight with the paranormal or occult powers. The best thing in this game(Control) is its design, graphics, and style, which are unique and impressive, and not only this, the narrative of the game is also unforgettable. The description has become more complicated with the introduction of paranormal forces and has many twists, which is quite engaging and able to entice the gamer for long.

Void Bastards: However, the game is easy to play and simple to understand but still capable to give thrilling experience once you start playing it. One can continue enjoying the game, which revolves around ships where you have use navigation strategically while dealing with buddies.

Untitled Goose games: This is a joyful game where you will deal with a naughty goose busy in striking terror in the inhabitant of a town. The Goose is on the mission of making mischief and ruining the life of the main characters of the game, and here you get the excellent opportunity to get immersed in the game.

Outer Wilds: You must play outer wilds if you want to explore the universe at your speed, which looks like a simple space travel game at the beginning but later enters into a world of conspiracies. The game, Outer wilds, left you baffled, arising many puzzling situations and posing challenges in the space. The story is revolving around the main character, an alien of the Hearthian species and that too nameless.

Sekiro: Shadows die twice: Developed by FromSoftware, it incorporates a story of feudal Japan where Ninja skills are used to encounter enemies and avoid enemies successfully. You can jump into the air and have to fight stronger enemies. You even gain the abilities to hide in the grass so you could protect yourself.

Daniel Ryan is a creative person who has been writing blogs and articles about security. He writes about the latest updates regarding office.com/setup and how it can improve the work experience of users. His articles have been published in many popular e-magazines, blogs and websites.

Source: https://1office.uk.net/10-best-games-to-play-on-xbox/

[gamerszone2019-blog]

NHL 20 Review - Big Hit

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/nhl-20-review-big-hit/

NHL 20 Review - Big Hit

With its new commentary team and updated presentation package, NHL 20 represents the franchise’s biggest shakeup in years–and they’re mostly positive changes. Combined with excellent controls, fluid gameplay, numerous fun and engaging different modes to play, a fine attention to detail and appreciation for hockey culture, NHL 20 is a step forward that is generally excellent.

The biggest change for NHL 20 is its broadcast package. It is almost completely different this year, and the changes–which span commentary, UI, and graphics–are mostly positive but not always for the better. Commentators Mike “Doc” Emerick and Eddie Olczyk are out, while nearly the entirety of the NBC Sports Network license package, including live-action sequences, are gone, too. It’s a jarring change, as Emerick and Olczyk have been the voice of EA’s NHL games since NHL 15.

The new commentators are Canadian sports radio personality James Cybulski and former player and current rinkside analyst Ray Ferarro. They do a mostly adept job at calling plays with style, flair, and personality, and their back-and-forth banter succeeds at capturing the essence of hockey culture with hockey IQ and knack. Some commentary lines are repeated too often, however, and Cybulski in particular sounds at times like he is hamming it up and acting like every game is Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Outside of the new commentary team, NHL 20’s updated broadcast presentation includes more colorful and dynamic graphics that display important information in more eye-catching ways. In addition to brighter colors and sharper fonts, NHL 20 introduces more dramatic, slow-motion highlights of goal scores, as well as Overwatch-style “Play of the Period” and “Play of the Game” highlights. These moments do a good job at breaking down key plays, and, with their unique angles and close-ups, provide nice moments to sit back and revel in your achievements.

Part of this updated broadcast package is a new location for the score clock, which is the only major misstep. It’s now at the bottom of the screen compared to the top-left in last year’s game–and it cannot be moved in the Settings. The new score clock location opens up more space on the screen for action, but I found it positively difficult to quickly and easily see the important information like time left in the game, penalty minutes, and other datapoints while simultaneously keeping my eyes on the action. It’s a baffling choice, especially considering many of NHL 20’s various other modes keep the score clock where it was. This inconsistency worsens the experience, as you have to train your eyes in multiple ways depending on which mode you’re playing.

Authentic Hockey

NHL 20 succeeds the most with excellent, tight controls that give you the freedom to execute basically any hockey move you can think of. There are also changes to animations and skating mechanics that make the game appear more lifelike. Building off what was already the franchise’s best foot forward with NHL 19, this year’s entry feels faster and more fluid with better animations that more realistically depict important transitional moments like catching a pass and getting intro stride at a quicker pace. Overall, the on-ice gameplay feels faster and more true to the real NHL experience.

There are new shot animations as well, which are contextual in nature and better represent what a shot might look like from a particular part of the ice and depending on angles, power, speed, specific player attributes, and more. In NHL 19, your player would oftentimes still complete the shot animation even if the puck never got to them, which looked very strange, but that rarely happens this year. NHL 20 also introduces “Signature Shots” for a number of the league’s best players; one of these is P.K. Subban’s booming slapshot and Alex Ovechkin’s electric one-timer. It’s a treat to see player-specific animations in NHL 20, and it’s yet another part of the way NHL 20 faithfully represents the real NHL experience. Additionally, goalie AI appears to be smarter this year, with netminders giving up fewer soft rebounds and making generally smarter decisions during important scenarios.

NHL 20’s in-game attention to detail and careful consideration of the sport is astounding. Players look and react as you’d expect them to on a TV broadcast, down to the way players subtly peek back toward their teammates during a face-off to the sharp crackle of skates gliding over outdoor pond ice. On the outdoor rinks, the crimson red glow of sunset over the pond is something to behold. On the ice, the physics system is so realistically presented that I found myself wincing after big open-ice hits.

Unfortunately, NHL 20 doesn’t do much in the area of improving player models. In fact, the character models for players, referees, and the crowd appear largely unchanged from last year. When the replay camera zooms in on fans on the glass, you might be wondering what kind of time vacuum the NHL series exists in for people to never age or look at all different from year to year.

Dirty Dangles

The NHL series is known for its tight, precise controls, and this level of excellence continues with NHL 20. No matter what control setup you’re using, the controls allow for a complete command of your player with astounding simplicity and a lot of depth at the same time. Puck possession and clever play-making are paramount in NHL 20, and the controls never fail to provide you with many different options to keep the puck, get around defenders, make the extra pass, and light the lamp. You have the freedom to play with as much creativity as you want. The game also features a slick and smart on-ice trainer that reacts to how you’re playing and provides dynamic feedback that, for the most part, helps you improve your game.

There is such a level of fine precision with the controls that you can determine the specific angle of a poke-check or toe-drag the puck at just the right time to open space up to make a shot on goal. In essence, the controller’s analog sticks feel like an extension of your on-ice stick. The excellent baseline controls stand out even more once you move on to trying out more more advanced techniques. It takes time and practice to learn the dirtiest dangles the game has to offer, but it’s deeply rewarding to perform spins and dekes that together combine to give you ample opportunities to play with style and pizzazz.

In addition to the standard hockey simulation, NHL 20 has an abundance of arcade-style modes. The pond hockey mode, Ones–which sees three players on a small, outdoor rink competing against each other–introduces four new locations, including a rink set on a secluded farm and another inspired by the Rideau Canal in Canada. These new locations, in addition to weather effects like snow coming down during games, make Ones an even more authentic and holistically representative depiction of the outdoor hockey experience.

Ones is lots of fun with its stripped-down, back-to-basics recreation of outdoor hockey with fast-paced play and lots of goals. Outside of the new locations, the biggest change for Ones is the introduction of offline play for couch co-op, and this is a very welcome addition after last year’s game left it out in a head-scratching move.

The Threes mode, meanwhile, remains NHL’s flashiest and wackiest mode with completely unhinged commentary, mascots lacing it up, lots of goals, and big hits. It’s the mode I found myself coming back to the most due in part to its quick games relative to the standard simulation mode and constant progression rewards in every game played.

The social hub, World of Chel, returns with NHL 20 with some noteworthy updates. The biggest introduction is the “Eliminator” mode, which is NHL’s spin on battle royale. You can go it alone in Ones or team up with two others in Threes to try to survive four consecutive rounds in a bracket to win the tournament. It’s a thrilling, incredibly challenging, high-stakes challenge that, like the battle royale games it’s inspired by, encourage you to keep coming back and improve your skills.

There is a robust character-creator and you earn XP for everything you do across all of World of Chel’s modes. It’s rewarding to invest in your character and know that, whatever mode in World of Chel you’re playing, you’re working towards growing your character with meaningful advancements like new player traits, in addition to nice extras like cosmetic gear. New for World of Chel with NHL 20 are weekly challenges that track your performance and reward you with cosmetics around a particular theme. For example, the launch-week theme is NHL 94, so you can earn all kinds of themed cosmetics like jerseys and other gear. I anticipate coming back regularly.

Elsewhere in NHL 20, the career-minded Be A Pro remains a satisfying and rewarding ride to take as you start your character from the ground floor and build them into a superstar, though there are no noteworthy updates to speak of this year. Franchise, meanwhile, features a new system that gives you multiple team coaches who have influence on the direction of your team today and in the future. The system, which also includes a light conversation mechanic where you can gauge the morale and interest of your coaches, adds a further level of strategy to the already robust Franchise mode that helps you feel like you’re really the GM of a pro team. Franchise also introduces a trade-finder system that makes it less laborious to find and make trades.

Ultimate Team returns as well, and its noteworthy addition is the introduction of Squad Battles. These function the same way they do in Madden and FIFA where you go up against HUT squads created by other players or, after launch, sports stars and celebrities. Hockey Ultimate Team is all about grinding to collect new cards, and it remains a fun experience to build a fantasy team comprised of legends and current stars alike, and compete against others.

NHL 20 successfully captures the ice hockey experience from the ponds to big games under the bright lights, with a fine attention to detail and simple yet deep controls that are best-in-class. Once you get over the shock of Eddie and Doc being out of the game, the new commentary team do an adept job of providing informative and playful banter, while the game’s multitude of varied modes each have their own distinct feel and appeal that go a long way to make NHL 20 an excellent representation of hockey culture across the board.

Source : Gamesport

[nyandaah]

Ree Reads Stone Ocean: Highway to Foo Fighters

(Chapter 20-32)

So Whitesnake took Jotaro's stand and "heart" and now Jolyne's staying in the prison to try and get them back. So it IS a "beat the bad guy and save a loved one" thing after all.

Aside from that it's still doing things veery differently from Part 3 though, but I do like that parallel.

I love characters figuring out newly gained powers, so that scene with Hermes (Ermes?) was really neat to me, hella unique power too.

The visual of Whitesnake's power taking discs that go through a person's face is,,, freaky.

oh suic*de what the hell

Ggh... Highway to Hell..

First off, Whitesnake monologuing transitioning to the scene through having it be the "image" on the disc inside the toilet- 10/10

Again, another thing I'd LOVE to see animated

Second of all, geez, McQueen being suic*dal and his stand working Steely Dan-style by sharing the effect to others- Yike

I can draw a line here to the concept that taking your own life hurts others as much as yourself even though you don't mean to but... this makes it literal. Interesting stand power but... that's upsettingly real.

McQueen is obviously a very JoJo-ized exaggerated case,, but it's still kinda triggering and upsetting..

"Thinks all of society hates him because he only thinks of himself" is uhh,, a very harsh way to put it. Sad thing is I've heard people think along those lines regarding this subject, and as negativley as it's put what remains to be true is that people that are suic*dal need help first and foremost.

what i'm tryna say here is mcqueen please get some help.

nearly everytime Mystery Baseball Boy shows up I'm just- ????

His "room" is very trippy space-wise and oh look it's Giorno's power up item in there.

aand now we have who I know to be two of the other main characters.

The "ghost" of a room... I love that concept. Also Emporio is hecking weird..

His stand ability is to be able to use the "ghost" of objects?? whatever it means it sounds pretty cool.

I'm 80% sure I've heard of something like McQueen's "murder" case somewhere before..

Kiss' design looks weirdly similiar to Whitesnake in its' shilouette.. kinda odd.

Having to stick the discs into your head to see what's in them is.. ugh

I loooooove the setup for "Now There's Six of Us".

kinda sucks that I know who the significant one is from fan art and such but it's veryy well done nonetheless.

I'll never get tired of Jolyne's body unfurling into string.

I see that Jolyne's using the Okuyasu method of dealing with these situations..

"I have NO IDEA who the real bad guy is here so I'll just hit ALL OF THEM"

And whadaya know,, that was the right answer all along..

Oh is Foo Fighter a freaky-cool stand I love me a freaky-cool stand.

Corpse + Kiss = some body horror shit right there..

There's the Joestar lineage showing in Jolyne. Sparing and turning folks they fought into allies.

Foo Fighters got a damn good very classic-JJBA stand battle stlye fight. Still not sure how I feel about Highway to Hell but it sure was effective. Really seeing Part 6 continuing Part 5's trend of increasingly more brutal stand battles.

[junker-town]

Why The Open is the best major in golf

There's nothing in golf like The Open. Here's why the 148th edition will be special and worth watching again.

Every major championship has its own identity, but none is stronger than the oldest in golf, The Open. The easy and popular choice for "favorite major" is the Masters. The event at Augusta National has marketed itself perfectly and elevated its importance in what is a relatively short history compared to the other majors. I prefer The Open.

For several reasons -- the identity, how it stands so apart from every other tournament of the season, my own personal interaction and memories -- this is the championship that resonates most with me. I get up for it more than any other major. Here are some of the ways it's the best, most entertaining major in golf.

1. Links weather

It can get a little monotonous for the American golf fan. Sure, there are occasional seaside venues and many courses have a signature hole or quirk. But there are certainly months-long stretches with little variety.

The Open's great appeal is that it presents the players and audience with such a dramatically different venue and style of golf. There's an increased level of creativity often required to succeed -- we've seen Tiger win without ever taking his driver out of the bag, we've seen unknown Todd Hamilton win using a damn hybrid to bump-and-run his way around the greens, and we see winning scores that run the gamut. At Troon, a runaway duel between Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson left us with a winning score at 20-under. The Open rota is mostly predictable set of venues but this year's, Royal Portrush, is an unknown for the pros. It’s the first time The Open has come to Northern Ireland and Portrush since 1951 and it’s sold out, a rarity for this major. The pros may not be familiar with it, but it’s a world-class setup fully capable of hosting and will provide many of those traditional links feels and views we get in Scotland and England.

It's just a totally different style of golf and the weather can change it all from day to day, morning to afternoon and hole to hole. Sure, the big hitters and bombers often still have the advantage that they enjoy at many of the other venues on the season schedule. But at least they have to think about it some more, adapt different parts of their games and get creative at times. There are *options* on almost every shot, especially up around the green.

Many of the courses on The Open rotation have been lengthened, like all the other championship tracks across the world. But these venues still look the same -- you know immediately that you're at The Open. Links golf through the weather is the defining characteristic of an Open Championship and it's rewarding to dive right in for one all-important week each year.

2. Middle-of-the-night golf

Again, a unique aspect of The Open that is part of its charm but would be quite miserable if it went on for more than one week per year. BUT ... it's just one week, so suck it up and embrace the glorious blessing of middle-of-the-night golf. Getting up in the middle of the night to watch every hour of The Open broadcast once let me witness the greatest player-caddie interaction of all time.

The Phil-Bones dynamic made this job more fun. Maybe my favorite Vine ever from '14 Open. #RIPPhil&Bones #RIPVine pic.twitter.com/bCsV8VJiWk

— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) June 20, 2017

You never know what you might get as the rest of your house presumably sleeps. It's a fun party -- social media starts to stir, you know who's up and around and ready to plow through a 14-hour march.

In recent years, ESPN would come on the air around 4 a.m. for the first two rounds. This year, however, Golf Channel and NBC are back again for their fourth straight Open and will run a 50-hour broadcast from the very first tee shot until the conclusion on Sunday afternoon. So we'll do it live dammit! starting around 1:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. You now need to get up three hours earlier than you used to.

Whatever your preferred method is for getting through it -- crashing early Wednesday, or just going out for a late dinner, then staying out and powering through until Thursday afternoon -- make the effort. It's just one week and it becomes a fun personal tradition.

3. The 18th

Fewer and fewer things in golf really get the emotions running high -- so much of it is produced and forced. But the scene at the 18th of The Open never fails. Like so much with the oldest major in golf, it's because you know exactly what you're getting there. The courses may change but the R&A creates an ideal theater at the 18th each year. The only difference, really, is the clubhouse, which can serve as a "back wall.”

Grandstands go deep up the fairway from the area around the green, creating a tunnel of sorts. They also always look the same -- a similar arrangement with the blue-and-yellow scoreboards lording over the scene. It's a tradition and it looks inspiring even empty before Sunday...

Major championships are special, the walk up 18 at @theopen is another level. Sometimes have to stop and enjoy those moments with your dad!

A post shared by Justin Thomas (@justinthomas34) on Jul 15, 2018 at 9:01am PDT

... and then completely chilling when that Sunday comes and the crowds envelope the final group walking up to the green.

"It's the greatest walk in golf."pic.twitter.com/rk1I6xN1i7

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 18, 2017

Every major is going to put up a grandstand at its final hole, but no one sets the scene and does it with such a traditionally consistent look like The Open.

A major championship may not always produce the sexiest winner, but whomever makes that walk up the 18th at Portrush on Sunday will be gripping to watch.

4. The starter

Only at the Open Championship does a 156-player field all go off the same tee for all four rounds. It's just not possible at the U.S. Open or PGA Championship, where they send the full field in groups of three off both the 1st and 10th tees.

At The Open, however, it often stays light out way past 9 p.m. and sometimes pushing 10:30 or so when it's north in Scotland. They start the first and second rounds at 6:30 a.m., and just run everyone off the first tee for almost 11 hours until just after 4 p.m.

Standing guard at the 1st tee for the entire 11 hours, never taking a bathroom break, was always Ivor Robson, the iconic Open starter. Mr. Robson retired four years ago at St. Andrews, so we no longer have his incredibly unique and amusing voice at the start of every single round.

It will take a generation for someone to have the built-in familiarity that Robson had. David Lancaster got the first call for the impossible task of replacing Robson, and he didn't fly solo, unmoved for 11 hours like the great Ivor, but rather had occasional support from a second chair.

5. Pot bunkers

Bunkers, or sand traps if you're so inclined, aren't what they used to be. They're often not that penal for the best in the world, who sometimes even prefer that the ball go in a bunker for an easier up-and-down. At The Open, however, you can count on carnage. The pot bunkers are another tradition that make the golf of The Open so different from what we're used to, and it's fun to watch the best be challenged. Many of these might as well be hazards.

Steve Flynn-USA TODAY Sports

6. Gorse

A word that's really only used, and used constantly, at The Open. It's junk, schmutz, jail, death. These are the plants so thick that once your ball goes off line and lands in them, you'll have trouble just finding it. There are fewer of these gorse bushes at Portrush but there are large swaths of unkempt and unplayable fescue and wildflower fields Playing it and making a swing is often not really an option. So much like the bunkers, these are unofficial hazards. You don't need ponds and lakes everywhere to force big numbers on a scorecard.

7. The outfits

Your browser does not support iframes.

Yeahhh, the outfits from past decades at the other majors look questionable and can be jolting in retrospect. But the players tend to get a little more creative at The Open, going for some amalgam of modern and edgy gear that's also a nod to the history in the home of golf. This was Rory McIlroy's getup at Carnoustie in 2007 -- not some mid-70s tournament, although there's an overflowing library of those, too. A mock turtle, deep V sweater and white pants.

The weather always forces the players to layer up and all the #brands want to display their best, most innovative or iconoclastic stuff. What you get is a four-day adventure in style.

8. The Claret Jug

I am biased. If you've read this far, you understand that I love almost everything about the way The Open stands out from the others. So I am sure there will be some objections in some quarters ... buuuut the Claret Jug is the best trophy in sports. There are only one or two active trophies that are older, and it's the oldest in golf. There's nothing incredibly ostentatious about it. It's relatively small, has an actual utilitarian purpose and is the most sought-after trophy in the game. The presentation of the jug, as the R&A chief drones "champion golfer of the year," is another goosebumps moment at the end of this event.

You can have your green jacket. I want to put $40,000 bottles of wine in my jug like Phil Mickelson.

* * *

There are so many little quirks that separate The Open from every other event in golf. A first tee start or a logo or a trophy all taken individually seem minor and unnoticeable. But the combination of all these differences and touches make The Open what it is, and that's the best major in golf. The course, the players, the time of day, the broadcast, the history ... there are so many things, both subtle and conspicuous, that make up a major's identity. The combination at the modern-day Open make it the most fun in golf.

[xseedgames]

Akiba’s Beat - Localization Blog #2 - The Delusionscapes

With the release of AKIBA'S BEAT for PS4 and Vita alike less than a week away (or just over a week away, if you’re in Europe), we thought it might be nice to take a closer look at the game's "Delusionscapes" -- the dungeons created within the Tokyo district of Akihabara that make up roughly one half of the game's playtime. Some fans have been unclear as to what these are and how they work, so we figured we’d show you some of the original concept art from several choice Delusionscapes, along with providing thorough descriptions of how each one -- and the delusion that spawned it -- fit into the game's setting and overall story.

Audio Delusionscape

For a brief moment in time, Akihabara was an audiophile’s dream, with stereo equipment plentiful and knowledgeable staffers on every corner. But when’s the last time you saw someone excitedly buying a several thousand-dollar boffo stereo setup with amp, subwoofer, big honking speakers, etc.? I’m willing to bet it wasn’t anytime since the turn of the millennium, and Akihabara – its finger ever on the pulse of current technological trends – reflects that, with the audio niche being all but gone from the Akiba streets of today.

One of the central themes of AKIBA’S BEAT, however, is that sometimes, people simply cannot accept change… and in the Akiba depicted here, those who have a strong affinity for the way things used to be can actually change reality to make it that way again.

One music hipster dude, who runs one of the few surviving audio specialty stores in Akihabara, did exactly that, and created this Delusionscape full of the most amazing audio equipment you've ever seen (with perfect acoustics, no doubt!). And where did he create it? Why, at the heart of Akiba, of course: Akihabara Station, where all those heading to or from the district inevitably must go. From the outside, it just looks like the station's got a larger-than-life sound system attached to it, but on the inside, it's a maze of graphic equalizers and top-of-the-line gear.

The key part of this delusion, however, is the effect it has on the people of Akihabara, unconsciously causing Akiba residents and tourists alike to have a strange desire to go out and buy new audio equipment…

Idol Delusionscape

Cuteness, pinkness, and bunnies rule the day here, as the site of a simple concert fronted by up-and-coming idol singer Riyu Momose turns into an absolute idol paradise. Throngs of adoring (and rather creepy) fans flock to the site, guided to it like a beacon in the night, leaving our heroes with a bit of a conundrum: who among this crowd of hundreds -- nay, thousands -- could be the "deluser" responsible for dreaming up such a venue?

On the inside, the Idol Delusionscape shares its outer appearance, but dials it all up to eleven with neon color-changing lights and whimsical designs around every corner. One can only imagine the Grand Phantasm (read: boss) that awaits at the end of such a high-energy labyrinth!

The Idol Delusionscape is when the story of AKIBA'S BEAT really starts to kick into gear, presenting players with a large list of suspects as to who might be responsible for its creation, and forcing them to do some true sleuthing in order to find the answer. Is it the jovial yet overbearing Chunk Widebody? The scrawny, sweaty, and devious Twiggy Slims? Or perhaps it's the shy, awkward Megane Taro, who seems -- by all accounts -- to recognize that something isn't quite right about all of this...

Maid Delusionscape

As with the Audio Delusionscape, this one represents a period in Akiba's history that's only just now starting to come to a close: the maid boom. Maid cafes are a staple of Akiba culture, allowing reclusive "otaku" (read: nerds) not only to eat lovingly prepared food full of hearts and flowers and frills, but to have cute girls in maid outfits waiting on them hand and foot the whole time, calling them "master" and doing everything in their power to cheer them up with song and dance routines, magic shows, games... whatever it takes!

Maid cafes are still abundant in Akihabara today, with locations like Maidreamin and Granvania serving as landmarks to travelers in the district, and girls in full maid outfits still handing out sale flyers to passers-by on a daily basis. However, if you went back in time only a few years -- roughly to the period when AKIBA'S TRIP: Undead & Undressed was released -- you'd find maid culture to be more of a dominant force than it is today. In other words, it's still going strong... but it's noticeably waning, losing ground to idol culture and other otaku whims.

This is where the Maid Delusionscape comes in. From the outside, it appears as a beacon of maid symbology (frilly lace, rice omelettes with ketchup hearts drawn on them, etc.) at the site of an in-universe branch of the "Maidiators" cafe -- and this carries through to the inside as well (albeit with more imagery of bars and chains, suggesting the “deluser” responsible for this delusion might feel a bit trapped). But it's the effect the maid delusion has on Akiba that's most noticeable, essentially restoring the maid boom in full... and then some. As long as the Maid Delusionscape exists, maids will be more popular in Akihabara than ever, surpassing their peak numbers from the early-to-mid 2010s. And if that happens... well, it doesn't sound all that bad, does it? But one could argue that it'll cause the district to be thrown out of balance, losing its propensity for change. And without that, Akiba just isn't Akiba anymore!

As such, the Maid Delusionscape chapter is the first time the game’s characters really start to ask: is it right to destroy someone's delusion, even when it doesn't seem to be doing any harm? Should delusions be condemned simply for "defacing reality"? Or should they, under certain circumstances, perhaps be embraced?

“Chuuni” Delusionscape

There are numerous Japanese terms that come up so regularly in the anime fandom, they've basically become adopted into the worldwide "anime lexicon" at this point. "Baka," for example, is a word most anime fans know means "idiot," and "tsundere" is a word most anime fans know refers to someone who's mean and abrasive on the outside to cover up her (usually her) inner emotionality.

One that doesn't come up as often, however, but is absolutely key to understanding the story of AKIBA'S BEAT (and is thus left untranslated, but clearly outlined to players during the course of the game, even in the original Japanese), is "chuuni." Literally "junior high sophomore," it's an abbreviated version of the larger slang term "chuunibyou," or roughly "eighth-grade sickness." This somewhat derogatory term refers to people who are obsessed with the types of "edgy" things typically associated with fiction targeted toward eighth-graders: large unwieldy swords, characters with mysterious pasts, pretentiously poetic dialogue that obscures the meaning of crucial passages, heroic acts of self-sacrifice, focusing one's power "over 9000," etc.

This Delusionscape, then, is fairly low-key and personal compared to a lot of the others in the game. Its effects on the district are minimal, but those who dare to enter it are met with a unique brand of opposition in the form of a dark-cloaked man with a large axe who speaks in riddles. The key to passing by him is solving his riddles, and the key to that is finding the source of the delusion -- the person who dreamed up this den of tired anime stereotypes in the first place. But can that be done before the power of the Chuuni Delusionscape collapses in on itself like a neutron star?! Find out next time... on AKIBA'S BEAT!

Electronics Delusionscape

This is one of the more surprising Delusionscapes in the game, I think. When you hear “electronics,” you probably aren’t picturing quite what you get here – verdant green grass and moss, with a general feeling of nature encroaching upon everything around you. How does this relate to electronics? Well, if you look a bit closer, you'll see: mixed in with all the foliage (indeed, almost camouflaged by it) are air-conditioning units, fans, microwaves, washing machines, refrigerators, and all manner of other home appliances (you don’t actually have to look THAT close in the concept art image, but in-game, these appliances are a bit fewer in number and more well-hidden). These aren't the electronics that first spring to mind when most of us hear the word, but make no mistake: these are the electronics that made Akihabara what it is today. And here, they're shown as being forgotten... abandoned... left out for so long that they're overgrown with moss and vines, likely never to function again.

This is the delusion of someone who controls a vast empire of home appliances, but either regrets that he’s still living in Akihabara’s past, or is afraid his goods will be rendered obsolete by newer, more advanced inventions. It’s the delusion of an insecure store owner – the hidden underbelly of a “home appliance boom” that's happening on the outside, with people suddenly snatching up home appliances in droves like never before... when in reality, one rarely goes to Akihabara for home appliances these days. The meaning of “electronics” – indeed, of “Electric Town” in general – has changed into a completely different beast over the last few decades. And there are clearly some who would prefer not to change with it, and will fight tooth and nail to keep things the way they once were.

Represented in one of the more emotional chapters of AKIBA'S BEAT, the events surrounding the Electronics Delusionscape hit pretty hard, and may be some of the more memorable and intense moments found in the entire game.

They are also, sadly, very easy to spoil, so I shall speak no more on the subject!

In fact, to talk about any of the other Delusionscapes at this point would be virtually impossible without spoiling crucial story scenes, so suffice it to say we've only just scratched the surface here -- there are many, many more in this game, each with their own story to tell!

If you could make any delusion into reality, what would your delusion be? Where would it be located, and what effect would it have on your town/city/village/trailer park/biodome? What would the inside of its Delusionscape look like, and what “Grand Phantasm” -- representative of the core concept from deep within your soul that spawned this delusion in the first place -- would await at the end of it?

We’ve been asking ourselves that very same question here at the XSEED offices, and if you’re lucky, maybe we’ll share a few of our answers with you in a future blog. Because let me tell you, we're all delusers, baby (though please don't kill us!).

In the meantime, you can join Asahi & co. on their delusion-filled journey May 16th in North America or May 19th in PAL regions, on PS4 or Vita, both versions containing dual voice and dual text (so you can play with any combination you’d like of Japanese or English voice-acting or text). And in fact, although we previously stated that players would have to download the Japanese voices as free DLC for the Vita version, it turns out we were able to include them as part of the base game after all, so all users on both PS4 and Vita will have all voice and text options in all English-speaking regions, right from the start.

Are you ready to be deluded?

[therealkn]

David’s Resolution - Day 4

Day 4 (January 4, 2019)

Pitch Black (2000)

“All you people are so scared of me. Most days, I take that as a compliment. But it ain’t me you got to worry about now.”

This one is admittedly a bit of a cheat, as I have actually seen this movie before. But it was a while since I last saw it, and I hadn’t seen all the Riddick movies in their entirety, so might as well put it here. And besides, it’s always interesting to see the humble beginnings of something that became much larger than people initially saw. In fact, in 2004, when the sequel The Chronicles of Riddick came out, this movie was re-released on home video as The Chronicles of Riddick: Pitch Black to remind audiences that this wasn’t the debut of one Richard B. Riddick.

The film itself is a fairly straightforward sci-fi/horror movie with a tried-and-true premise: a spaceship lands on an alien planet, where a dangerous predatory lifeform is out to kill everyone until only a handful of survivors make it out alive. It’s something we’ve seen quite a few times, especially in one of my favorite horror movies, Alien, and even Alien wasn’t unique in that approach: this setup stretches as far back as the 1950s with It! The Terror from Beyond Space (a movie that quite a few feel Alien was a remake of) and Forbidden Planet. So what makes Pitch Black unique, aside from Riddick?

The story isn’t one, although that’s not a bad thing. It’s a stock premise, like I said. A spaceship lands (crash-lands, actually) on a planet, this one barren and with three suns that keep it in constant daylight. It gives us some interesting visuals to look at and that help give the movie a distinct look. A lot of the first part of the movie uses either yellow or blue lighting, which helps create an unfamiliar atmosphere for the viewer. (Funny enough, this isn’t the only film USA Films released in 2000 that featured distinctive color grading; the other one I will get to later.) But it isn’t long before the survivors realize that the planet they’re on is about to have a long eclipse, and after that the film spends the rest of the time in chiaroscuro, which adds to the creepy atmosphere by making us feel like the aliens are out there, stalking them at every step, waiting for the moment to turn one of them into a meal.

And then there’s the characters. We’ll get to Riddick soon, promise, but there’s other people, you know. The survivors of the crash are a motley crew, including Radha Mitchell as Carolyn Fry, the only surviving crew member of the ship, who has some guilt over the casualties from the landing; a Muslim known as Imam, played by Keith David (known hero of this earth, protector of this realm, long may he reign); a settler played by Claudia Black (who sadly does not get a whole lot to do in this film; that’s okay, we still have Farscape and Stargate and Dragon Age), a kid named Jack, who looks up to Riddick and even shaves their head like his and wears goggles like him; an antiques dealer who also has a lot of booze; and Johns, the man who wants to bring Riddick in and who has an unsavory thing or two about him. (Also, for Power Rangers fans, one of Imam’s kids - the first one to die, in a fairly gruesome fashion - would later play the Red Ranger in Power Rangers Mystic Force. I don’t have anything to add to that, I just like pointing this stuff out.)

The character interactions aren’t bad and they do a decent job of setting them up so we feel some sympathy when they die in gruesome fashion. This is a horror movie with alien monsters, so people are gonna die. It isn’t a spoiler to say that only three people survive - Riddick, Imam, and Jack, whose gender is a twist in this movie but not anymore in the sequel - because those are established in The Chronicles of Riddick. My personal rule is that if a sequel follows on what was a twist in its predecessor, it’s not a twist anymore and can’t be treated like a twist anymore. So yeah, Jack’s a girl and everyone but those three die. That and the direct-to-video animated movie Dark Fury follows up directly after this movie. So if anyone starts getting angry that this has been spoiled, yeah.

On the note of characters, let’s talk about the “unrated director’s cut” home video release. I will say that the term is a bit misleading. Calling it an “unrated cut” suggests that this version of the film contains stuff that was cut to satisfy the MPAA and get the film whatever rating it got for its theatrical release (R-rated, in this case), and that said content will contain some combination of violence, gore, sex, and bad language that had to be removed so the MPAA would be happy. It is also called a “director’s cut”, a version of a film that better represents the director’s intended vision of the film. But “unrated”? ...Why? Why does it have to be unrated? The “unrated director’s cut” is about six and a half minutes longer than the theatrical cut, and all of the additional stuff is just character interactions that were cut not for MPAA rating reasons, but for pacing reasons since they slow the pace a little. The most interesting addition involves the character Johns, as it expands a bit on his character and makes him slightly more sympathetic. I say “slightly” cause he’s still an asshole.

And there’s the creatures as well. The creatures are pretty cool-looking. It’s like a mad scientist created a new being by splicing together elements of a hammerhead shark and a bat and a velociraptor, and then decided it needed claws like Baraka from Mortal Kombat. The creatures only go into dark areas as the light literally burns them, so an eclipse happening means that it’s madness out there unless one has light to keep themselves alive, something that gets harder and harder for our survivors as the film progresses. They’re blind so they use echolocation to see, which gives another unique visual by portraying their sight as a weird black-and-white mesh. It’s kinda weird in that “early 2000s special effects” sense, and yet it works.

And then, we have Richard B. Riddick. After all, this movie spawned a franchise centered around the beautiful bald SOB, so let’s talk about him. For myself and I think for many, this is the role that defines Vin Diesel’s career. He’d already had some success with a supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (fun fact: Spielberg wrote that role specifically for Diesel after seeing Diesel’s performance in his first feature film, Strays, which he also wrote and directed), and then the year before he voiced the titular Iron Giant in Brad Bird’s 1999 animated film, which of course has gone on to become a modern animated classic. (And I will watch that film for the resolution since I’ve only seen part of it.) And a year after this, Vin would star in The Fast and the Furious, which was a big box-office success and spawned a successful franchise that’s still going strong to this day.

Okay, now let’s talk about Riddick. Riddick is honestly the most fleshed-out and interesting character in the film, and it makes sense why Vin, writer/director David Twohy, and the higher-ups at Universal saw potential in telling more stories about the character. He’s described as evil on several occasions, not only by characters like Johns in this film or Aereon in The Chronicles of Riddick, but even the poster for the film has the tagline “Fight evil with evil”. Yet throughout the whole franchise, it’s hard to say that Riddick’s actually evil. He’s more Chaotic Neutral, really. He's more like an animal who does whatever he can to survive, but that doesn’t mean he’s a backstabbing shitheel who’ll betray you in a heartbeat. (True Neutrals, on the other hand...) He seems more amoral if anything; near the end of the movie, he seems intrigued by Fry’s willingness to die for the sake of saving everyone while he was willing to let them die so he could escape, which may begin something like a redemption in that he seems to better understand the value of protecting lives, or at least can understand the motivation of selflessness.

But throughout the franchise, he basically only kills in self-defense, never for pleasure or for the hell of it. Hell, most who say he’s evil are actually worse than him, like Johns, so who knows; he may just be someone with a bad rep. My view of him could be summarized in a modified quote from Deadpool: he’s a bad guy who just happens to fuck up worse guys. But even then, he’s not really that bad. Yes, he’s an escaped convict who’s managed to escape even the most secure triple-max security prisons, and he’s an admitted murderer, but bad? The worst thing he does in the franchise is near the end of this film, where, like I said, he basically abandons everyone so he can save himself. But even then, you could argue that it’s not so much being an asshole as it is that it’s unlikely they’ll all survive. But hey, he does come back to save them, so yaaaaaay.

Also, he has the ability to see in the dark because he got a guy in prison to do an operation on his eyes that give him enhanced night vision, but at the cost of being more sensitive to bright lights, which is why he wears welding goggles all the time. The sensitivity thing gets toned down a bit as the franchise goes on, and they later retcon his acquisition as a supernatural ability.

I do recommend this movie. As it is, it’s a solid sci-fi/horror movie that, even with its kinda wonky early-2000s CGI, has good atmosphere and a very compelling character in Riddick. Plus, hey, Vin Diesel is always a win.

...Actually, anyone else think CinemaWins should do the Riddick movies?

Next time: The closest we’ll probably ever get to a Warhammer 40,000 movie.

[mekhigreene]

What’s On My Desk + Give Away

This is something that I’ve wanted to share for a while and I thought now would be a great time to do it. I find desk setups to be very fascinating and I’m always curious to see why people use the technology they use. 

Each person’s desk is unique and specially catered to their needs, style, occupation and so on. I figured why not share what I use.

Also if you read the title of this post you’ll know I’m doing a giveaway. I’ll be giving away a new Logitech G703 gaming mouse.

If you’re interested in how you can enter the giveaway check out the end of this post. 

Anyway, enough rambling, let me walk you through what’s on my desk. 

ASUS ROG Zephyrus S (GTX 1070) 

For the past few years, I’ve cycled through several computers because I couldn’t find the right solution for my needs. Towards the end of 2019, I bought the Asus Rog Zephyrus S and it’s been my main computing device since.

It’s the powerhouse of my setup and it gives me power and portability in a very sleek frame. The Zephrus S is a laptop I can travel with and when I return home, I’m able to connect it to my monitor for a better viewing experience. 

I use it for school/work, producing my podcast, light gaming, and even occasional video editing. 

LG – 27UL600-W 27″ LED 4K Monitor

I decided to go with this monitor because I intended to use it for photo and video editing. To be completely honest I haven’t edited many videos in recent months but I still get some use out of this monitor. 

The size of the screen is just the right size and it fits fairly well on my Ikea Linnmon tabletop. I’m also a huge fan of the color, although it’s silver/white and everything else on my desk is black.

At times I wish I had more screen real estate but for now, this monitor gets the job done. Let’s just hope I eventually start editing more videos…

Anne Pro 2 (Keyboard)

The Anne Pro 2 is a keyboard that I had my eye on for a long time and I recently got my hands on it. My desk is on the smaller side so moving to a 60% keyboard is life-changing because of the compact size. 

The version I have is the black with gateron brown switches (For my keyboard enthusiasts). I appreciate having a wireless keyboard and it’s nice to have RGB lighting.

So far I’m loving this board and the goal is to eventually customize it with custom keycaps. That’s a project for another day though. 

Logitech G703 Gaming Mouse

This mouse has been nothing but amazing and I’ve had it for a few years now. I never quite understood people who buy a mouse for gaming and a separate mouse for work. 

For me, this mouse does it all. It’s super light, fits my hand like a glove, it has programmable keys, and I could go on. 

My point is this mouse has been my go-to and I’ll most likely hold onto it until it stops working. 

Satechi Leather Mousepad

There is nothing I hate more in this world than a mousepad that frays. That’s an exaggeration but it seriously annoys me.

I thought the best solution to this problem would be to get a mousepad that isn’t made out of a cloth material, so I settled on this Satetchi pad. There isn’t much to say about this thing outside of the fact that it functions as advertised. 

Anker Wireless Charger

Keeping a wireless charging pad on my desk has been way more convenient than I initially imagined. It allows me to keep my phone close to me and check it frequently without the hassle of having to plug and unplug.

Anker makes reliable charging products and this pad was very affordable so if you’re thinking about buying one I can recommend this. Wireless charging isn’t a necessity, but it definitely is nice to have. 

HooToo USB C Hub, 8-in-1 USB C Adapter

I originally bought this USB C adapter with the intention of pairing it with a MacBook pro that I had at the time. Since then I’ve sold the MacBook but the laptop I currently use has two USB C ports so this adapter is still useful. 

Right now I use the adapter to house the USB dongle for my mouse, my external hard drive, and keyboard. When I need to transfer files via SD card I use the SD card reader too. 

This adapter has its drawbacks and one of them being its limitation to support 4k at 60HZ. It irritates me slightly because I can’t directly connect my monitor to the adapter but I’ve gotten over it. 

Western Digital 2TB Hard Drive

Once again there isn’t a whole lot I can say about this item. It’s 2 terabytes and it holds some of my larger files.

I haven’t had any issues with it but eventually, It would be cool to upgrade to an SSD. 

Ikea Linnmon Tabletop

My desk is pretty bare and simple! It’s the popular Linnmon tabletop with Advil legs. 

I think it looks great and it’s relatively inexpensive on top of that. I want to buy 1 set of Alex drawers to increase my storage but that’s something I’ve been putting off for months now. 

Ikea Signum Rack

This is a cable management rack meant to help clean up stray and wild cables. I’ve experimented with using other options but this one works with so little thought. 

And that’s what’s on my desk!  What do you think of my setup? Do you think there are better solutions? 

Now…

Let’s talk about the giveaway! 

To enter all you need to do is retweet my original tweet and click here to enter. 

I’ll be contacting the winner through email. I’ll also be tagging the winner on Twitter so make sure you’re following me! 

The winner will be announced next Wednesday after 1 PM EST so be on the lookout. 

Starting now I’ll be doing 1 give away a month centered around what content I publish. To stay up to date with my post and those giveaways, join my weekly review.  

This is essentially a weekly email where I’ll share whatever post I published that week and I’ll share any interesting insights I’ve come across. The emails won’t be long or spammy and you can always unsubscribe at any time!

Thanks for reading this week’s post! Be sure to let me know what’s on your desk by tweeting at me @greenemekhi. 

Links to everything I mentioned can be found by clicking on the heading of each item! 

(Some of the above links are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, my page will receive some kickback if you click through and make a purchase)

The post What’s On My Desk + Give Away appeared first on Mekhi Greene.

[operationrainfall]

Title Yoshi’s Crafted World Developer Good-Feel Publisher Nintendo Release Date March 29th, 2019 Genre Platformer Platform Nintendo Switch Age Rating E for Everyone – Mild Cartoon Violence Official Website

Sometimes we’re hardest on those things we love. I absolutely love Yoshi, as I have since the release of Yoshi’s Island. Which brings us to today’s review of Yoshi’s Crafted World. No matter how hard I try, I always feel compelled to compare each new Yoshi release not only to the one which preceded it, but the one that started it all. Which sets an awfully high bar, since no game has eclipsed the original, though Woolly World came the closest. But before we start comparing apples to delicious apples, it’s only fair to cover what Yoshi’s Crafted World does well, before we tackle what it does wrong.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Much like every other Yoshi game, Crafted World’s plot is the least important part of it. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its high points. Sure the premise is the same “Kamek does something bad, Yoshis go to stop him and Baby Bowser”, but the way it is executed has some charm. There’s adorable cutscenes that show the baddies scheming, as well as some almost claymation style sequences right before boss fights. As soon as you understand there is no mystery here, just a two dimensional motivation to get going, you’ll enjoy the game a lot more. And while the premise is certainly simple, there’s an air of childlike wonder to it all that makes it enjoyable for gamers young and old alike. In this game, Kamek steals the wish-granting Sundream Stone that, for some inexplicable reason, was left in the care of the Yoshis. Or rather, Kamek tries to steal it, and the resulting tumult sends the stones set into the artifact flying. Whoever can collect them and put the artifact back together first will be granted a wish, and you can bet Baby Bowser’s demands aren’t healthy. Thus, you pick your flavor of Yoshi and get started on this adventure.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As far as how the game controls, it’s pretty much what you expect. You can flutter jump, aim, ground pound and eat enemies to make eggs. I appreciated that there were a variety of control options, since the initial setup wasn’t what I wanted. Instead, I picked one that more closely resembled what I remembered from Yoshi’s Island. They really simplified the aiming, and instead of the reticule bouncing back and forth, it will just aim in whatever direction you want. You can still bounce eggs off things, you just will rarely have occasion to.

As a tried and true Yoshi fan, I went with Type B controls.

Like Woolly World before it, Crafted World is arranged with a distinct visual flair. Instead of yarn, this one is mostly about paper crafts, though there’s a huge variety of other influences. There are bouncing origami flowers, springy macaroons, giant magnetic soda cans and much more besides. In a weird way, aesthetically this almost reminds me of some of the Chibi-Robo games, with real world items making up strange landscapes. It’s all delightful to look at, especially since Good-Feel did their level best to make no two worlds the same, meaning there’s a ton of visual level variety.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Another way this apes its predecessor is that the levels are incredibly content dense. Besides finding all the Flowers, Red Coins and Heart pieces to 100% a level, they also have other ways to stretch out your playtime. And trust me, it can take a while just to find all those. Most levels I couldn’t find everything the first try, and many I’m still missing stuff after exploring them multiple times. You’ll also be able to play the flip side of stages, which is essentially just playing them in reverse. Though it’s cool to see the stages from another angle, thankfully they added something to make them a little more interesting. That special sauce are the Poochy Pups. Yoshi’s loyal hound has always been entertaining, but their puppies are even crazier. The little psychos run wild at the start of the flip side stages, and your goal is to find them all in a specific time frame in order to get rewarded with more Flowers. You have to find them and then hit them with an egg to make them follow you. Better yet, once they do, they act as a sort of infinite egg, and once tossed will boomerang back to you. As if that wasn’t adorable enough, when you flutter jump, they will hover as their little tails wag furiously.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Lastly, the other aspect that makes each stage a lot more extensive than you’d expect are the Souvenir hunts. You’ll come across these strange cardboard robots whenever you unlock a stage, and afterwards, they’ll have you find carefully hidden crafts in stages. Though these are optional, once you find them, you’ll be rewarded with even more Flowers. By now you’re probably wondering why you keep getting rewarded with Flowers. The good news is, they actually serve a purpose. They unlock stages, and the farther you get, the more you’ll need. I actually liked this feature, since I hate when you are forced to collect a bunch of items for no real reason in other games. Having said that, I wish getting all the Red Coins did something other than give me more Flowers. I would have loved if they unlocked extra stages or something similar.

More Yoshi on Page 2 ->

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

While the general flow of the game is play a stage, get Flowers, unlock more stages, rinse and repeat, there are some elements that keep things fresh. There are what I call event stages. They all have some gimmick and a set point goal you’re trying to reach in a limited time frame. A good example is the Go-Go Yoshi stage, where you climb into a cardboard mega Yoshi and try and break everything in sight with a giant fist. Another is when you pilot a plane by running up and down its length, or guide a solar powered car by steering it into beams of sunlight. These are all good fun, and fairly challenging to boot. I’m glad they are there to keep things interesting, though perhaps the game could have used a few more of them.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One way Crafted World improves upon Woolly is with their boss fights. Unlike in Woolly World, here you never face the same boss more than once. Each encounter, whether against a main boss or mini boss, is totally unique, and challenging enough that you can’t get too cocky. Some of them are new takes on classic foes, like a giant Piranha Plant, but some are very unique and highly enjoyable. My personal favorite is the Gator Train, but the final boss also gives the one from the original Yoshi’s Island a run for their money. I just wish there were more boss fights, since in the SNES original there were a ton of them, and here there are only 5. That said, I’d rather have less bosses than rehash or uninspired battles. But with that in mind, I absolutely miss the Castle and Fort stages. Those did a great job of building up the tension until you reach the boss fight, whereas here, each boss fight is just its own stage that you unlock.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Visually speaking, this is a wonderful game and is dripping with creativity. There’s a lot of small moments of genius here, and each level is utterly packed with things to admire. My personal favorites were the Rumble Jungle, Ninjarama and Shadowville stages. One of which includes the first survival horror level I’ve ever played in a Yoshi game. And though I didn’t use them much, the many costumes you can unlock with coins in the game are a treat, especially the weird stuff like Cow Yoshi. One of my favorite parts visually were the cutscenes that occur when Kamek uses his magic to make each boss. These are totally trippy and I highly approve of them. Musically, Crafted World takes a hit. Much like in the last Good-Feel game, here the music is overly mellow and frankly underwhelming. There’s some variety, such as the music in the haunted mansion and ninja stages, but I just wanted a bit more punch. Seeing as how the original game had a bunch of wonderful tunes, I almost wish Good-Feel would just focus on the visual side and hire another team to do their music. Thankfully, the sound effects are all pitch perfect, which helps ease my frustration.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Thus far I’ve been mostly sticking to the positive stuff, but now I have to cover areas I felt the game could have improved. One involves the gameplay variety, which was overall a bit disappointing. I say that because mechanically speaking, Yoshi’s Crafted World feels a lot less innovative than Woolly World. In that game, there was constantly something crazy happening. Here they mostly play it safe, other than with the visual style. And while I do love the classic Yoshi’s Island mechanics, that game was also known for being very innovative and not resting on its laurels. In many ways, I feel Good-Feel played it safe with Crafted World. Sure, there’s lots of stuff to do, but doing it is mostly the same, and can start to feel repetitive. This goes double when you’re trying to grind through levels to find everything, which really takes a lot of the charm out of it. I don’t mind finding the basic stuff, but going through the same stage for the umpteenth time to find a deviously hidden souvenir started to wear on me.

Another minor frustration is with the egg toss aiming. Since each stage is 3D, even in 2D looking sections, aiming can be a challenge. You’ll be aiming down and might instead hit something in the foreground. This wasn’t game breaking by any means, but it was really irritating in the faster paced moving sections. More of a problem, at least for me, is that I really wanted more to unlock. Sure, each stage is dense, but besides what I’ve already mentioned, the only other things you unlock happen after you beat the game. You unlock a series of stages called the Hidden Hills, and it’s no exaggeration that these are brutally hard platforming challenges. Other than that, you’ll unlock a hide and seek character that will show up in every stage and challenges for boss battles, and that’s it. I really wanted something more, though to be fair we didn’t get much more in Woolly World.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

In the end, I did enjoy Yoshi’s Crafted World, though that was never really in doubt. But unfortunately, in many ways Yoshi’s Crafted World felt like a step back from Woolly World, which in many ways felt like the better game. It’s far from bad, and even is challenging enough that I died a handful of times, but it just felt like it was playing things too safe. It might be better if I had tried the two player mode, though I tend to doubt that would have influenced me much. For $59.99, I do feel you’ll get your money’s worth, as I easily spent 10 hours beating it and many more trying to unlock everything. But your mileage may vary for how motivated you feel to unlock everything the game has to offer. If you’re a fan of Yoshi, I’d say it’s worth buying, but if not, you may want to try another Switch platformer.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3.5″]

Review Copy Purchased by Author

REVIEW: Yoshi’s Crafted World Title Yoshi's Crafted World

[freeyoutubemarketing-blog]

10 Checklist Points Before Engaging In Social Media Marketing

Where to Begin?

Social networking marketing has a reputation that is bogus. For most an executive in the industrial division, this exercise amounts up to a series of signups over many social networks randomly and from time to time, multimedia, post postings and advertisements within Facebook and Twitter. This is certainly not the perfect shot!

SMM is much more than simply being present from the Social Media Sphere. It's a sharp business participation that may just become complete havoc if not managed correctly. The objective of Social Marketing in cyberspace would be just like the real world thing. It is about providing Unique Selling Points that can wind up into tangible and continuing sales. It's all about converting an anon to a new urge in the best. Achieving this goal follows essentially the very same principles but for the fact that Social Media enables a closer, more private and customizable, so to state Social strategy of their aims. Same principles apply but with less or more variants. Assessing the prerogatives, circumstance, environment and toolsets is the key starting point of any Social Media Marketing effort. It implies comprehensive clinical and setup precision in how attitudes and messages must be delivered via dedicated channels. In these attempts, posting on Facebook, on a fan page, category page or personal webpage is not the exact same procedure.

Listed below are 10 checklist points before engaging in Social Media Marketing:

Define your foundation plan. Installation a budgeted roadmap with intermediate white rocks which will assist at fine tuning the effort all over the way.The roadmap must remain in tune with what's being done or what's been achieved in the real world. Social Media Marketing is not an innocent action. It's time-consuming and will incur costs. Getting precise about the effort will surely reduce the weight. As said earlier evaluate the most important purpose and objective. By way of instance, you might have to completely revamp your real website in order to allow SM integration along with SMO. Make your effort remain SMARRT - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Relevant and Time-bound. Either opt for Awareness or Sales or Loyalty. One at a time! Do not attempt to target for all goals in 1 go. Remember! Stick with your institution's advertising and communication coverage.

Assess and understand that your effort's environment. RESEARCH and do not stop til' you get enough! One surely doesn't want to jump into dark waters without basic precautions and headlamps. So do you with your Social Media Marketing Campaign. Diving recklessly into Social Media can spell TOTAL MESS especially when dealing with building awareness and product reputation. Building an effective Online Social Strategy implies thorough knowledge of the competitors' doing is on shared platforms (obviously )... but most importantly, consider an humble record of the way that others from various businesses have done or do. Get into both unsuccessful and successful case studies. Find out more about technical abilities of each and each Social Network and stage.

Identify these programs and toolsets which are applicable and perfectly responsive to your roadmap. Social Media Marketing is about providing the exact same consistent message during the entire range of interwoven Social Networks. The amalgamated winning triumvirate is created from this Blog, Facebook and Twitter, where you'd include a YouTube account in case you'd have video clips uploaded on a regular basis. Choose strategically. By way of instance, you may feel that the requirement of Slideshare and LinkedIn accounts rather than a Foursquare one, in case your service or product is more into pitch-intensive B2B. Your toolset also needs to be composed of listening and tracking products. For more details click BoostYoutube.net - Trusted Youtube Marketing Service

Realistically size and budget your own Online Advertising. Utilize the entire potential of Google AdSense and Facebook's advertisements platforms, but be certain that you target sensibly. Goal-tied Marketing Campaigns mean nothing without proper advertisements. Intuitive Online advertising has become available through several clicks and will surely unleash its capability to share your brand on a worldwide basis. They are also able to improve diffusion to restricted zones. Consider assessing and identifying your aims on geographic grounds. This will aid at optimizing your internet advertising budget. Selecting PPC or CPC is up for you so for your basic roadmap requirements.

Setup a Social Media taskforce from inside your team and Search for an individual to function as a Community Manager. The internet never sleeps. Social Media Marketing is a 24/7 endless roll-on. Therefore it's period and resource-consuming. An individual shouldn't expect to be able of managing a Social Media Marketing effort independently, particularly if other main business duties are at stake. Rather, invite a few of your employees to participate into social media on your company's behalf. Be choosy though! Those indulged in such a sensitive and interactive endeavor should write well, be tactful, creative, true. Outsider Community Managers are rarely biased and therefore are confined to the sole duty of consolidating your taskforce's actions over applicable Social Networks. Whatever the case you need to build a staff whose chief targets and skills would be to hear, learn and answer in tactful method.

Prefer powerful relationships. Get your staff to spot big Bloggers and mainstream Social Media activists who participates together with your zones of curiosity and business. This undertaking is just one of the hinges of achievement to your effort. Getting to speak to Social Media heavyweights is similar to employing evangelists when relationships become entrusted. Obtaining Lady Gaga to enjoy your set of boots would be like tapping into a sea of chances as broad as 9 million people who'd simply follow Gaga's guidelines. Getting her to purchase one would imply instant achievement. CAREFUL however! The negative impact can be proportionally as large as the telephone's notoriety. Make certain of what you sell him or her. An effective Social Media Marketing campaign begins here.

Identify applicable measuring and benchmarking tools. They're proof of your effort's success or desire for fine tuning. As an instance, the gain in the amount of enjoys Facebook or followers on Twitter is a sign of your effort's health. Getting to know how often your brand is cited throughout the net and rating these remarks assist at fine tuning your effort. You also need to have the ability to keep tabs on your on-growing traffic and relationships that arrives out of Social Platforms. Discovering prospects for future chances helps at creating better plans. Beware! In the true condition of affairs, Social Media Metrics could be catchy! Actually you'll require an extremely broad range of results coupled with trending reports to have the ability to portray the specific snapshot of your continuing campaign.

Identify offline elements which will be necessary to match your Online Social Marketing. Offline events are powerful conversion tools when targeted the appropriate and appropriate way. Offline components might also imply interacting with folks off the net, in the actual world, offering real-world prizes and presents, organizing events, pub decks, conventions and conferences... etc Determine how these elements can improve your goal's brand experience and the way they will relevantly match into your Online Marketing Scheme.

Urge for quality related content when posting articles, multimedia and remarks. Praising your 270hp 1974 red Corvette if you urge for environmental products in your site is not the best of plans. Make sure you put editorial principles which can define consistent cross-border content creation both with respect to easy-reading science and technical particulars. If an uploaded movie maintain HD equally on YouTube and on Facebook? Just how long ought to be an report? Should an article have a generic shared byline for a number of writers or if it bear the true writer's name and on what grounds? An individual needs to always specify these lines so into this targeted audience.

Urge to remain HUMAN at each point! Putting a Social Media Marketing plan is all about creating your brand's Social Media existence wherever your quality reachable content will be providing worth of your company. Social Media is all about... Socializing first! People are touchy when it comes to positions and attitudes. They do not want to bullied or accepted as immature customers. Being overly techy, overly firm, demotes the societal encounter. Straightforward vocabulary and"real-worldlike" politeness will be the foundations for the very best of strategies. It's occasionally more fruitful to initiate a conversation which will seem miles apart from your product and its effort aims. Together with the will to pay attention along with also the capability to communicate clearly, higher conversion rates are not far ahead. Conclusion

Whoever participates into Social Media Marketing is bound to find himself yanking on quite many strings in precisely the exact same moment. Assessing, knowing the effort's surroundings through study and pre-dive learning is crucial. Even though the advertising procedure may appear like the real world thing, the Online Social Experience involves mastering every point with much more accuracy, since you'll never be able to see or examine real life behaviours, except for what the prospect writes from supporting his track, if it be true or untrue. A Social Media Marketing Strategy is the end result of the mix of individual competences and webtools that enable social interaction, sharing and direct into the benefit of a new. It's a two-way traffic where the vendor has an on-spot duty of being a psychologist, sociologist or a ethnologist. Be reassured you don't have to be these really because you are a human being who's allegedly utilized to human societal codes generally.

[grosserfluss]

30 day persona challenge ;

day 9: favorite dungeon

this challenge was really, really hard, because i ended up with two top choices, and i couldn’t for the life of me decide which one i wanted to pick in the end. but because i can only choose one, i finally chose to go with the hollow forest, but in truth i can’t even call my second place ‘second place’ because they’re extremely close, if not outright tied.

the hollow forest stands out to me as, narratively, p4′s best dungeon, and one of the best dungeons for narrative in both p4 and p5. perhaps it’s because it was not included as part of the original story plot, it does not feel like just another dungeon that you have to go through as part of the game plot to collect all your party members and whatever else it is the plot centers around ( solving the mystery, sticking it to The Man ). there is actually a reason to go into this in the story aside from ‘it’s the next part of the plot’. 

however, i would also argue that this is an impressive point of the hollow forest. often, with dungeons that are not directly plot-related, it is easy for them to feel like add-ons or shoe-horned in, particularly in the case of hollow forest where it was not part of the first game. it’s very easy to feel like they add nothing to the story and are only there for additional content for players who want more to do. but despite being an added feature, the hollow forest fits seamlessly into the narrative of p4. it doesn’t feel like ‘why is this related’ or like a branch-off; i felt like it was important to the story that we rescue marie.

which takes me to the next reason why the dungeon is my favorite; of all of them, it demonstrates and contributes directly to character development very well. i already talked in an earlier post about marie’s situation. she is unique in the fact that her social link -- where the bulk of persona’s character development usually occurs -- is actually the setup, and her dungeon -- which is usually the setup for characters -- is where the development happens. it was a lot to ask of a single dungeon, but the hollow forest accomplished it well. she struggles with identity, self-hatred, and isolation throughout the floors of the dungeon, and it is resolved in the boss fight. despite that, the development doesn’t feel rushed or campy; in fact, as i mentioned before, her boss fight and the scenes before and after it are some of my favorite in the game.

in addition to narrative and contribution to character, the dungeon’s aesthetic is also one of my favorites. i love the way it looks; i fell in love with its soft, dreamy appearance as soon as i stepped inside. the dungeon’s visuals imparted an atmosphere of loneliness, fading, longing, and memory almost immediately. i just loved that everything was blanketed in a layer of fog that, despite the role of fog in the game, was unthreatening despite the way it limited visibility. it felt instead almost comforting, and conveyed the peace, rather than fear, that marie felt accepting her isolation and suicide, even if there was also sadness. the soft whites and earthy browns also created a lulling, pleasing visual. there was nothing visually jarring or stand-out, again imparting a serene feeling upon the player as they progressed. and of course the misty pieces of inaba that marie visited throughout her social link being littered around the fringes of the scenery evoke heart-wrenching emotion. you could just imagine marie walking around her own dungeon, coming across the abstract recreation of the beef stand, and pausing to reflect sadly on the memories she’d shared with the MC and his friends there.

adding to that was the music, which is also one of my favorite tracks in the persona series. the memory track is absolutely gorgeous, and effectively captures the melancholy, longing state of nostalgia and regret that marie feels. the seamless combination of the visuals, the music, and her voice drifting across the background every now and then, all came together to present a dungeon that felt, to all the senses, permeated by marie’s soul.

finally, and this is the particular place where the hollow forest just barely edged out into first place, i love how the mechanics specific to the hollow forest also contributed to its atmosphere and symbolism. first of all, if i remember correctly, there aren’t really shadows just roaming around much in the dungeon, but they typically appear when you cut the ropes leading to different parts of the floor. unlike in other dungeons though, they are not visible beyond the barrier, but just appear occasionally as random encounters. i can’t really explain why this made an impression on me ( other than being annoying bc they were unavoidable ) but i think it added to the dream-like quality of the place since you couldn’t see the threats in front of you.

secondly, you lost all your equipment and weapons upon entering the dungeon, and could only equip what you found scattered in treasure chests throughout the dungeon. emblematically, all the default weapons your party had were “imitation --- ”, so yuu had his imitation katana, but naoto had an imitation gun, yukiko an imitation fan, etc. this highlighted the dungeon’s theme of identity always being questioned, things not being what they seemed, and the sense of unease and fear that comes with not knowing if you can believe what you thought you knew. the equipment you got throughout the dungeon also interestingly granted no stat bonuses like regular armor, but gave elemental immunity. these, along with the various SP-regen items you would find in chests, seemed like little lanterns of hope within the overall sense of melancholy and isolation, like small indications that marie was actually calling for help and in fact wanted you all to succeed and save her.

and finally, the dungeon’s iconic mechanic: SP being halved after every battle. i actually really loved how this mechanic ended up playing out for me. what happened was that the game would take however much SP you had at the end of each battle, and halve it afterwards. this sounds terrifying, and it kind of was in the sense that your entire party was constantly at low SP ( like, under 30 per person ). as this dungeon comes late in the game, the player is not used to feeling like they’re strapped for SP, especially if they’ve been grabbing cups from shuffle time and/or making use of the fox. it feels suffocating, like you’re trapped. you feel panicked because you’re afraid you might be left completely helpless against the monsters.

this is exactly the feeling that marie feels. trapped. suffocated by a situation she has no control over. like she’s on the verge of being overwhelmed by invisible demons.

and yet. as mentioned before, the dungeon is scattered with SP-regen items in its treasure chests. you get a bunch of these, easily enough to equip all your characters with at least the low-level ones, if not some of your more SP-heavy fighters with the ones that recover 8 or even 16 SP per turn. coupled with invigorate 3 on naoto and even MC if you’re prepared, this means that the reality is you will almost never use more SP than you regen in a turn. what this all leads to is the feeling that you’re constantly in danger of hitting rock bottom, but there’s always that bit of something that keeps you from getting there. you’re never completely done for. it just feels like it. and for them to work that extremely powerful message -- not only about mental health, but life in general -- into the mechanics of how the dungeon plays is very masterful.

i already talked a bunch in another post about how amazing the boss fight for the dungeon is, so i won’t recap that again. but it is easily my favorite boss fight in p4 as well, possibly in all of persona. the hollow forest was an incredible breath of fresh air in the midst of persona 4′s otherwise average narrative and character. it really felt like a diamond in the rough.

honorable mentions: futaba’s palace ( the second-place that’s actually more like a tie or maybe a 1.2 ), secret laboratory ( naoto’s dungeon ), void quest ( mitsuo’s dungeon )

[gamerszone2019-blog]

NHL 20 Review - Laced Up

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/nhl-20-review-laced-up/

NHL 20 Review - Laced Up

With its new commentary team and updated presentation package, NHL 20 represents the franchise’s biggest shakeup in years–and they’re mostly positive changes. Combined with excellent controls, fluid gameplay, numerous fun and engaging different modes to play, a fine attention to detail and appreciation for hockey culture, NHL 20 is a step forward that is generally excellent.

The biggest change for NHL 20 is its broadcast package. It is almost completely different this year, and the changes–which span commentary, UI, and graphics–are mostly positive but not always for the better. Commentators Mike “Doc” Emerick and Eddie Olczyk are out, while nearly the entirety of the NBC Sports Network license package, including live-action sequences, are gone, too. It’s a jarring change, as Emerick and Olczyk have been the voice of EA’s NHL games since NHL 15.

The new commentators are Canadian sports radio personality James Cybulski and former player and current rinkside analyst Ray Ferarro. They do a mostly adept job at calling plays with style, flair, and personality, and their back-and-forth banter succeeds at capturing the essence of hockey culture with hockey IQ and knack. Some commentary lines are repeated too often, however, and Cybulski in particular sounds at times like he is hamming it up and acting like every game is Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Outside of the new commentary team, NHL 20’s updated broadcast presentation includes more colorful and dynamic graphics that display important information in more eye-catching ways. In addition to brighter colors and sharper fonts, NHL 20 introduces more dramatic, slow-motion highlights of goal scores, as well as Overwatch-style “Play of the Period” and “Play of the Game” highlights. These moments do a good job at breaking down key plays, and, with their unique angles and close-ups, provide nice moments to sit back and revel in your achievements.

Part of this updated broadcast package is a new location for the score clock, which is the only major misstep. It’s now at the bottom of the screen compared to the top-left in last year’s game–and it cannot be moved in the Settings. The new score clock location opens up more space on the screen for action, but I found it positively difficult to quickly and easily see the important information like time left in the game, penalty minutes, and other datapoints while simultaneously keeping my eyes on the action. It’s a baffling choice, especially considering many of NHL 20’s various other modes keep the score clock where it was. This inconsistency worsens the experience, as you have to train your eyes in multiple ways depending on which mode you’re playing.

Authentic Hockey

NHL 20 succeeds the most with excellent, tight controls that give you the freedom to execute basically any hockey move you can think of. There are also changes to animations and skating mechanics that make the game appear more lifelike. Building off what was already the franchise’s best foot forward with NHL 19, this year’s entry feels faster and more fluid with better animations that more realistically depict important transitional moments like catching a pass and getting intro stride at a quicker pace. Overall, the on-ice gameplay feels faster and more true to the real NHL experience.

There are new shot animations as well, which are contextual in nature and better represent what a shot might look like from a particular part of the ice and depending on angles, power, speed, specific player attributes, and more. In NHL 19, your player would oftentimes still complete the shot animation even if the puck never got to them, which looked very strange, but that rarely happens this year. NHL 20 also introduces “Signature Shots” for a number of the league’s best players; one of these is P.K. Subban’s booming slapshot and Alex Ovechkin’s electric one-timer. It’s a treat to see player-specific animations in NHL 20, and it’s yet another part of the way NHL 20 faithfully represents the real NHL experience. Additionally, goalie AI appears to be smarter this year, with netminders giving up fewer soft rebounds and making generally smarter decisions during important scenarios.

NHL 20’s in-game attention to detail and careful consideration of the sport is astounding. Players look and react as you’d expect them to on a TV broadcast, down to the way players subtly peek back toward their teammates during a face-off to the sharp crackle of skates gliding over outdoor pond ice. On the outdoor rinks, the crimson red glow of sunset over the pond is something to behold. On the ice, the physics system is so realistically presented that I found myself wincing after big open-ice hits.

Unfortunately, NHL 20 doesn’t do much in the area of improving player models. In fact, the character models for players, referees, and the crowd appear largely unchanged from last year. When the replay camera zooms in on fans on the glass, you might be wondering what kind of time vacuum the NHL series exists in for people to never age or look at all different from year to year.

Dirty Dangles

The NHL series is known for its tight, precise controls, and this level of excellence continues with NHL 20. No matter what control setup you’re using, the controls allow for a complete command of your player with astounding simplicity and a lot of depth at the same time. Puck possession and clever play-making are paramount in NHL 20, and the controls never fail to provide you with many different options to keep the puck, get around defenders, make the extra pass, and light the lamp. You have the freedom to play with as much creativity as you want. The game also features a slick and smart on-ice trainer that reacts to how you’re playing and provides dynamic feedback that, for the most part, helps you improve your game.

There is such a level of fine precision with the controls that you can determine the specific angle of a poke-check or toe-drag the puck at just the right time to open space up to make a shot on goal. In essence, the controller’s analog sticks feel like an extension of your on-ice stick. The excellent baseline controls stand out even more once you move on to trying out more more advanced techniques. It takes time and practice to learn the dirtiest dangles the game has to offer, but it’s deeply rewarding to perform spins and dekes that together combine to give you ample opportunities to play with style and pizzazz.

In addition to the standard hockey simulation, NHL 20 has an abundance of arcade-style modes. The pond hockey mode, Ones–which sees three players on a small, outdoor rink competing against each other–introduces four new locations, including a rink set on a secluded farm and another inspired by the Rideau Canal in Canada. These new locations, in addition to weather effects like snow coming down during games, make Ones an even more authentic and holistically representative depiction of the outdoor hockey experience.

Ones is lots of fun with its stripped-down, back-to-basics recreation of outdoor hockey with fast-paced play and lots of goals. Outside of the new locations, the biggest change for Ones is the introduction of offline play for couch co-op, and this is a very welcome addition after last year’s game left it out in a head-scratching move.

The Threes mode, meanwhile, remains NHL’s flashiest and wackiest mode with completely unhinged commentary, mascots lacing it up, lots of goals, and big hits. It’s the mode I found myself coming back to the most due in part to its quick games relative to the standard simulation mode and constant progression rewards in every game played.

The social hub, World of Chel, returns with NHL 20 with some noteworthy updates. The biggest introduction is the “Eliminator” mode, which is NHL’s spin on battle royale. You can go it alone in Ones or team up with two others in Threes to try to survive four consecutive rounds in a bracket to win the tournament. It’s a thrilling, incredibly challenging, high-stakes challenge that, like the battle royale games it’s inspired by, encourage you to keep coming back and improve your skills.

There is a robust character-creator and you earn XP for everything you do across all of World of Chel’s modes. It’s rewarding to invest in your character and know that, whatever mode in World of Chel you’re playing, you’re working towards growing your character with meaningful advancements like new player traits, in addition to nice extras like cosmetic gear. New for World of Chel with NHL 20 are weekly challenges that track your performance and reward you with cosmetics around a particular theme. For example, the launch-week theme is NHL 94, so you can earn all kinds of themed cosmetics like jerseys and other gear. I anticipate coming back regularly.

Elsewhere in NHL 20, the career-minded Be A Pro remains a satisfying and rewarding ride to take as you start your character from the ground floor and build them into a superstar, though there are no noteworthy updates to speak of this year. Franchise, meanwhile, features a new system that gives you multiple team coaches who have influence on the direction of your team today and in the future. The system, which also includes a light conversation mechanic where you can gauge the morale and interest of your coaches, adds a further level of strategy to the already robust Franchise mode that helps you feel like you’re really the GM of a pro team. Franchise also introduces a trade-finder system that makes it less laborious to find and make trades.

Ultimate Team returns as well, and its noteworthy addition is the introduction of Squad Battles. These function the same way they do in Madden and FIFA where you go up against HUT squads created by other players or, after launch, sports stars and celebrities. Hockey Ultimate Team is all about grinding to collect new cards, and it remains a fun experience to build a fantasy team comprised of legends and current stars alike, and compete against others.

NHL 20 successfully captures the ice hockey experience from the ponds to big games under the bright lights, with a fine attention to detail and simple yet deep controls that are best-in-class. Once you get over the shock of Eddie and Doc being out of the game, the new commentary team do an adept job of providing informative and playful banter, while the game’s multitude of varied modes each have their own distinct feel and appeal that go a long way to make NHL 20 an excellent representation of hockey culture across the board.

Source : Gamesport