#this is from the console announcement trailer btw

[shentheauthor]

GAMER YI AND BABY HENG

[nicomoviewatchinpsychopath]

Sonic the Hedgehog Movie Review

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: VIDEO GAME BASED MOVIE IS FORMULAIC BUT OFFERS PLENTY OF FAST-PACED FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY AS WELL AS LONGTIME FANS! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

The world’s fastest hedgehog hits the big screen in Sonic the Hedgehog

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND SEGA

The blue blur (or Blue Devil as the movie calls him) makes his big screen debut in Sonic the Hedgehog, based on the beloved Sega video game franchise of the same name. Believe it or not out of all the video game franchises, my favorite is and always will be Sonic the Hedgehog and have been a proud supporter of the hedgehog since childhood.             

Granted, it wasn’t until after Sega became a third-party developer for consoles like PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo when I became a fan of the blue hedgehog, but ever since I got my hands on the Nintendo GameCube port of Sonic Adventure 2 as a kid, my Sonic fandom was pretty much instant. I’ve played many of the video games both old and new, watched all the cartoons, read the comic books published by Archie Comics at the time, and I owned several action figures, plushies, and other Sonic merchandise throughout my childhood…in fact I still have most of those even to this day.             

I’ve been clamoring for a Sonic the Hedgehog theatrical movie for years despite video game film adaptations usually being critical and/or box-office poison. But given the popularity of Sonic especially during the 90s when he was rivaling Nintendo’s Mario franchise who already had a theatrical film released in 1993, I’d assume one would have been made back then or at the very least in the early-late 2000s when Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut, Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, and Sonic Heroes as well as the hit Saturday morning anime series, Sonic X were released, I was so eager for a Sonic movie that a couple of friends and I got together and made movies of our own when we were kids (They sucked BTW!).             

After years of waiting and Sonic making a few big screen appearances prior in Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph movies and Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, the beloved hedgehog finally gets a movie of his own which leads us to today. The film is directed by newcomer Jeff Fowler in his directorial debut, produced by Neal H. Moritz (Fast & Furious franchise, XXX, 21/22 Jump Street), and executive produced by Tim Miller (Deadpool, Terminator: Dark Fate) and is a live-action/animated hybrid (Yep, just like Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Smurfs), which had me very worried when it was announced back in 2014 and was even more worried and disgusted when the first trailer came out last year which had an absolutely atrocious design for Sonic, fortunately they fixed it.

So, how does Sonic’s first movie hold up? Honestly, while I can’t call it the Sonic movie I wanted as a child, I had a fun time with it. It isn’t a perfect representation of its source material and the plot is pretty generic, but the charm of the film’s leads, humor, and subtle references to the games that inspired it are enough for me to overlook that flaw.             

The film follows Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz-Parks and Recreation, The Other Guys, The Walk), blue anthropomorphic talking hedgehog from another dimension with extraordinary speed who travels to Earth to escape from those who want to capture him and harness his power. However, when he accidentally causes a power outage while hiding out in the town of Green Hills (Get it?), Sonic is targeted by the government and the tyrannical mad scientist, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey-Ace Ventura 1 and 2, The Mask, The Truman Show) who plots to use Sonic’s power for world domination.             

This forces Sonic to team up with Green Hills sheriff, Tom Wachowski (James Marsden-X-Men franchise, Enchanted, Westworld) who agrees to help Sonic on his adventure to find his missing bag of magical rings that have the power to get him home. Of course, while getting into all sorts of trouble along the way.             The film also stars Tika Sumpter (Ride Along 1 and 2, Get On Up, Southside with You) as Tom’s wife Maddie, Adam Pally (Happy Endings, The Mindy Project, Iron Man 3) as Wade Whipple, and Neal McDonough (Star Trek: First Contact, Band of Brothers, Justified) as Major Bennington.             

Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog probably isn’t the movie longtime fans wanted, but it still manages to be an entertaining and fun adaptation in its own right. It’s easily one of the best films based on a video game alongside Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and The Angry Birds Movie 2 and shows that we’ve come a long way since the dark days of Uwe Boll’s directing career.

As mentioned before, the plot is nothing special and rehashed from other kids’ movies however what sets this apart from things like The Smurfs or Masters of the Universe is that Sonic and Tom do have a strong chemistry together. It’s amusing to see them interact with each other on their road trip, cracking jokes, getting into trouble, and over the course of the film they learn more about one another thus making you care more for them over ANY Smurf or Chipmunk. 

While there are a few jokes that don’t quite stick the landing, the humor for the most part not only made me laugh but there were moments in this movie where I laughed hard. Whether the film was poking fun at the entire Sonicfranchise, a particular running sequence that’s obviously a reference to the Quicksilver scenes from the X-Men movies, or Sonic breaking the fourth wall similar to Deadpool, I was laughing while also admiring how clever some of these jokes are, and let’s not forget Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, but we’ll get to him momentarily.

The redesigned Sonic is a lot better than what we could have gotten, he doesn’t have those ugly small eyes, questionable muscular arms and legs, or the terrifying human teeth anymore. Now, his appearance is more faithful to the source material recreating the hedgehog’s cartoony nature but is different enough to stand out from the rest of the character’s previous designs and be its own unique creation, this is a really good design for Sonic and had the filmmakers went with their original version, this movie would have crashed and burned even harder than Sonic ’06.

Besides Sonic being more appealing to look at now, he’s also just as entertaining to listen to, Ben Schwartz while he’s far from being a replacement for Roger Craig Smith, Ryan Drummond, Jason Griffith, or even Jaleel White, does a solid job providing Sonic’s voice and captures the cocky, arrogant, but good-natured attitude Sonic is known for having. He actually almost sounds like Ryan Drummond’s Sonic voice without sounding like a cheap impersonation.             Moving on to Sonic’s new friend that doesn’t have two tails, James Marsden as Tom, his performance is decent even though he doesn’t quite make as big an impression as Ben Schwartz’ Sonic and especially Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik. With that said, he gets some funny lines once in a while and as mentioned before has good chemistry with Sonic, so yeah, believe it or not James Marsden was partnered up with another CG animated character and this time came out with his dignity unlike his performance in Hop.             

Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik owns every scene that he’s in, he’s no Mike Pollock and is a radically different Robotnik than from the games, but Carrey’s energetic and wildly animated personality shines through and gives a million percent whenever the crazy evil genius is on-screen. He’s certainly a lot better than Dennis Hopper as Koopa from the Super Mario Bros. movie.

Hopefully, this movie will be a hit during its theatrical run because I’d love to see a sequel especially if it introduced other Sonic characters like Tails, Knuckles, or even Shadow. Don’t make this like the recent Power Rangers movie, I need my big screen version of those characters!

Whether a fan, newcomer, or just looking for something fun to take the kids to, Sonic the Hedgehog should make everyone happy. It’s not perfect but it has enough action, wit, and charm to make it worth checking out. You’ll be “Up, Over, and Gone” before you know it.

For more movie reviews please visit: https://moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com

[joh-gaming]

Why is this affecting me so much?

This is probably going to be an incredibly long post, one that I don’t expect many would read but that I feel I have to write. If not for Epic to read it at some point, then for myself, to remember this and why this game was so important.

I will have a lot of personal opinions, unfair comparisons and highly critical comments in those comparisons that may or may not be accurate. There will also be speculation as there’s more going on than what they’ve been willing to say.

If you care, then please, click on Keep Reading to continue.

How did I learn about it?

Honestly, I have no idea and that’s an issue that lead to its current situation. This is what I remember hearing back then. Paragon is a new game by Epic Games, creators of the Gears of War series (which I’m not really a fan of) and the Unreal Engine (which has always fascinated me) It was going to be a MOBA (which I hate, don’t like any MOBAs except Paragon but I’m getting ahead of myself here)

Clearly the above isn’t enough to get me to try it, on the contrary. So what was it, I must have seen something that made me think, this is worth a try. As great as that announce trailer was, none of the heroes in it speak to me, not even Sparrow whom ended up as my first mastered character and the one I own the most skins for. It wasn’t a gameranx before you buy thing which to this day I haven’t seen nor plan to, nor Angry Joe’s first look which again, I have no interest in watching. I’m not being critical of those channels, it’s just that I already experienced the game, most if not all of its iterations, so I really don’t care what they had to say about it.

Well... funny enough it was Overwatch the reason I gave Paragon a try. While Paragon is relatively older than Overwatch, it was in closed beta for the first few months. After trying, and falling in love with Overwatch’s beta, I felt the need to fill that void but with another, hopefully similar game. Then I saw the announcement of Paragon’s own free open beta weekend

I don’t remember if I took part on it or not, the next thing I wrote of Paragon after that was Digital Foundry’s graphic comparison of the game on PC and PS4 vanilla (at the time, the only PS4 there was) praising how a console game let you use mouse and keyboard.

Now, going back to Overwatch for a second, there are a few things you should know. 1. I have a friend that is part of the Overwatch team 2. I bought the game myself, no free keys and it was the PS4 version 3. I didn’t have enough money to buy it at launch, I ended up buying it late June or mid July, can’t remember and it’s not THAT important right now. 4. I tend to prefer cartoon like graphics as they are pretty much timeless

With that being said, this was my first impressions on Paragon, having tasted Overwatch.

“I feel really bad for the artists working on Paragon. Clearly a lot of effort was put into the design and modeling of the characters but good God they're so damn boring. The maps are also bleh with a palette that doesn't help things at all. Animations feel like over a decade old with awkward jump and run. I will be surprised if this game is actually successful 'cause it's a MOBA and what's the most important part of a MOBA? The damn heroes.“

I’ve been wrong before, but this is probably the top one. The map in question is what we now call Legacy. After spending a long time in super colorful maps in Overwatch, I found myself in this semi realistic map with ruins and a jungle that looked old and boring. Movement was too slow and I’m not sure what I was talking about with the animations, maybe they were bugged at the time ‘cause Paragon’s animations are impressive. Some of the best work in gaming.

Needless to say, I had a rocky start with Paragon, mostly because I didn’t understand it. I don’t know how long I tried it before I deleted it but that’s what I ended up doing. I got frustrated and instead of doing research I just quit.

So, going back to Overwatch for another second, how long was my honeymoon after I bought it? It lasted for about a month, after that I started seeing all the issues the game had and has (most of them are still there) especially on consoles. Broken heroes, Play of the game that encourages nonsense, the “scoreboard” that highlights the wrong things, lack of content, lack of heroes, easily exploitable on certain maps, etc. So I guess, thanks to Overwatch, not only did I dare to try Paragon, but fell in love with it. (btw, I did check, bought Overwatch mid June and by mid July I was sick of it, only made worse in August trying to get the limited time skins I wanted) And that’s not even talking about how Overwatch popularized Loot Boxes (yes, they have existed for a long long time, they just made it seem OK in a full priced game, ‘cause it was $60 on console)

Now, I couldn’t find this anywhere but I remember I returned to Paragon when Lt. Belica was announced. Gave it another go but again, failed to understand the character and gameplay. I will get more into the true problem for new people later on, but for now let’s go with why did I delete the game a second time. Well, it wasn’t out of frustration this time, rather than HDD space on my PS4. At the time it didn’t support external HDD. When did I return in a more permanent manner? When Countess came out.

She became my main for a while, which is funny ‘cause part of her kit was taken from the hero that would completely grab me forever. I started understanding the design decisions of the characters and the graphics, I got past the part where they wouldn’t last a few years, I was wrong about that too. I think they found the right balance between realistic and somewhat cartoonish to make the graphics last. That and they weren’t shy on retouching characters later on.

On November 2016 I said this

“Now I have a better understanding of the game, mind you that if I were to read about it I MAY learn it faster, but I prefer to learn from my own mistakes rather than trying to play like someone else that is probably more skilled. I can accomplish a similar standard just playing with things that work for me rather than what is "optimal". Or that word that gets on my nerves, the META. Fucking meta...” 

Funny, I still agree on that.

Paragon growing on me

I’m going to quote myself again, but I’m going to edit said quote for context purposes, not trying to say something different than I said before. For instance, the post was made with a video that I won’t include here, so anything mentioning the video is out of context.

“The more I play Paragon, the more I like it, but at the same time the more I notice its problems. Paragon currently has 24 heroes with a new one added every 3 weeks. Only has one map and one game mode, but it's free and high quality so no complaints here. However if you're like me, you tend to pick certain characters based mostly on looks not on play style. This is one of the biggest issues in Paragon and even Smite for that matter. The character design in Paragon is on point but at the same time it’s dull and boring.

You have your human characters, your robots and your beasts. They decided to go with a semi realistic look for the game instead of doing the cartoon like design from popular and unpopular  MOBAs. Which is fine I guess, you want to differentiate yourself, especially when now everyone that does it is instantly going with "an Overwatch look". On PS4 they had to lower the graphics quite a bit.

Paragon has a hero limit since launch and you can't switch heroes of course. The character selection process is completely random (I was the first to pick this time by pure luck) there are no rules for this other than what common courtesy SHOULD dictate. Personally, even if I get to pick first, let's say if the third player selects Countess before I do, I consider that a priority so I leave Countess open for him. You should learn how to play at least 4 characters. Game actually wants you to learn five characters, that's why you get 5 deck slots by default.

I prefer to play Countess, but I'm better with Sparrow and already have experience with Belica. That being said, the whole mastery system induces people to rage quit when the character they wanted gets picked by someone else. It starts off fine, but eventually leveling up your character becomes a chore and a grind.”

This was still back in November 2016.

On December 2016, I had this to say about the game

“There were a few things keeping the game from being as good as it could be. One of them being the learning curve. This wasn't your go in spray and pray your way to victory while you press a button to get a highlight at the end of the match to feel great about your awesomeness. No, in Paragon you needed to learn a lot about the mechanics, you had to build your character from scratch, and you had to find a way to balance your build to be ready for what's to come. It was amazingly refreshing to be honest. Sure it took me some time to like it, mostly 'cause I still feel the graphics aren't what they should be and the characters, while having an interesting design, they lack a palette that makes them unique.”

“This past Tuesday, Epic Games decided to upload Monolith. Basically Paragon is now a whole different game. Taking into account player feedback, mostly for how slow the game was, they applied a lot of changes to the mechanics of the game. Some of the changes would have been enough in the Legacy map to make the game nearly perfect, but no. Monolith is a smaller map than Legacy, character speed is improved but then it creates other issues when you fight other heroes. Certain classes are now having a tougher time. You gain less card power, forcing you to stay on the map longer rather than going back to base to level up. That in theory would be great if you weren't so fucking weak for half of the game. So what are people doing to combat this? They basically have the same builds. Build for attack speed and power, then some life steal and you're good to go. It's boring now, it's more like a shooter. “

I ended up that paragraph with something I regret and therefore won’t repeat. Even if it didn’t happen... I didn’t uninstall the game and have no plans to do so. Not even after it’s gone (unless it keeps affecting my health, more on that later)

“The simplification of Paragon, as a whole, made it more accessible to regular players, you know your regular multiplayer bro. So it's kind of funny to see the rage quitters because the early game is so painfully slow (in terms of levels) and how easy it is to die when you don't understand how minions and towers work. They changed more things in Paragon than what Massive changed in The Division. Paragon is like a different game, one that doesn't require you to be as smart as before. You now stack attack and go play. That's why I'm a little disappointed with the update. Thankfully they are listening to the feedback so perhaps they can find a middle ground between this version and the previous one, because both have great ideas, they just need to remove the bad ones. A match in Paragon is still more fun than a match in Overwatch though.” 

2017, a roller coaster of emotions

Last year alone Paragon went through at least 3 big changes. Many think these changes lead to its current downfall but I don’t agree. In a community corner video (I may edit this if I find it again) they said (a bit arrogantly I may add) that Legacy won’t ever come back. Keep in mind that while at first I was one of those that felt betrayed by the changes Monolith brought to the game, I was still playing and having fun. Originally the thought was, “we don’t want to split the community” and at the time I agreed. But looking back I failed to see the same thing they missed, the community was already divided. Bringing Legacy as a mode, or a more strategic version while Monolith would be more fast paced wouldn’t be bad.

Look at Smite and Overwatch, both games that wouldn’t want to have a split community, now their games have plenty of modes. Keeps players in because if they tire of one thing they could test another ‘cause at the end of the day, it’s the heroes that will keep you coming back. So it wasn’t the changes, more like a pinch of arrogance and a lack of modes. The player retention they later complained about, was of two folds, lack of ranked mode and a poor tutorial.

What made Paragon different and special, besides the heroes I will come to love even more than those in other games, was the card system. You’ll find videos from ‘tubers that are now jumping to conclusions just to talk about the closure of a game they never even heard of. You’ll hear them say something about it being pay to win with buying cards and what not, which funny enough was true in 2016, nobody said anything about it then, but all of that was removed when they added the card crafting system so long ago that I don’t even remember when that was implemented.

Building a deck was crucial to success in Paragon, just as much as understanding minions, towers, your role, buffs, rotations and kills. For most of the 2 years, the jungle was crucial too, that was changed in one of the latest patches. Some say for the worse, I’m not too sure it was. If it was simplification they were after, then the current jungle makes the jungler job easier to understand. Farm, get some levels and skills, then go help the lanes. True that had it been a mode in Monolith with Legacy being the more strategic match, it would have been better received, or at least that’s my perception.

People don’t like to feel dumb, even less to realize they actually are. If what I’m writing here makes me sound dumb, then perhaps I am, but it doesn’t matter as this post has nothing but my sincerest thoughts on the matter, even if I’m trashing Overwatch along the way. I think Paragon was a great game, unique in a sea of MOBAs, that people just failed to understand and that the developers didn’t support correctly.

Was Fortnite the issue?

Epic Games is often accused of doing popular things then scrapping them, fad chasers is what they call them. Paragon started when MOBAs were a big thing, just like Fortnite started when Minecraft was a thing. Sure at the time you had Cliffy B on board so he wanted a gritty and scary thing in Fortnite. Fortnite was one of those games that went through development hell, a game that if not by PUBG catching fire (see what I did there) and they being able to rip it off, it would have crashed and burned by now. Fortnite was sold as an Early Access game

I clearly bought into Fortnite’s Early Access, hence the screenshot of the banner unlocked. What made me buy Fortnite when I knew it wasn’t done? If there’s one thing I learned from playing Paragon, is that Epic will change everything trying to find the best system for the gameplay. I wanted to be a part of that too, I wanted to see the game change and grow (keep that expression in mind) over time. I also wanted to thank Epic for Paragon, so I thought this would be the best way to do so.

I was aware of Fortnite before I knew anything about Paragon, I mean like I said, it’s one of those games that went through development hell. I was watching one of their livestreams when they were giving away keys to almost everyone, they didn’t give me one (at the time it was a PC only game) so I never got the chance to try it myself. Over time I stopped paying attention to it as I never got a key, nor even acknowledgement that I wrote them asking for one. Why was I interested in Fortnite? Well, obviously the cartoon graphics as I mentioned before, then there’s the whole building thing which I enjoy a lot (main reason why I like Fallout 4) and Orcs Must Die 2 is one of my favorite Tower Defense games. (Keep that game in mind too)

If I had known that everything they said about working on developing what is now a mode (Save the World) was a lie, I would never have wasted money on Fortnite. The game is as incomplete now as it was on launch. Sure they have had events but almost every resource is going into the Battle Royale mode. Again proving that they are indeed fad chasers. If you feel like I’m wrong here, that it was a logical business decision and that justifies whatever you’ve spent on Fortnite, then fine, that’s what you think. But personally, I can’t recommend anyone to spend money on ANY Epic Games game from now on. This will sound like Blackmail and maybe it sort of is, but I do mean this, if Paragon is completely closed (as in I can’t play it in any way, shape or form) to me, I don’t see myself giving EG money again in the future. I don’t just say things like that and change my mind when it’s convenient, I haven’t bought an EA game since they burned me with SimCity 2013.

The Heroes of Paragon

Paragon has a bunch of great heroes, my favorite hero would come out in May 2017. That would be Phase. I’d say it was love at first sight but it wasn’t, it was love at first try. Before Phase there was Aurora, a controlled type character that had the looks and mobility, not to mention damage output. I often play range roles or control types, while Aurora was melee, I felt she has more mobility than Countess plus her control abilities were great to set up team attacks. I never thought a support would be far more interesting to me.

Phase’s kit was amazing, actually it was too good to the point where she broke the game for some people. One thing is a good support, another is a support good at everything. Good at healing, dealing damage and controlling the enemy. She got nerfed a couple of times, with her healing being affected the most, she’s still my main. For whatever reason, Phase felt like a part of the Phantom Thieves in Persona 5. Granted that after reading her lore I completely understand why that was the case, but the fact that I thought about it without reading it says a lot about the work put into the character itself

There are so many nuances in her animations, even her new launch pad animation. While not as involved or defining as most of the characters’, it still feels like a Phase launch. Her relationship with Shinbi was explored later, it was interesting but it didn’t change what I thought the character was like. She is the character I’ll miss the most, but don’t think she’s the only character I like a lot.

1. Countess 2. Aurora 3. Lt. Belica 4. Sparrow 5. Dekker 6. Serath 7. Morigesh 8. Zinx 9. Drongo 10. Wraith 11. Yin 12. Gadget 13. Muriel 14. Twinblast 15. Murdock 16. Shinbi

I will miss all of them. There are a few I haven’t even tried.

The greatest game I couldn’t play

From September 19, 2017 to January 9 2018, I didn’t have internet access. Hurricane Maria had destroyed our infrastructure leaving many of us in a terrible situation. Originally I was OK, I was prepared for around 2 months of no power, let alone net access. My house held fine (or so it did at first) and my family was OK. Then it started, the following days it started raining what felt like non stop and the damage Maria did, was now evident. Water was pouring in, my things were getting damaged, first I lost my bed, then my desk, well to cut to the point, I pretty much lost my house. I don’t have the money to fix it and with the situation my country is in, I don’t think it’s even worth it.

All I kept thinking about was, man I wish I could play Paragon again. Sounds silly but everyone has something that helps them disconnect from whatever terrible reality they are in. For nearly 4 months that’s all I wanted to do. Late October I moved to my brother’s house, it had power, water would come later but at least it had power. I started playing some games to avoid thinking of what I lost and had yet to lose, as I couldn’t save everything important. Nothing clicked, all I wanted was to play Paragon. I would watch my captures of my game time, over and over and the “music video” I did of my first coop match playing her

I missed the October event, I wanted that mummy Yin skin. I almost missed the winter event skins, got net back right when they extended the event 1 more week, so I was able to buy Morigesh and Aurora’s skins. Those weren’t the last skins I bought, no. The last skin I bought was the Panda skin for Phase. The day before they announced that Paragon would close.

So you see, the answer to my first question, why is this affecting me so much? well, after losing my house and some of my things, the game I wanted to play the most is going away too. It breaks my heart, I saw Paragon from almost every stage in development, highs and lows I loved playing it, I still do. There are terrible games that somehow are still up (Day Z comes to mind) yet this amazing game that is making so many people cry, it’s going away. Or is it?

Were we lied to?

It all points to yes, something happened that they can’t talk about. In their open letter they said

Here inside Epic, we’re talking about the future of Paragon in pretty much the same terms as you’re talking about it. The core challenge is that, of new players who try Paragon, only a small number continue to play regularly after a month. Though Paragon has evolved, no iteration has yet achieved that magical combination of ingredients that make for a sustainable game. (As an aside, the problem isn’t marketing or how to make money with Paragon. We have good ideas that would solve those problems if we can find a way to make Paragon grow.) 

So, if the problem wasn’t marketing (which btw it was, it wasn’t even promoted 1/5 of what Fortnite has been) nor making money with it, the problem was making it worth the effort. At least that’s my opinion. Fortnite success came over night, so it was an easy decision to ditch their less popular game even though it is their superior product. But is that even the case here? While Paragon is going to close for us, in China it started its closed beta

What the flying fuck is going on here?

It’s hard not to feel betrayed, it’s hard not to wish Epic Games failure (I try not to) but nothing is harder than seeing a great game close, with some relatively true explanation but no real logic behind it. Closing Paragon, even if it was to make development on Fortnite easier, is a mistake. Leave it in life support until you can come up with better ideas for it. The rank mode they were working on was never implemented in Paragon, instead it was moved to Fortnite. So don’t tell me you did everything for the game, it died because you didn’t support it Epic. It died because you killed it not because we left, I never left. As the final months are quickly going by, and I try to enjoy my final moments with it, in an analogy I rather not say, I feel myself getting sick. I get this massive headaches now, Paragon may have nothing to do with it but coincidentally, they come after playing a few matches. It hurts to know it’ll be gone and that I won’t be Phase anymore.

On the other side, I hope Epic Games have realized that Fortnite is more of a platform than a game. Quickly being able to transform itself from tower defense building game to a battle royale with building elements. I mentioned Orc Must Die series, well their latest game was one of the many MOBA attempts that kind of failed. They had to add the classic gameplay that made them popular in order to keep their fans, because they were bleeding players like crazy. Now, the current version has plenty of modes, kept the MOBA, (EDIT: They removed the MOBA mode) added the classic and created a few more. Fortnite can be Paragonized if they wanted to, they could even add some of the Paragon characters to Fortnite, I would gladly pay for Phase.

Soldier Class

1. Belica 2. Murdock

Constructor Class

1. Terra 2. Greystone

Outlander Class

1. Phase 2. Twinblast

Ninja Class

1. Shinbi 2. Kwang

And clearly, I’m not the only one that thinks that’s doable. naastika.deviantart.com

Final thoughts

I may be angry and disappointed, and I do mean it, that if I can’t play Paragon or Phase (mostly Phase) any more, that I truly won’t support any more Epic Games games, but I do appreciate the rare opportunity to play such an amazing game. I’m too old to like video games for the gamey aspects of it, I prefer the media side of it, the opportunities it offers as a story telling device that surpasses books and movies. I started my gaming on the Atari 2600, I’m done with jumping around for hours or shooting for no reason. It is extremely rare for me to get attached to a game with no narrative, and the fact that Paragon pulled this off, speaks to the talent working on the game.

Thank you for Paragon, and fuck you if you do close it.

[ilovedeadlypremonition]

Deadly Premonition director, Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro, officially announced his upcoming “Debt Repayment Life Simulation RPG (with Cats)” The Good Life at his PAX West Panel this afternoon!

We already got a short teaser trailer a week or so ago after the”cat was let out of the bag” but now with Swery’s official announcement we have a brand new trailer, tons of concept art, the game’s crowdfund details, and thanks to the official press release a more detailed plot outline.

THE STORY

Based in an RPG-style town filled with fun activities and fascinating people, THE GOOD LIFE offers a thrilling, twisting murder mystery. At first glance, Rainy Woods looks like a normal country town in Northern England comprised of stone houses built in the Middle Ages, nestled in abundant nature and surrounded by forest. Looking deeper, however, Rainy Woods is home to a bizarre and deadly mystery. Throughout the day, the townsfolk work hard, look out for one another, love their families, and enjoy nightly drinks at the local pubs. Each character has a unique personality and lifestyle. Events change depending on the time of day, weather, and season. Even though some may argue that they live in a video game world, the townsfolk of Rainy Woods still worry, suffer, love, hate, and have fun as any real person would. Rainy Woods and its small English aesthetic exudes a unique sense of charm, fully realized when, in the dark of night, its villagers transform into cats.

Players star as Naomi, a photographer straddled with debt who moves from New York City to Rainy Woods. As an étrangère, players feel both alienated yet strangely comfortable as they must make friends, solve mysteries, and become emotionally invested in Naomi’s quest to make a life for herself in the happiest and most bizarre town in the world. To pay off her debt, she sends reports and photographs on villagers and their town as she uncovers its deadly secret.

THE GOOD LIFE is a mystery tale in the vain of Raymond Chandler or Conan Doyle. Players make a tragic discovery in the town’s river—the brutally murdered body of a young girl, her heart pierced by an ancient, medieval sword. Having first arrived in Rainy Woods to uncover the secrets of the happiest town in the world and payoff her debt, Naomi is thrusted into a bizarre mystery, setting her journalist heart ablaze as she sets her sights on revealing the truth behind the young girl’s murder.

THE GAME

Genre: Debt Repayment Life Simulation RPG Platforms: PC + TBD Console(s) Release Date: Q3 2019 Target Developer: White Owls

So we got a murder mystery/life sim, with cute cats, a cast of bizarre characters with their own 24 hours schedules, AND events that will change depending on the time of day, weather and season?

[More details, pictures and my thoughts under the cut!]

The Campaign

If you are as hyped as I am you can help make Swery’s new game a reality by contributing to The Good Life’s Fig campaign. The development team is hoping to raise at least $1.5M USD to bring a digital version game to both PC and consoles. Fans can lend support via traditional reward based backing or by investing in Fig game shares of the game. There’s a number or different tiers and rewards available for The Good Life ranging from simply receiving a digital copy of the game when it is released for $29 to actually becoming a character within the game as a reward for donating a whopping $35K! Though if any rich fans out there are considering the $35k tier please note that there’s a chance you might end up being brutally murdered in the game. (Yikes!)

Looking at all the tiers though I must say I’m a bit disappointed by the lack of any sort of physical rewards being offered. I mean a real signed message card from Swery is a lot more tempting than a digital one… But there seems to be some hope that this may change looking at the responses to some of the early “backstage” backers. It seems Swery and the campaign team are looking into the possibility of including some physical rewards in the future and are even asking for suggestions!

Personally I would love to see a physical copy of the game or an art/guide book myself! Heck a stuffed kitty Naomi or even a sheep would be pretty awesome additions too!

[Update!]  A physical award tier has been added and for $269+shipping you can get a package with some cool game swag! Now if you picked another tier don’t worry you can update your pledge and pick choose to add a number of DLC and physical items!

The Idea

Even though Swery’s announcement of a new game so soon after returning from retirement and opening his studio, White Owls, was kind of a surprise (or maybe it was just me?) it turns out Swery’s been developing the idea for The Good Life for quite awhile now.

According to the “SWERY’S Voice” video on The Good Life’s fig campaign page that describes the game’s inspiration, vision, and story the idea behind the game was sparked after Deadly Premonition’s producer (I assume Tomio Kanazawa) was suddenly transferred to London, England while Swery continued work on Deadly Premonition in Osaka, Japan. Swery was sad to be left behind but the long distance communication between the two ended up inspiring the idea of being sent to a rural English town and being unable to leave.

Swery’s initial idea continued to refine and expand in the back of his mind over the years even while developing, the now sadly incomplete, D4 – Dark Dreams Don’t Die.

Back in 2015 Swery took a brief retirement from game development to focus on recovering from reactive hypoglycemia and during this hiatus he finished the first draft of a murder mystery novel set in a British countryside town from the perspective of a cat.

I've been eager to hear more about his mystery book for while but now with the The Good Life's announcement I'm beginning to think Swery's novel may have inspired the whole investigating a murder mystery while as a cat angle of The Good Life game.

Now this connection between the game and novel it is pure speculation on my part at this point but given that both are revolve around a strange premise of cat investigating a murder in a rural England just seems way too coincidental.  Plus the novel's working title of " I Am Not a Cat " really makes me believe that the main character may have been a human at some point which is very similar to Naomi's situation in The Good Life as she only temporarily turns into a cat during the night while living Rainy Woods!

By the way the characters listed on the campaign page are kind of amazing…and here I thought the residents of Greenvale were a bit strange. I like how Swery seems to be continuing the tradition of a single black male among a caucasian population (who is also named the “totally normal cat” btw lol) and an insomniac who works with the dead. I wonder if the “person name Kaysen” that has occurred in Swery’s last three games (Spy Fiction, Deadly Premonition, and D4) will also continue in The Good Life?  It is also kind of amusing that the “Handsome Nurse” is known just as “Gay Cat” I’m guessing this means Naomi won’t be able to make any love connections with that bloke?

Game Mechanics

In The Good Life the story mission  focuses on three core points: paying off a huge debt, uncovering the town’s secret, and solving a murder of Elizabeth, the lone daughter of the village pastor.

Photography

Since Naomi is a professional photographer from New York it is no surprise that taking photos is a major gameplay mechanic featured in the game. The monetary rewards for Naomi’s daily reports will heavily factor around the quality and rarity of the photos players take during the day.

Capturing the perfect photo may prove to be a little difficult at first. You won’t actually know how any of your photos will turn out until they are developed them back at Naomi’s house and ranked as either a “success” or “failure” and only successful photos will be sent over to the client for rewards. As players progress through the game there will be opportunities to upgrade and even purchase special cameras that will help the players take better pictures.

Part- time Jobs

But taking photos and sending daily reports isn’t the only way Naomi can cut down her debt. The game also allows players to take a number of part time jobs around town including bartending at the local pub, delivering milk, shearing sheep and other rural tasks.

Some of these part time jobs will give the players opportunities to make a fortune but they can also be exhausting and some can even be dangerous so you have to choose your side jobs wisely!

Any money earned in these ventures can be put towards paying off the ever looming unpaid debt or spent on fun things for Naomi.

Customization

The Good Life is a RPG after all so it’s no surprise that as players progress through the game Naomi stats will improve and fun customizations for Naomi in both her human and cat forms can also be acquired. Naomi’s range of daily activity will expand based on her stamina and movement speed so the more points you earn or temporarily acquire via clothing will allow for more photo taking and fun activities during the day.

Life Maintenance and Stamina

…and speaking of stamina just like in Deadly Premonition and D4  it is important to keep Naomi well fed and rested during her stay in Rainy Woods. I’m pretty excited to see all the English dishes that will be available for consumption… There were a few dishes listed over on the campaign page including one of my favorites, Fish and Chips, which I have a feeling Naomi will end up eat a lot of during my own play through unless there happens to be a lot of smoked salmon…

But eating and sleeping isn’t the only thing players need to keep an eye on during Naomi’s stay they also must balance Naomi’s income so while she’s paying back her debt she will still have enough money left over to not only take care of her daily needs, but also have enough for the upkeep of her camera, the development of photos, and her daily shipments of reports back to New York.

The most surprising examples of one of her special expenses that’s listed over on the campaign page is the need to buy sanitary goods for Naomi once a month. It’s a normal expense in my own life but it’s something I’ve never seen mentioned let alone forced on a player to even consider while in control of a female protagonist before. It’s pretty amazing that sort of detail was even included!

I also thought that way alcohol consumption in the game is handled is really interesting as well. Giving Naomi alcohol will provide some high rewards in the short term as it will alleviate both her hunger and her thirst in one shot but if she continues to overindulge in drink throughout her stay she will develop a dependency for it. It’s pretty neat to see the real life consequence of addiction in a video game... I hope Rainy Woods also has a good 12-step program!

Special Events

The Good Life also features several seasonal events that offer special rewards. The game’s campaign didn’t go into a lot of details but in Spring there will be cherry blossom dance festival,  there’s a Tea Harvest in Summer, while during the Fall Naomi can harvest nuts and catch fat river fish, and in Winter  find minerals and maybe earn a present from Santa Claus(?)

Being a Cat

During the night while Naomi is in cat form players have the opportunity to investigate places you may not have access to while in human form and a chance to get closer to different villagers while they are in their cat forms by bringing them various trash…er I mean “kitty themed” presents…Some items you find while as a cat may even fetch a high price during the day and unlock some more special story events.

A few of the possible treasures a player can find are seen above...Hmm, I wonder if those “suspicious seeds” are anything like the ones you can find in Greenvale…

Graphics

As for graphics The Good Life’s campaign page describe them as being both “Nostalgic and Modern” using low polygon models with simple textures but also making use of CG-esque atmospheric lighting, fog, shadows, and glare elements well.

The game does look rather simple but it still has a very distinct and unique look. I’ve always prefered a great story over great graphics so I don’t mind the game’s simple design in the slightest :) I do think the sheep are really adorable in this art style though!

Atmosphere

If all of the features above hasn’t already peaked your interest maybe the Fig campaign description of The Good Life’s atmosphere will do the trick:

“THE GOOD LIFE has intriguing elements inspired by Twin Peaks. It will also feature the old-timey British traditions seen in classic shows such as Downtown Abbey and Poirot.  This is a Swery Game, so expect a healthy dosage of horror, mystery, humor and taboo topics that helped make Deadly Premonition such a cult hit.  Our humor will reflect some of the elements from Hot Fuzz and other classic British comedies.”

Man it was already a give-in that I would be excited for The Good Life since I’m such a big fan of Deadly Premonition (and Twin Peaks) but I can also expect some Hot Fuzz style humor too?!

Guys, Hot Fuzz is one of my all-time favorite films ever so this comparison has me even more excited to play the game!

Hmm… Rainy Woods is described as the “Happiest Town in the World” with the “happiest people on the planet” which is pretty similar to the situation of Sandford always winning “Village of the Year” in Hot Fuzz…I wonder does Rainy Woods have an equivalent of the Neighborhood Watch Alliance?

Hey Naomi, if the townsfolk start chanting about things being “all for the greater good” I would make run for it!

The Developers

The Good Life will be the  joint effort between three developers: Swery’s studio, White Owls, along with G-rounding and Camouflaj. Swery and his team will provide the creative and artistic direction for the game while G-rounding will manage the production and game creation and Camouflaj will provide both production support and supervision.

I really hope The Good Life’s Fig campaign is successful as it looks like a whole lot of fun. I’m eager to see how the game will come together and “enjoy my best life” in 2019

[ebonyeagle]

Of Salt and Forgiveness

Not really a fan of writing reviews because I'm shit but here I go anyways since this is a special case. What is the topic?

The most anticipated game of this decade, Final Fantasy XV!

Why is this important for me to write about? Because I got a complicated relationship with this game. On one hand, I really fucking hate this stupid thing, on the other hand I can’t stop loving it. Now that I’ve had time to think, it’s time to write down my final thoughts! 

Before I go further into it, it’s worth to mention that I’m one of those people who were hyped for Final Fantasy XIII Versus. I have been waiting for this game since 2008 and been looking very much forward to a dark and gritty story. I was intrigued when I watched the cinematic trailer. What would this game be about? Will this be a Final Fantasy game where you play as the villain? What is the significance of the Shakespeare quote?   At the time, I had just finished Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core ( what a fantastic game <3 ) and was craving my next Final Fantasy fix! As interesting as XIII looked, I was more into Versus as the darker approach was much more alluring.   And as we all know, we waited and waited and waited. I was excited for every E3 and TGS; ready for more news about it, but a real release date never came.   

Then came the rumours of it being cancelled only to have the hype return tenfold at the announcement at E3 2013 where it was revealed to be the next main instalment in the franchise! And what an amazing trailer we got; the destruction of a an entire city by the fins of a Leviathan, more personality to Noctis and some new neat characters! I was so damn excited! However, as time went on it became evident that the roadtrip part would be the core mechanic. Unexpected but alright, it’s a whole new Final Fantasy for a new console for a new generation, let’s see where this is going

Then the demo “Episode: Duscae” happened and let’s just say I was very surprised. And not in a good way. Fucking boyband goes camping… Not what I expected and to be honest it didn’t help revive the hype I once felt (Feeling bad for Type-0 since it will forever be remembered as “the game that came with the demo”). Anyways the game got released and it was time to experience the full thing.

Game boots up and we are presented with the beautiful title theme + logo of the game as well as a glittering night sky in the background. Then we are immediately thrown into a fight with, what we suppose is, Ifrit and a grown up Noctis and squad.      First of all, that was the most pointless teaser/medias res start whatever to start a story with. All it serves is to spoil the fact that there is a timeskip. You have no idea what and why you should care. Then we are back to young Noctis and Co. that are sent off by Papa Regis on a roadtrip. Their car AKA fifth party member then breaks down and the Crown prince of a powerful kingdom is sent out as an errand boy in order to pay for car repairs…

What? This is the way you decide to start your grand new main title? Hour long road trip where you know jackshit about anything!? A little more exposition maybe? You do pride yourself with this game being for “fans and first timers” maybe tell us something about the importance of crystals and what exactly magitechs are?      I know they expect you to see that god-awful movie (which I btw really like) beforehand but I expect my full price game to come complete! At least have the decency to include the movie in the game and not only in the collectors edition, jeez… Oh yes, there is an anime too and the Platinum demo. There was actually a surprisingly amount of story and hints in that demo, didn’t expect much from it, only played it because of the cute carbuncle on the thumbnail. ________ Here is how I would have liked this game to start: Instead of the Ifrit flash forward, let us have a flash forward of the world after the star scourge. Let us see a world without light and terrors in the form of demons. As cliché as it is, let this flash forward be a nightmare Noctis has.    Instead of the Kingsglaive movie, let the movie be the first 1/3 arc of the game. Noctis will wake up after the star scourge nightmare only to find himself in his bedroom in Insomnia. Maybe a week before the signing of the Treaty with Niflheim. Here Noctis will be able to explore the Citadel, talk with daddy and learn about the world. Let Ignis do some exposition as well as introduce you to the use of magic. Sparring with Gladio will learn you about the combat mechanics and you’ll be able to hang out with Prompto. Explore the streets of Insomnia and derp around with your friends at your favourite Arcade. In this way you will feel at home in Insomnia and the events of the game will be more impactful later.

Then all the Niflheim crap happens, Insomnia falls, Regis is killed, Noctis and Luna are separated and he flees the city. This will really show how evil the Empire is for tbh, without Kingsglaive we don’t really know that much about Niflheim. We are told they are evil but never really see it except for the roaming magitech troopers and some blockades.  Then the second arc of the game will start which will be the road trip part. Noctis’ friends helps him deal with the loss and they try to get by as refugees by camping in the wild and such.   That’s another thing I don’t get in the game, how can the dead-very-important-crownprince of Lucis run around and no one bats an eye? Have the people never actually seen the prince?? Anyways this is my idea of a start. Cliché but a friendlier way to start in my opinion. ______

Then all the Blessing of the Astrals is going to happen which is awesome! The Leviathan part in Altissia is epic. Could have been cool though if it was a bit more like the announcement trailer... Not interesting from a gameplay perspective but very impressive and Final Fantasy-like. We really get to see how majestic summons can be!    The story then slows down and we are presented to story-telling on rails (literally) Noctis and Co. deals with their losses, it looks bleak for them and Gladio is being a macho ass and we go into the final part of the game. I really like this part as the storytelling is FINALLY going somewhere! Okay the part in the Empire is a little too long and I feel confused about the characters like Ravus and the Emperor-what’s-his-name. I know they patched cutscenes in but looking at the game at release, a little too much happened off screen and you are more confused than shocked.  

We are then at the stolen crystal and where the timeskip happens. What comes after is honestly the best part of the game! Especially because of the sleep-theme the game got going/hints at. Anything from here on is absolutely bloody brilliant! I love the payoff with the photographies and Armiger weapons! The story telling and music, everything! But again, the return to where it all began would have been more impactful if I actually knew Insomnia. The city you enter aren’t any different from any other town you’ve passed. This isn’t my home so why should I feel anything? Anyways, the ending(s) blew me away and I may or may not have shed tears of happiness.

That was some story talk now to the more general part.

I wrote in my intro that I hate the game. Why is that? I expected something and got something else. My own fault, next reason. I think the way they presented the game was messy and the first half had a horrible pacing. It’s hard to care about the war and Empire when you don’t know the stakes and what the fuck’s going on.   The camping mechanic is awesome and I love how you can get different boosts by preparing different foods! I hated the whole boyband goes camping but this honestly turned out to be one of the best parts of the game.    No, what I REALLY hate is the way they decided to tell a what-would-be interesting story. There are way too many moments where you don’t know what the fuck is going on and why you should care and some characters wasn’t fleshed out enough; would have loved to know more about Ardyn because of his significance in the game and true identity. A little more about the Astrals too please? What about the Oracles? I know this is stuff you surely can find in books and stuff laying around; bread crumbs are nice but not when you forget the entire fucking bread.   This is a solid game with a huge potential, but somehow that’s totally hidden away. I feel like the Final Fantasy part has been lost along the way.  Side quest and open world exploration are a huge part of the universe, but so is a grand story and rich lore. Could we please have more of the latter?  The more realistic setting this instalment is going for isn’t my cup of tea. I love the bleary steampunk world of VII and the colourful tropical world of Spira, setting a fantasy game in a close-to-real-life setting is taking a lot of its charm. But again, this is a new and different fantasy so that’s nice in its own way. When that is said, too bad we didn’t get to explore Tenebrae, that place looks beautiful!

I don’t hate this instalment because it’s different compared to the older titles, I hate it because of the way it’s executed. I cry when I think about what this game could have been and then I cry again when I think about its beautiful moments and bromance. For most of the first half of the game I hated its fucking guts and I couldn’t see any reason to care about anything the game had to offer, but as time went on it slowly grew on me and at the end where this beautiful mess turned Final Fantasy, I realized it was finally time to lay behind my salt and forgive it.

[friedesgreatscythe]

ok @alien-leftist ubi’s conference

hype french guy announces a cross over between their crazy rabbits and mario. idek who or what these rabbits are

MIYAMOTO IS IN THE CROWD WITH A FOG MACHINE AND A BULLET BILL GUN THIS SHIT IS CRAZYWILD ALREADY giantbomb’s stream is going CRAZY for this and i’m dying omfg

HE HAS EVEN BOUGHT A GUN FOR THE FRENCH GUY AND THEY’RE POSIN WITH THE

oh okay it’s mario x RABBIDS kingdom battle, which is an ubi thing. they've been working on the mario/rabbids game for about three years btw, so it seems to be something of a labor of love for em. the creative director was in the crowd and he actually had tears in his eyes it was very genuinely sweet (though i thought it was rude that they kept showing him lmao let the dude have his moment in peace!!)

honestly this game does look cute and goodweird, it has the rabbids dressed up like mario characters in bad cosplay trying to interact with real mario ppl and it's charmingly awkward bc they gotta work together to solve PUZZLES and shit. it's a turn based tactical/adventure game with combat mixed in, and it honestly looks like something from xcom. this is DEFINITELY the coolest shit ubisoft has had a hand in in years.

giantbomb calls this "this is a FEVER DREAM!! WHAT ARE YO DOING?!!!"\

--

ac origins i'm not really that interested in this but i ain't gonna hate on it. i'm just sitting here politely disinterested bc my main man desmond is dead and this series was supposed to be his story!!!!!!!! but w/e ubi

they're talking to producers of ac origins and it's live gameplay (allegedly) that is also what they're showin on the floor. so i guess ppl can attest to that if they're there.............the eagle is seriously your drone in this btw

they aren't going full screen on the gameplay feed lmfao so it's just a camera shaking over a dude's shoulder all lo fi style it's gr8. they're gonna show off the gameplay after the showcase so this is just a teaser or smth

"i can't believe it's exclusive to those five consoles" LMFAOOOOOOOOO

---

car game. for the people who liked the fast and the furious ig. i don't get car games. i don't get cars. they're very much a realm of machines and tech that i have no interest in and i don't.. get it.

there's also dirtbikes. and planes???????AND HORSES???????/ idk this flies right over my head and it's takin off without me.

this man is SO very french, it's soothing to listen to him talk. he has such a deep voice but it fills the room and i feel like he is the dark priest of an elder god. his name is stephane beley. they're using lorde for their trailer music idk why 'yellow flicker beat' doesn't really fit anything with cars........... it's a good beat tho

lorde's comin out with new music soon, ain't she? goddamn, gimme my life, queen

"TAKE THE LEAD ON MODERATIONNNNNNNNNN" god i love this dude's voice i can't get enough of it. he's comforting but vaguely menacing.

---

south park game stuff yadda yadda don't rly care. does anyone really like south park anymore?????? this game is based on the worst episodes in a shitty era of an already dwindling show........GET READY FOR THE EDGELORD PART OF UBI'S CONFERENCEoh thank god it's over.

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elijah wood is talking?? what are you doin here hobbitman

oh it's VR yawn bye"we want you to take off the gear and still feel unsettled." i'm unsettled by VR ubisoft, go away."NEUROSCIENTISTS HAVE FIGURED OUT HOW TO UPLOAD BRAIN MATTER. TRAUMA." wow okay so that ep of black mirror and basically soma and..........t he plot to most cyberpunk dystopia ig? i think even fallout 4 touched upon this w/ nick valentine. but it's VR so they're trying to fuck with ur head in real time.the look of this game looks a lot like an early 90s thing. fuzzy and weird and grainy like a distorted VCR tape. it's called Transference. spring 2018.

---

back to very happy french guy. his name is yves! that's it, i forgot it for a while.ubisoft's got a pirate game. like, a new pirate game. bc they figured out everyone liked that one pirate game. the start of the trailer has some cool water effects that remind me of ophelia. pirate captain is a lady sinking a ship full of white men.there's some other pirate dude in another ship tryin to take her down tho. the trailer theme is a weird slow cover of seal's "crazy" and it makes me miss the original.

game's title is "skull and bones."

"YOU GUYS LIKED BLACK FLAG, RIGHT?? WE TOOK ALL THAT ASSASSIN CREED BULLSHIT OUTTA IT" giantbomb pls omfg

it's basically a pirate pecking order game in the late 1700s/18th century. you can play solo or play with your other pirate friends, also has pvp or "pvp trade routes" lmfaoooo

"YARR THERE BE LAG SWITCHES OFF THE MIZZEN MAST!" god i'm mcfreakin dyin over here. there's sea shanties tho, so that's really neat! combat seems to be sea-only/on the ship with targeting and canons and whatnot.there seems to be creepy kraken shit implied too so it might not just be all typical action/adventure combat.

"YOU'RE JUST GONNA TEASE A KRAKEN? KRAKEN A COLD ONE WITH THE BOYS??"

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just dance. time. jamiroquai music is playing. also now hyuna??? that's some kpop shit, hello!!now someone is dressed as a panda and he's kinda terrifying."did that bear dab on his way out?"i don't get just dance either tbqh

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"phone destroyer." south park mobile game that is about them playing cowboys and indians. and pirates and knights and princesses and bards. idk what this is tbqh. i don't know why it has to exist. but that's me about south park.

---

space game. seems to involved putting real life spaceship toys onto your controller and the game will then replicate the ships you have??? it's called "starlink: battle for atlas." looks like a huge merch cashcow.

you explore a star system and play as a member of a team. you can build your own ships and then deal with all the terrible problems that happens lmfao idk

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rebecka coutaz, a french lady with a cute denim coat with a smiley face and a heart patch, is talking now. she's involved w/ "steep." idk what that is, besides a game. i think it involves skiing and snowboarding or some shit idek i guess that's big in europe where mountains are fuckin everywhere.this looks like an expansion based on the winter olympics

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far cry 5 now THIS i actually care about bc it's concept is really creepy and i hope it is a great scathing take down of all the bullshit that exists in and IS american culture. it's rednecks singing amazing grace and holding up semi automatic guns in church lmfao

dude walks out on stage and says some backstory about the game. "PEOPLE ARE FUCKING SCARED" and that's a direct quote.you seem to be part of a group of ppl trying to take the cult down and i am also ok with that.YOU GET A DOGGO FRIEND

HE TAKES DOWN ENEMIES AND HANDS YOU GUNS!!!!!!!!!!

gb brings up a good point that says fc5 could have approached this with a bit more gravitas, especially considering the current climate in america, instead of just making it so... over the top exaggerated explosive foolery.

---

new trailer with weird talking anthropomorphic animals. i'm grossed out by that already, ew. it looks so weirdly gritty but there's humans????????/ and talking animals?????????????? i don't understand anything but i'm not enthused.

"this has too much cussing."

"THIS IS THE MOST FIFTH ELEMENT-ASS SHIT...."

"e3 2017: everything is a skull"

this is weird and also involves space and shit everyone on the panel is confused.

it's "beyond good and evil 2"

AWWWWWWWWWWWW the director for it is tearing up, he's so happy and grateful. honestly that warms my heart, when creators show genuine emotion and remind us that they are people lmfao

AWWW EVEN YVES LOOKS SO HAPPY FOR HIM

it's a prequel to the first game about shitty corps (so this game gets cyberpunk) and ppl fighting to create freedom in the stars~*~*"JOIN OUR SPACE MONKEY PROGRAM TODAY" omg that's so cute, this guy is kinda lost for words he's just so touched to have made this game again. he actually brought yves up on stage

MORE PEOPLE ARE WALKING ON STAGE IDK WHAT'S HAPPENING BUT I GUESS THEY'RE WRAPPING UP?

yeah ok it's over, yves' thankin us and that's that.

[thegamingjunkie-blog]

Sonic Mania Review

So it's been about three weeks since the release of Mania on consoles, and with the PC version finally out, I've decided to finally set down and write my own review of the long, highly anticipated game called Sonic Mania! I must apologize for not writing something on my blog in a while, and I've decided to write a review on a game from my own personal favorite gaming franchise. I must warn you, if you haven't played the game yet and don't want to get spoiled, I suggest you don't read my review.

Tuesday August 15th, I woke up excited to be able to finally play Sonic Mania! Ever since the announcement trailer last year, I've been eagerly waiting to play such a gorgeous looking Sonic game! So at 9:59, I fired up my Xbox One and waited that one minute to finally be able to launch the game! That minute was one of the longest minutes of my life, and I truly do feel sorry for those who had to wait even longer for the PC release. Once I launched the game, I was greeted with that familiar "SEGA!!" chant that many of us have heard many times growing up, that is if you grew up with the Genesis (or Mega Drive if you live outside North America) titles. I smirked upon seeing the Sega logo, and hearing that all too familiar sound. Then came the awesome title screen, which was previously shown to us about a year or so ago. It was just amazing to finally be able to see that in person, with my own two eyes! I didn't press any button as the title screen stated, instead I waited for the intro to play, as I didn't watch it when the official Sonic the Hedgehog channel on Youtube uploaded it just a day prior to release.

The intro was gorgeous! The music, made by Hyper Potions, the group behind the promotional trailer music, was beautiful and catchy at the same time! The cutscenes were animated well, and reminded me of the cutscenes from Sonic CD, though in better quality of course! Seeing Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in their classic styles made me feel like a kid again, and I almost teared up. It was awesome seeing the three run through different zones, each which of course appeared in the game itself. (See that's why I didn't want to watch the trailer, I didn't want to get spoiled myself!) Once the cutscene was done, it was finally time to play Sonic Mania!

The game starts you off at a familiar place, on the Tornado, if you play as Sonic and or Tails, and they're on their way to Angel Island Zone. As Knuckles, you're just chilling and relaxing like the intro in Sonic and Knuckles. (Though he's chilling in Angel Island of course, not Mushroom Hill. Which btw, that level doesn't appear in this game.) Both run into Dr. Eggman with some Egg Robos, who dig up a purple emerald, which is called the "Phantom Ruby", that warps the enemies and players to a revised Green Hill Zone. The egg robos from Angel Island have also been affected by the Phantom Ruby, and now take on the form of the "Hard-Boiled Heavies"! From there, the player can finally start their adventure in Sonic Mania! Green Hill Zone was one of the three levels shown very early in development. Honestly, I wasn't too thrilled to see Green Hill Zone yet again but it's the most iconic Sonic level. When someone mentions Sonic, the other person most likely will remember running through Green Hill Zone in the first game. I can see why the level was included in the game. Now it's not identical to the original Green Hill we all know, of course every level that returned in Mania has different graphics and gimmicks that make it a new experience for the player. Plus playing as Knuckles will start you off in a different area than playing as Sonic and or Tails, which changes up the level. Not to mention that there's water in certain parts of the level, like in the 8-bit version of Sonic 1! The mini boss is pretty easy, especially if you grab a invincibility power-up not too far from the boss arena. Dr. Eggman's final machine from Sonic 2 16-bit also makes a reappearance as the main boss in Act 2. (Though he's not as much as a pain in the ass this time around. xD) So once the boss is defeated you're greeted with another cutscene, this time it shows Dr. Eggman and enemies known as "The Hard-Boiled Heavies". Once again some of his creations ends up betraying him and steals the phantom ruby from their creator. This then warps everyone to the next level in the game which is Chemical Plant Zone!

I knew CPZ was making a return, as it's one of the levels that was announced towards the end of the game's development cycle. Again, I wasn't too happy to see CPZ return, as just like GHZ they both were in Generations. Alas, it's probably one of the more known Sonic 2 16-bit levels, which is why they picked it to return. However the main new gimmick in the level really makes Mania's CPZ way better than Sonic 2's! It's a combination of Wacky Workbench from Sonic CD, and some of the later levels from the Aspect 8-bit Sonic games. As seen in the reveal trailer, there are two different chemicals that make the mega mack mimic the bounce pads from Wacky Workbench. A darker blue chemical allows the player to bounce a little above the ground, whereas the green chemical makes the player bounce just like in Wacky Workbench! As for the gimmick from the 8-bit titles, the tubes allow the player to control where to go. In Sonic 2's CPZ, it didn't allow you to choose which path to go, instead it was controlled by the timer if memory serves me correctly. (Please let me know if this information is incorrect.) There's also platforms that the characters stick to, which allow you to reach higher platforms. Interestingly enough, Sonic's sprites are based off a unused wall climbing sprite found in a Knuckles Chaotix prototype. (Thanks goes to Rlan of the Sonic Retro forums for that information!) The mini-boss here resembles the mini-boss found in Ice Cap Zone of Sonic 3, though it uses the mega mack to shield itself rather than ice cubes of course. Now Eggman's fight is one of the moments in which I had to pause the game to really take in what was happening. The boss is a Mean Bean/Puyo-Puyo puzzle! I actually lost the first time I made it here, because of how excited I was! This alone made me somewhat happy to see CPZ return. Once you destroy the egg capsule, you're taken to the next level which is Studiopolis!

Now this is one of the few brand new zones in the game. It's also one of the earliest zones shown in the launch trailer and the very first level made. Studiopolis is a huge tv station, there's screens showcasing "Egg TV", some badniks resemble giant lights, there's reels that the trio can spin on to reach new parts of the level, and the music in both acts are beautiful. Everything in this level just screams 90's! There are some pretty cool easter eggs in this zone, one being a node to the Game Gear! The biggest and best easter egg IMO is the SegaSonic The Hedgehog Popcorn Maker, which is a obscure popcorn machine that was actually released in a "playable" state around the time Mania was first announced. Not to mention the streets of rage references too! Studiopolis has the most easter eggs out of all the levels in the game, with even references from other Sonic and Sega games besides SOR! This level also marks the first time that the trio is up against one of the Hard-Boiled Heavies, which one you ask? Heavy Gunner, and he's got some fellow Egg-Robos under his command. This boss honestly gave me some trouble the very first time I played through Mania, Gunner shoots three missiles and only the blue ones can damage him. You jump on the blue ones to  make them bounce, and it takes down one of his egg-robo buddies. Destroy all three egg-robos, to hit Gunner himself and that's pretty much the boss fight. However you must jump over the red missiles, as they do damage to the player. I love Eggman's boss fight however. He controls a weather machine, and there's a Cluckoid who tells you what type of weather is about to happen. There are three different patterns, one is a thunderstorm which causes clouds and lightning bolts to appear above the player's head, one blows strong winds that can knock the  player up into spikes along the celling if they don't hold on to the bars that appear on each side of the boss arena, and one is a heat wave that makes beams of heat damage the player  if they're not directly under Eggman. This also causes Eggman's ship to move closer to the player, making it easier to land hits. Once Eggman is defeated, the tv that contained the weather forecast will cut out and a buzzing sound can be heard, which funny enough was the annoying buzzing from the 25th anniversary party live stream that happened on 7/26/2016. (And that date can be seen bellow the tv monitor too! The anniversary party was how Mania and Forces were both announced.) You sly bastards! xD I honestly didn't notice that until I heard it a second time while playing the game as Knuckles. From there a breaking news report shows that Flying Battery Zone is back, and on the screen you can see the player jump on the ship, and it's on to Flying Battery Zone!

Yet again it's another rehashed level, this time though it's a rehash of my second favorite level from Sonic and Knuckles! Flying Battery Zone has plenty of new and old gimmicks that really make the level more of a challenge than in Sonic and Knuckles. This is a good thing from my perspective, seeing how I've been playing the classics since I was four years old. However I did get some game overs a few times the first time I played through the game... Anyways let's talk about those gimmicks. First off, there's tons of old broken monitors, signposts,badniks, and other scrap metal that appear on the new FBZ, which is a nice little touch. You'll even notice that there's a unused badnik from Sonic 1 that appears in the scrap, but we'll go into that during the next portion of the review. (You'll see soon enough why. ;) ) Some enemies from Wing Fortress Zone in Sonic 2 16-bit appear in the level, as well as the electric fields from Wacky Workbench Zone. You can even destroy the Mushroom Hill badniks that pilot the FB, which I thought was amusing. The level also reminds me a bit of Sky Base Zone from Sonic 1 8-bit, and Sky High Zone Act 2 from Sonic 2 8-bit. (During some portions of the level you're in a thunderstorm, kind of like in Sky High 2. Thankfully there's no hang-glider though!) The magnets return, but this time the trio can be pulled up alongside the metal platforms if they have a lightning shield, which I thought was a cool gimmick. The mini-boss is a node to the short Eggman boss that encloses you between two energy beams, while a laser draws those beams closer and closer to you. This time though, you're dropped into a machine that crushes scrap metal while a laser shoots. It's a bit tricky to beat, but a badnik spawns which allows you to jump and hit the laser beam if you're not in super form. Now Act 2's boss gave me some trouble at first. You have to use the poles to knock Eggman into some spikes, and even then his hit box is a pain to get used to. One random fun fact, act 2's boss is actually foreshadowed before you're dropped down into the boss arena during Act 1's mini-boss. You can see a blue print in the background right before Eggman drops you down. Honestly, FBZ was better in S&K IMO... Anyways once you defeat Eggman, you're taken to the next level with sadly no cutscene, and it's another original level known as Press Garden!

Press Garden Zone is by far my favorite level in Mania! You run through an old printing press in act 1 and end up outside during the winter time in a Japan-like setting in Act 2. This level contains some new gimmicks never seen in a classic Sonic title before. Honestly it feels more like a mega man level to me, which isn't a bad thing! Maybe the music has something to do with that, which by the way Act 2's is one of my favorite tracks in the game! Remember also how I mentioned that there's some scrap metal that contains a unused badnik from Sonic 1? Well it's name is Splats, and it appears in Press Garden Act 1! These guys pop out of glass jars that contain ink, fitting the level's theme perfectly! Act 2 of the level really makes up for Mania not containing Ice Cap Zone, which I really wanted to see in this game. There's tons of Shinobi references in this level as well, too. Act 1's mini-boss is a random Eggman robot that uses a saw to damage the player. Hiding behind crates will break off the saw, allowing the player to get in some hits. I didn't get this at first, so I lost quite a bit of rings. Act 2's gimmicks are pretty cool, no pun intended. There's parts of the level that the trio must get frozen solid to make it pass certain barriers, some blocks of ice contain power-ups and even springs made of ice, which break after using them once. The main boss is yet another Hard-Boiled Heavy, simply known as "Heavy Shinobi" with yep you guessed it, ninja-like attacks and even the sound effects are taken from the Revenge of Shinobi on the Genesis! Also the stars he throws are those annoying badniks from Metropolis Zone. You may be asking why I love this level so much, despite it having lots of platforming sections. I really dig the aesthetics of both acts, the first act reminds me of old abandoned buildings, which I adore while the second act takes you out into a winter wonderland in Japan. Having two different tropes added to just one zone makes it amazing IMO. I just wish there was a transition from FBZ to PGZ... Anyways once Heavy Shinobi is defeated, you see Eggman sending coordinates to Metal Sonic to return to Little Planet and Stardust Speedway.

Stardust Speedway is my favorite level in Sonic CD. However in Mania... it's not. While there are some parts of the level layout that gives you enough speed, I feel that it's one of the slower levels. I'll probably get some hate for saying that, as Press Garden Zone really isn't all about speed all the time and it's my favorite original level found in Mania. However, the level was much faster in Sonic CD, which is a slower paced game than Mania is. Not to mention that the music in act 1 really wasn't on par with other remixes in the game, up to this point. I'll admit it has grown a bit on me since it was revealed before the game was released, but Act 2's track really does a better job at remixing the track. Act 1's boss is a giant firefly badnik, which is pretty easy to beat. However, I may not have liked the remixed level all too much but Act 2's boss had me freaking out. At first I thought I was going to have to race Metal Sonic yet again, but to my surprise you fight him. And this fight was a special treat for someone who wasn't expecting any more nodes to the 8-bit titles, Silver Sonic from Sonic 2 8-bit appears as a badnik in the boss fight, and you have to spin dash into him while he's spindashing in order to damage Metal Sonic! I had to pause the game to soak in what was happening, and I even freaked my girlfriend out a bit because she heard me freaking out over this moment! Not to mention that the machine that Metal Sonic was hooked up to resembles his fight from Knuckles Chaotix, which is pretty cool! After destroying that machine, you have to damage Metal Sonic himself and avoid running into a wall full of spikes that's chasing after you. Once he's defeated, and you destroy the egg capsule it's time to go to the next level which is Hydrocity.

This level really didn't give me that wow factor, well up until the bosses that is! Anyways Hydrocity Zone really wasn't one of my favorites in Sonic 3, so I wasn't too excited to see it return in Mania. I do like the boat gimmick they've added to the level, and best of all the giant bubble gimmick from Aqua Lake Zone from Sonic 2 8-bit. I seriously can't get over all the 8-bit references! Honestly though, it feels as if this level was rushed. Act 2's layout is almost a exact replica of the original zone, and the bosses aren't original. (Well aside from the first Eggman phase.) I really got a kick out of the mini boss, it's nice to use one of Eggman's own weapons against him and best of all it's his weapon from the original Hydrocity Zone! Act 2's boss is act 1's mini-boss from the original zone, but as stated above the first phase has Sonic and his friends being chased by Eggman. Since the bosses aren't original, that factor also seems to back up my theory that Hydrocity was rushed. There's not really much to say about Hydrocity, it could have been better but in my opinion the original really wasn't one of my favorites. The next level is another original zone, and one that was also revealed long before the game came out. That level is Mirage Saloon!

Now this is one of the coolest levels in the game. Sonic and Tails' Act 1 plays exactly like Sky Chase Zone from Sonic 2 16-bit. I know many people don't care for that level, but personally it was one of my favorites from Sonic 2, so I was happy to see it return in some fashion. Knuckles has a completely different layout and level, and not to mention mini-boss, but we'll get into that shortly. I think many fans prefer Knuckles' Act 1 to Sonic's and Tails', since it's the typical Sonic zone. Mirage Saloon's graphics are based off the scrapped level called "Desert Dazzle", a level that originally was supposed to be included in the Sonic CD remasters, but was cut. It's also based around Dust Hill, a scrapped level from Sonic 2. It's a western zone that takes place in a bar like setting, but out in the middle of a desert. The level gimmicks are pretty cool, but the best part of the level are the bosses. Remember how I mentioned that Knuckles has a completely different mini-boss than Sonic and Tails? His is actually the Gigalopolis/Gigapolis boss from Sonic Chaos! That blew me away when I first played the game as Knuckles! Sonic and Tails' is based on the catakiller badniks found in Sonic 3D on the Genesis/Mega Drive. Act 2's boss blew me away as well! Once again you're up against one of the Hard-Boiled Heavies, this time Heavy Magician. She actually transforms into some lost but familiar characters to long time fans. Specifically she transforms into Fang the Sniper (or Nack the Weasel), Bean, and Bark! Not only that, but the sound effect that plays when she transforms is directly taken from the 8-bit titles, and is actually the ring loss sound effect! This was another moment where I had to pause the game and fan out a little bit! Once Heavy Magician is defeated, we actually get a level transition, the trio jump into a giant gun and is thrown into the next level, which happens to be Oil Ocean!

Oh how I despise Oil Ocean. It's always been one, if not my least favorite zone from Sonic 2. Not only that, but combined with my least favorite zone in Sonic and Knuckles, it really makes me despise the level even more. I will say that I do like the oil burning effect that happens if you have a fire shield, it makes logical sense for fire to be igniting oil. I will admit that I do enjoy Mania's OOZ a tad bit more than Sonic 2's. However it's not really by much. I also do like the new submarine gimmick that the mania crew added, it works really well. I think the Act 2 gimmick of the level getting hotter and hotter after defeating the Act 1 mini boss is creative as well, but that mini-boss can be a pain in the ass if you don't defeat it quick enough. Act 2's boss was a absolute nightmare, especially as Knuckles. I found myself losing most of my lives here, but really you just need to take it slow to beat it without losing a life. I did find myself dying because the pillars rose and I was slightly facing them, causing me to get crushed a few times. (Which the crushing hazards being a bigger pain in the ass in this game than in the classics means you'll probably die a few times by getting crushed, even if you're not directly in a spot to get crushed.) That's really all I have to say about this zone. It's a shame that there's no level transition to my all time favorite level from Sonic and Knuckles, which is Lava Reef Zone!

This is the only zone I got spoiled on. I wasn't happy that I got spoiled, but what can you do? Anyways Lava Reef Zone is just as amazing as ever, but I love how they added the conveyor belts from Quartz Quadrant Zone in the level and even added some loops that resemble the loops from Endless Mine Zone from Sonic 3. Another gimmick they added from Sonic CD are the giant weight like platforms that move when you jump on one at a time, they're from Tidal Tempest if memory serves me correctly. Act 1's boss pays homage to Mystic Cave Zone's boss, which is pretty cool. Act 2's boss is very special to those who are or were a member at Sonic Retro at some point. You fight another hard-boiled heavy, Heavy Rider, but she rides on a Motobug named Jimmy. For those not aware of this easter egg, it's a rather depressing one. There was once a Tech Member on Sonic Retro know as Polygon Jim. He was quite well known at Retro, his mods of the Sonic games were hilarious, but one particular mod was a hack of Sonic 1 known as "Motobug in Sonic the Hedgehog." Yeah you got to play as a motobug, who was slow as hell, but the mod was hilarious. In memory of him Christian Whitehead named the Motobug that Heavy Rider joyrides on, and the sprite is based around the sprite in his hack. This is one of the best parts of Mania, and shows a better part of the Sonic fandom, one that always gets overlooked because of all the negativity.

Well I've went over the majority of the levels in Sonic Mania. I think I'll wrap this review up, and let you experience the last few levels the game has to offer. But before I do end this review, there's still another part of the game I'll go over, something that always appears in the classic titles. The special stages that is! Well they don't actually appear in Sonic 2 8-bit, and other spin off titles, but the Genesis games have them and of course Mania is no exception. The special stages are in 3D! They look as they would have if this game was a Sega Saturn game. In order to collect all 7 chaos emeralds and get the good ending, you have to chase after a UFO while dodging bombs and mines. There's also blue spheres that help the trio pick up enough speed to be able to catch the UFO, before time runs out. Rings replenish the timer, and running into bombs and mines makes you lose 10 rings. You can even fall off some levels if you're not careful, but almost all stages start you off at a position that has bumpers alongside the stage, preventing you from falling off. The backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous, and the special stages are a blast to play once you get the hang of them. The game also has local two player versus mode that resembles Sonic 2's split screen competition mode.

Overall I had a blast playing Sonic Mania! I've been playing the game almost every day, and I've personally bought it on the Xbox One as well as on Bundled Stars. Being a huge fan of the classic Sonic games, I was amazed with how much love and dedication was put into this project and it was definitely worth the wait. It even gave the Sonic franchise a better outlook from various gaming websites who recently had nothing but negative things to say about the franchise. It's just a shame that Sega of Europe had to delay the PC version to include DRM to the game, and one that doesn't even do what it was programmed to do. Another thing that I wish the game had was more original levels, but I can't complain too much about the rehashed levels as it was stated numerous times that it was going to have more rehashed levels than new, and even then those rehashed levels had new elements that made those rehashed levels different from their original counterparts. I give Mania a very positive 9 out of 10. It may not be as good as Sonic 3 and Knuckles or CD, but it's definitely my second favorite game in the franchise. Give it a try if you haven't yet!

[hilmihisham]

#74 : Nintendo Switch! *snap fingers here*

It’s probably better for me to make a video out of this (and I really wanted to do it), but somehow I’m not in a good state of mind to do just that. Mind, not body or anything else - I’m perfectly fine, no injuries, no sickness, just good. It’s not really surprising really, me being in this state. I mean, I’ve been through this kind of mind state many times before - wait till the wind passes through and I’ll be good to go again after this (and yes, I just finished watching Sherlock at the time I’m writing this).

If I were to sugarcoat and exaggerate everything, I’ll say that it’s the impressive work of the brain of mind where I’m feeling of wanting to do every possible stuff that I can (mind you, I got lots of hobbies and “side project” (which is again, I might be a lil bit sugarcoating the terms)) and feeling wanting to do nothing all at once and in the same time. Yes, I can’t possibly do both everything and nothing at the same time, can I? Pfft, what a brain that I have up in that skull of mine..

Or if I were to forget all the sugar and the coating and the exaggeration and be very true to myself, I’ll just say that maybe I’m just tired and bored at the same time.

Or if I were to reflect at some Japanese proverbs (or something else, or I’m probably get my memory all messed up and it’s not really Japanese which I really unsure of but whatever), all humans have 3 sides of themselves. So for the third side of my self, maybe I’m just in a dire need of any amusement and lazy ass.

Or people always give up after three (cue Sherlock over here huhu) so to assess my brain the fourth time.. damnit I don’t really have time for this, do I? 

How many people still reading up to this point? Really serious question here, and I meant it.

I know (and I know exactly) that I didn’t really got much hit from people to this page so there’s could be so many people that are reading stuff that I wrote here in this tumblr. This is just an experiment, a little curiosity of mine, but if you now reading up to this point, please (and I meant it) click here (or where the hell you got the link from to be here) and reply to my tweet with phrase “what the damn hell?”.

Why the experiment? Well, I just seriously wanna know if I’m still relevant to the world (or at least to my circle of world) or not? The experiment might be a big failure but oh well, just trying to have some fun..

Now, onto the title - Nintendo Switch! *click*

Ahem, sorry for the long intro there. Thank you for still bear with me like always (or like never, idk..).

This is just gonna be a short and simple one, I try.

It’s the smartphone era. When new gadget came out, whatever it is, we always, always, like a bad habit (or a good one, depending on where your standpoint is) wanted to know about the specs. For me, and I always say this, with Nintendo the specs is the last thing (if not not at all) we should bother about. I mean, since the very beginning where they created GameBoy, specs was way off backwards from its time but it still a huge success. Even Sega Game Gear that was released circa the same time as GameBoy to compete with it with better specs didn’t come close as to leave a tiny scratch to GameBoy. That’s how good Nintendo are without bothering about its hardware specs. 

But the Nintendo Switch Dock comes together in-the-box when you buys the system means that they really wanna make this also as a proper home console and that means competing (even a bit) with Xbox and PlayStation and there’s some people that buy Xbox and PlayStation that’s really care about the specs.

But Nintendo didn’t bother about it (or at least they seem to, since they talk nothing about it in the presentation last week..)

So specs that we know so far - Nvidia Tegra chipset (we not know which, rumored to be last-gen Maxwell architecture), 6.2-inch 720p touchscreen display capable to output 1080p while docked to TV, 32GB storage with microSD slot available for expansion, and most importantly 2.5 to 6 hours battery life (playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild reported to maxed out at 3 hours).

What’s in the $299.99 (oh come on, it’s $300!) box? We will get the Nintendo Switch itself (well, of course), Joy-Con controller (left and right controller with the color of your choice - black or neon (blue and red)), Nintendo Switch dock to play it on your TV screen, Joy-Con grip (not the rechargeable one, that is sold separately for $30), Joy-Con strap (so that you can feels more secured of not gonna drop your controller and makes it a bit bigger at the same time), HDMI cable and USB-C AC adapter (which successfully made a comeback into the box of Nintendo’s handheld consoles.. Congrats!). 

There’s so many *overpriced* accessories and spare parts that you could buy separately (don’t try to lose any parts of your Nintendo Switch then). Not to forget, Nintendo Switch Pro Controller will also be sold separately for $70 (for reference, you could get both controller for Xbox One S and PlayStation 4 for $60 (and sometime even less than that).

Speaking of the dock just now (oh btw, the dock set (with AC adapter and HDMI cable) will be sold separately at $90), before the presentation, I have a hope that maybe Nintendo could not include the dock and make the whole price down to just $250. But they not. They include it. For me, I take it that Nintendo didn’t want Switch to be just a handheld console. They give the dock together in the whole package, they intend it to also be a home console, they intend it to be both.

So many styles that you could play Nintendo Switch with - handheld, separate Joy-Con, sideway Joy-Con (or smaller small Joy-Con), put both Joy-Con together like a normal game controller, Joy-Con in a steering wheel or Pro Controller. Very versatile indeed..

Joy-Con also have so many functionality packs into that small controller that they took up half of an hour presentation just to talk about it. I don’t bother to list it all out here but I hope that many games will take advantage of it, not just only one or two first party games and others don’t bother about it at all and just make games with simple, traditional controls. To recap, PSVita also had its own crazy amount of controls but no developers bother to make use of that back touchpad. I hope Nintendo Switch doesn’t go down the same road as that.

Nintendo Switch also will got its own paid online services which we still didn’t have much info regarding that. Hope that it’s better than what Nintendo have right now (which not really there isn’t it?) and at least similar to those on Xbox and PlayStation right now. 

Last but not least (but not many either), games. Here’s the Nintendo Switch games release schedule for the games that already announced and confirmed.

I really want Nintendo Switch to success, I really do. That schedule seems like a lot of games going on there but it’s not, really. I mean, just look at Launch Day releases and you’ll understand it. We’re just 6 weeks away from launching and we only know 5 games that we can get on Day 1?! Really, Nintendo?

For the western market (or for not-Japan market), I think Zelda is the only game that people look forward to in that box. For people that didn’t really care about Zelda and people that is not overly enthusiastic about Nintendo, there’s no real reason to get the console on Day 1 isn’t it? For reminder, on Day 1 in western market, PlayStation 4 got 24 games, Xbox One got 22 and even Nintendo’s own Wii U got whopping 34 games! Just 5 for Switch? Really, Nintendo? 

There could possibly be more, but at least today on 17 January, this is the only 5 that has been confirmed.

And I wanna talk about 1-2-Switch for a bit. Zelda will be sold at $60, and I think that’s gonna be the standard pricing for Nintendo Switch games going forward (same price as for Xbox and PlayStation). But for what I’ve seen in the presentation and the trailer, I can’t think 1-2-Switch of anything other than just a bunch of minigames aim to show the users the full potential of what the console can do, at least in the controls department. It seems fun, and I think I’ll like the game(s). But if that’s really the true intention of the game, why don’t Nintendo just ship the game as a bundle with the system instead of people buying it separately? Won’t it be a good way to show off the new console to the masses? And if they sold 1-2-Switch as standalone game in regular price of $60, that’s it, I won’t ever bother about it anymore.

I also really interested in ARMS but if that too comes with $60 price tag, nope I’m not gonna bother about it also. Other confirmed games that has successfully grabbed my attention in that list is Zelda (obviously), Disgaea 5, Super Mario Odyssey, I am Setsuna and Xenoblade 2.

So there you go guys, a brief summary about what Nintendo Switch is as what Nintendo has presented it to us so far and some bits of my mind about them. This is one heck of a long text and I applaud you guys if you managed to reach this far haha.. 

To end everything (but not my mind delusional sickness apparently), am I still relevant?