#this is what computers have to do every time you play Mario 64

[blazehedgehog]

I’d love a completely new Sonic and Sega All Star Racing Game in 2025 or 2026. Both to see an expanded cast from more Sega franchises (Yakuza, Persona, Puyo Puyo, Hatsune Miku, Angry Birds, the “Power The Next Level” IP revivals) and due to untapped gameplay potential for a sonic racing game. My question is: if we were to get a new Sonic and Sega ASR do you have any ideas or hopes for how they could evolve the gameplay of a sonic racing game? (Aside from adding all content from the past titles)

I mean, do you have to evolve it? I'd like a straight collection, which means basically freezing all the gameplay features in time in the Transformed era.

The thing about those games and Mario Kart is that they don't evolve much. With a few exceptions, most Mario Kart games are what they always have been. More evolution than revolution. Tweaks to power sliding mechanics, maybe the ability to better mix and match characters and parts, but still Mario Kart after 8 or 9 games.

Where Sega and Sumo's games differed was having a real, proper singleplayer campaign. The plan was apparently to always have a story mode in those games, but they didn't get enough budget to pull it off until Team Sonic Racing. Regardless, they always contained at least some kind of singleplayer mission structure outside of the context of just racing, racing, racing. That's something that Mario Kart always lacked.

They can keep those as-is and still be a step ahead of most Mario Karts.

I dunno. I have a lot of ideas for what could make racing games better, though. I like to play those alone, by myself, against the computer. At risk of giving these ideas away for free, it's like...

One feature I liked from Dirt 2 that Codemasters struggled to carry forward was the idea that other racers on the track were characters you could interact with. Real people. They would banter with you as you raced, get angry if you bumped into them too hard, chat with each other during races, etc.

Codemasters got away with that for a few games but did sort of bring it back in newer entries like Grid 2 and Grid Legends, but it's lacking that human element -- you'll get an alert that you have "a new rival" because you were too aggressive with another racer, but there's no visible reaction or audible dialog to reflect that. And with how much Codemasters leans on having stories in those games, despite having the foundation for a Telltale-style "[xyz] will remember that" system, it never has bearing on the plot.

They are so close to unlocking the true potential of that system and they never fully commit. There's untapped possibility there for sure.

The other thing is, like, these games always have a finite amount of content. You play something like Ridge Racer 4 and it's always the same tracks, in the same order, every time you play. But does it have to be?

A lot of racing games will let you pick individual tracks one at a time if you want to switch it up, but I don't want that. I want to be able to tell the game "give me a new cup" and have it assemble one on the spot.

It's like a fighting game, right. What's the main fault of early Smash Bros. games? You fight the same characters, in the same order, every time. Later Smash games, and indeed most fighting games, offer you up fighters in a random order, so every time you fire up Arcade Mode, you're never entirely sure who your next opponent is.

So back when stuff like the Spelunky Daily Challenge was a hot conversation topic, I often wondered why racing games couldn't have, like, "The Grand Prix of the Day." Generate a playlist of four existing tracks in a random order for every day of the year.

Like, Mario Kart 8 has, what, 64 tracks right now? It should be able to generate me a new Grand Prix playlist of four tracks on command in trillions of variations. Technically, this is sort of what Mario Kart Tour does, but even then that's locked in to a live service model of "seasonal" content and you still eventually run out of Grand Prix cups to race on for that month. Also, Mario Kart Tour sucks and is bad to play.

And, like, what if you could share your Grand Prix playlists with others? Send them to your friends, issue challenges, configure parameters like mirror mode and reverse races. Maybe designate specific racers as being "experts" for that GP with different traits to race against. Maybe even let the friend record a ghost or some kind of Drivatar-style profile to race against as part of the GP.

This feels so natural and obvious to me. And to be fair, Forza Horizon games also kind of do some of this, but it's still not the same. It's not what I'm looking for.

When I play a racing game, the less I have to interface with the menu, the better. I'm here to race, not to scroll through track lists and be indecisive.

[randomclam24]

Let me lay down some rap honkey white boy. In non Japan, if you invoke either of the major titles by Teriyaki Tomato, they will fully invoke the more Japanese-oriented Siren games on *you* absolutely all the way if you invoke them on leftists seriously in a way that even conceptually exists - and look at that wording - out of that uncanny valley of address came the title which makes the impression like it *could* be French but that could be gay, "Alliance Alive", translated meaning I'm a big fat idiot, can't you see (This was the most popular game in Japan when it came out on 3DS) This is why we say these are just people who want to be ruled

The underlying production of the title was as followed, conceptually exist (thus founding the premise for the theory of Elon Musk virtual existence) - the powers over America are coming from consensus overseas and saying, we need ourselves to live with PRIDE

3/17 The Alex Kister drama - I learned about it by not actually watching any of them but downloading them all so I would have the feng shui of the titles which predefines the conclusion of the viewers

The last video Kister made was basically fashioned in conclusion after the wad Unloved, where in the second-floor room map link, the introduction starts by showing an abyss into a hallway. That's all there is to this. By doing these explanations, I've been rationalizing the way for people whose existence is limited by the scope of doing your homework(, as it is a means by which, following the legends and conscriptions of people past, you can emulate human salvation without actually having to do the human salvation). People like Nick Fuentes are just mad they can't even do this. They're all idiots.

Anyway once you get the red key by spamming resurrect a whole bunch of times since I know no one in this drama is trying, since the author of this wad is jewish, uniquely, I figure that's what this new level is about once you get either the red or yellow key. This is what you associatedly inherently turn *into* when you're alt-righter. It's a bad word.

3/17 In the heat of being unable to meaningfully outlet their urges for five thousand generations, Trump supporters became The Ultimate Torment and Torture, especially by the open area of Beyond the Dark Portal, which is basically every Hollywood movie climax of all time definitively like go sit there and be its bitch for like five years

3/19 The Internet has been out on my main computer about since the time of the last posting.

Trying to actually beat the normal ending of this thing without extra lives - by the way I'm using a PS3 controller for this to deliberately work through possible inconvenience in order to preserve the sense of challenge that has left since I have gotten experienced at modern mouse and keyboard: the master sensitivity had to be set to .3 with the actual aiming controller stick set to 1.7 - specifically This gameplay has reminded me, back when I learned the Doom editing programs, one of my higher goals was to recreate Link to the Past in Doom - I had already done so with the entire overworld of the original game So what's that? That's a high I couldn't sustain

Update Unloved 2, only on Hurt Me Plenty, not Ultra-Violence I haven't felt the effects of gangstalking personally because like Mario 64 was actually at this level from childhood, unlike most other people, I've limited the amount of people that can get into me personally by a selectivity process. But back from childhood, whenever I was with the cousins playing, eventually they would dogpile me and after a certain point, I would stop fighting because it would get too rough and let them walk all over me If it came down to a procedure, I would let it go wherever it wants

3/22 I finished the beta with the last outburst of Faded City left unaffected You really don't - it still holds total precedence Hence the rest of the game is not made I have 'liminally' just not enough stars to get to fabled sacred Wario Apparition sector >Suddenly at the verge of not attention span, le reversed stair Everything would be cold(and misty) - unloved2beta1 is still our bottom-line backdrop, with no defense.

3/23 night By now it's become clear this playthrough's purpose has been to be true to proving what has already been known that I didn't want to think about, and ignoring any stars that would give the usual runaround sense of carefreeness what-so-ever. By this point, it's become conscious that the people in question would want people like myself dead in the streets because they'd cause too much trouble: so what 'meaning' you want to interpret out of the ripples in the Wario Apparition sector, it's completely out there you see, this is what deeper interpretable meaning they never went any further into

3/23 I installed Func Map Jam 2 and Arcane Dimensions in the new release of Quake - It worked easily enough In Arcane Dimensions, I activated active spawns mode and entered The Realm of Enceladus Right from the bat, aside from feeling weird from the Eastern religious symbolism in the start area, right outside, there being just one floating enemy It's not the thing itself, but the fact of the atmosphere Even if you had this kind of atmosphere in games, people would not appreciate it They're obviously preoccupied

3/24 Introducing myself to that level reminded me of the spirit of Spongebob and Patrick making a snow fort in their yard just to have Squidward not appreciate it The entire world is looking at us |Trump supporters| like the meme about ||Republicans||:- "I'm a Republican, and I'm just gonna wall everything off and have muh guns because I'm made of--**beef jerkey**"

5/11

After the memes of kids' shows from 2009, you can't just tell people the not Taylor Swift song but that other girl isn't just what every black thinks driving you by with le bass boost

5/12 Essentially forming the origin for the mandatory introductions "I'm a this, I'm a that", (9) from Touhou means at this point you have to emulate a jew like "have to hand it to them". That's not not mandatory, our ability, like the thing in the eye of TNT 2, to justify beside, is by leaning

Edit - it's not an edit. What comes when? We don't have a culture we're *barren*

5/18 Alright as coroporate executives, we have to do something Within the public graces of what salvation constitutes, it can only be within the bounds of eraudica, um probably Senran Kagura Burst Renewal, and I don't know Kangaroo Jack or someshit(*get* to it

5/19 crack of midnight- I will not accept a Freddy Frekker remix without audio distortion like the battery-dead Homer Simpson bottle opener etc. But back in the day I looked at one actually like that and just said fuck that

[nintendeez]

Playing Classic Games in HD Shouldn’t Be a Crime

In the realm of video games, there exists a tapestry woven from threads of innovation and nostalgia. One such golden thread is ‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’, a game released in 1998 for Nintendo 64 that set new standards in the adventure genre. It introduced us to a three-dimensional Hyrule full of mystery, danger, and intrigue — all to be solved and resolved by our hero Link as he wielded his trusty Master Sword against evil forces.

The Nintendo 3DS version, which came out in 2011, enhanced this masterpiece even further by adding sharp visuals through its enhanced graphics and improved controls optimized for the handheld console. Now, thanks to dedicated gamers and technological advancements, the 3DS version of ‘Ocarina of Time’ can now be experienced in all its glory on personal computers via emulation software.

Emulators allow players to run console or arcade games on their PC or mobile device. For example, if you wanted to relive your childhood memories playing SNES classics like Super Mario World but don’t have access to that system anymore, you could download an emulator onto your PC and play those same games without needing the actual hardware. Emulating ‘Ocarina of Time’ on PC opens up possibilities beyond what was originally available on either the N64 or 3DS platforms.

These enhancements include upscaled textures and shaders to give the game a crisp, modern look while still retaining its original art style. Think of it as applying a fresh coat of paint to a timeless piece of artwork; it enhances the overall experience without compromising its essence.

To put into perspective just how much of a difference these modifications make, consider that the native resolution of the Nintendo 3DS version of ‘Ocarina of Time’ is only 400x240 pixels. By comparison, most modern PC monitors support resolutions well above Full HD (1080p), with many supporting Ultra HD (4K) resolution. The leading texture pack project for Ocarina of Time 3D brings the internal resolution of the emulated game up to these lofty heights, while adding shader support via ReShade post-processing effects.

As mentioned before, emulators allow users to play console games on their computers. However, in order to do so legally, one must first obtain a ROM of the game they wish to play — which can prove challenging due to copyright laws surrounding intellectual property. This is where things become murky; downloading a ROM of a game you already own isn’t necessarily illegal, but distributing said ROMs certainly is. So while this option may seem appealing to some, it’s important to understand the complexities involved before diving headfirst into the world of PC emulation. The average user will bear no responsibility for a ROM downloaded from an online repository, but if the same user were to acquire the ROM via torrent file sharing, there is the very real possibility that they will receive a strongly worded warning letter from their Internet Service Provider, or possibly worse.

If you choose to proceed with caution and respect both the developer’s wishes and the specific (and well litigated) limits imposed by copyright law, however, you will be rewarded with an unparalleled gaming experience. Using texture packs and emulator upscaling, these games can often look better than ever before, surpassing even the official HD remasters released for subsequent systems.

In the case of Ocarina, every leaf on every tree, every crack in the stone walls, and every stitch in Link’s green tunic comes alive with newfound clarity and detail. It’s almost as though time itself has stood still since 1998, allowing us to revisit Hyrule in ways we never thought possible.

When compared directly side-by-side-by-side, the differences between the three versions of Ocarina of Time are easy to see. While the original hardware undoubtedly holds a special place in our hearts, there is something truly magical about seeing this iconic title running at the native resolution of a modern PC. The combination of increased performance, higher frame rates, and expanded color palettes makes for a far more immersive and enjoyable journey through the land of Hyrule than was ever achievable when playing on the Nintendo 3DS.

In conclusion, despite the legal gray areas surrounding the use of ROMs, there is little doubt that using a PC emulator to play games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is worth the effort. Whether you are seeking to relive fond childhood memories or simply want to discover what all the fuss was about back in 1998, emulating with texture packs on PC provides an unrivaled opportunity to experience these timeless classics in a whole new light. Just remember to exercise caution when acquiring your ROM, and always respect the wishes of the developers who poured their souls into creating all of our beloved classic games.

[dolphs-world]

Games

I tried replaying A Hat in Time. I thought it was one of my favourite games for the past few years but now its very frustrating. I have some props for it being a 3D platformer but it is nowhere near as fun as I remember it. It's not challenging, 100% it is not really an option, not really funny (this is especially notable after playing Shovel Knight), the problems are tedious to solve, not really as flexible as you'd hope a 3D platformer to be, and it doesn't feel as fun to control. Now, I've only done the first 2 worlds and I remember liking the later stages more. But I also remember the wild west part being fun. Also, the load times are atrocious. This is now 1 of 2 games where the loading is a notable con, the other being Crash Nitro-Fueled. In that games case, the loading is the only thing holding it back from being perfect. And the new stages. Also replayed Crash 4. Much more enjoyable this time around without trying to get every gem, which is sad because that's half of the fun of the original trilogy. I hope I enjoy the N'sane trilogy as much as I did when I replay it. I'd recommend only going for the wumpa juice gems and hidden gems in 4. And if you want an extra challenge, the only dying 3 times gem. Oh, and the colour gems. Was thinking about getting Sonic Superstars but after finding out that the Sonic Mania team weren't behind it, and the mixed reviews, and decided against it. Sonic Mania is the only game I love. The rest of the 2D games are good but Sonic Mania outshines and replaces them. Sequels in video games are interesting because, unlike a movie, you can essentially do the same thing again and no one complains. I mean look at COD and Pokemon. I kid. But sometimes the sequel does replace it. Take Mario, for example. You have Galaxy 1 & 2. Essentially, more of the same thing. In my mind, they are near equal. But then you have 3D Land and 3D World. Why would I ever go back to Land after World? (And in my controversial opinion, 3 and World. I don't understand how people prefer 3 over World, it simply replaces it. You know what's the closest thing to 3? The NSMB games.) And then of course, you have something like 64 and Sunshine or Odyssey. Completely different games that complement each other. In other worlds, I didn't get Mario Wonder. Just didn't look like it would be both a fun and challenging game. I would be happy to be countered. Also, after playing DKCTF and Shovel Knight, I'm realising just how shit Mario's boss fights are. I think the only good one's are Galaxy and Mario Land 2?! I tried Sonic Adventure. I know some of the jank is because I'm playing the DX version on the computer but man does it kind of suck. I will beat it, if only to judge people for defending the game. At least I understand why people like Sonic Unleashed, another game I will also beat. If you're looking for a fun 3D platformer on Steam I'd recommend What Lies Between. It's real fun with a great sense of scale and momentum. You can get it for a couple of bucks. Know that I'm thinking about it, I have shit ton of games I've started on my computer. Half-Life, Disco Elysium, Fallout 1, Sonic Racing, Everhood, Kotor 2, Psychonauts 2. And only one of these I have an excuse as to not finishing! Psychonauts 2 is too strong for my computer. I will beat these with my time off.

[blacktobackmesa]

Why SpeedrunStreamer!Bubby?

So, if you’ve read the Streamman series or seen my posts, you’ll know that I decided that after being extracted from the game and starting a new life in a custom program, Bubby starts doing speedrun streams on Twitch. This may seem like a strange character choice, especially when Bubby’s not exactly the character most closely tied to video games. As such, I thought I’d share some details about where this concept came from and how this goes down.

Canon Basis

Bubby may not talk about games and game culture all the time, but he's not completely tech illiterate. He's one of the few characters in HLVRAI who uses the term "pog" in its modern context (though both characters do so incorrectly)

Pertaining to speedrunning: the Rocket Launch scene. We don't know exactly what Bubby sees when he takes the rocket into "outer space", but given the outcome of Coomer clearing the skybox earlier, it can be inferred that Bubby catches a glimpse of what's outside of the map. Unlike Coomer, however, Bubby doesn't respond to this with outward fear. In fact, he's fascinated, and chooses to "go back" for another look. Game breakage does not upset him, it just makes him curious.

"I need to perfect my run."

Extrapolation

After living in the facility for ?? years with a constant schedule and job to do, Bubby's going to need to occupy his time now that he's more or less retired. He loves trains, so he's probably one of those guys with a model railway in his basement, but he's also got a hunger for learning new things and accomplishing great tasks.

One of the ways he's coming to terms with being an AI is by taking advantage of what he can do that someone not living in a computer can't. It doesn't come as naturally to him as it does to Benrey and G-Man, who can more or less warp reality, and he doesn't have the same knack with computers as Darnold.

Then one night when they're all watching shit together Gordon shows them the notorious Super Mario 64 Watch Out for Rolling Rocks 1/2 A-Press explanation video. The flood of technical terms and methods makes Bubby feel like he did when he was on the rocket, and he needs to see more. New Obsession Unlocked

Bubby is used to attention. He doesn't need to be the center of the world all the time (though he definitely did when he was younger) but he's accustomed to being in groups. Now he's living in a neighborhood with a small handful of people. He needs interaction with other people, but there just aren't really other people around. Joining an online community lets him talk to people, and doing so by setting up a twitch channel means he can interact with people on his own terms by showing off doing things he likes.

Gotta make money to buy new games somehow. Plus he wants to feel like he's living independently and making his own living for once

Results

Depending on the game Bubby will do his runs either playing traditionally or by physically inserting himself into the game ACAB Stream-style. Both require very different skillsets and a lot of practice! He gets the best viewership for the physical ones, but they're a lot more taxing on him so he chooses them carefully.

Darnold does producer work for him. Look he's the Computers Guy and it's neat work.

He's set a couple WRs in various categories. Unfortunately, he does not qualify for most leaderboards, as it's up for debate if his runs count as scripted or tool assisted. Since, y'know. He's a program.

"Tool assisted? The fuck did you call me?"

As a workaround he made his own category, Bubby%. This has not been accepted by many leaderboards since competition is nonexistent.

He recognizes that many of his viewers are there for the novelty of watching someone they don't perceive as human play video games. Sadly, he's used to that sort of perception, but at least that means it's not a deal breaker.

For every person who sees him as a curiosity for being an AI, there's at least one other who sees him as a curiosity for being over 65 and playing, like, Super Metroid and Spelunky. And another viewer who thinks he's a vtuber hoax but likes the content.

Not all of his streams are speedruns, he does some casual stuff too. Sometimes he'll fuck around with party games with Coomer or do gmod stuff with Benrey.

He didn't tell Gordon about his channel for several months. Not for any personal reasons, he just likes to have secrets.

His chat has a running joke of speculating when he'll finally stream Half Life. He cracks a lot of jokes about it, but he's never going to do it. That experience is something extremely personal, and he's not going through it for someone's entertainment. Not again.

[where-dreamers-go]

“Game On” Riley Poole x Reader

(A/N: SURPRISE! A prequel to the Riley Poole x Reader Series! It’s a surprise for me too. Welcome to Ben Gates’ circle of friends prior to going to the Arctic Circle to find The Charlotte. This can be read without having read the series that goes through the movie National Treasure. Written for @girl-next-door-writes Bingo challenge! Bingo Card: Mutual Pining Warnings: Poker game. Word Count: 2,472 words)

Strategy. Confidence. Restraint. Three words perfectly fit the poker game on Ben’s dining table. Ever since your best friend had met Ian Howe, a man who believed in the Templar treasure and had pockets of money, the group of you had played poker on weekends. Not every weekend of course. There were only so many rounds of bets you were willing to have. Even if this time you brought cookies for a snack.

Although in truth, you had been playing more for a few months and sitting through more games than otherwise willing. Why? An incredibly intelligent, funny, and handsome man who was officially a part of Ben’s circle of friends.

Riley Poole. Thank the Universe that you helped Ben with his computer, you thought as you stole a glance to your right. Didn’t think I’d be having this much fun.

Sitting in your best friends’ apartment was a greater comfort than Ian’s home. Sure, you’d known the man for more than a year, but Ben had been your friend since you were in school. Around a decade of friendship meant you knew him. You knew him well.

“Ben,” you said calmly.

“Hmm?”

“You’re bluffing again.”

Ben’s eyebrows raised a fraction before speaking. “I fold.”

In only a moment, Ian chuckled.

“You might not be the best player,” Ian told you. “But you can read Ben like a book.” His chuckling doubled as Ben made a face.

“Maybe we should return (Y/N)’s library card.” Ben suggested with a smirk.

You scrunched up your face in disapproval.

“Yeah, but they can still buy books and stay in a library to read them.” Riley piped in.

You sent Riley a smile and pushed a box of crackers closer to him.

“Alright,” Ian spoke up. “Can either of you beat a Four of a Kind? Riley?”

Biting into a cracker, Riley shook his head and laid his cards down. “I fold.”

“(Y/N)?”

“No,” you grumbled. “I fold.” Reluctantly, you set your cards down.

He’s gonna start prancing his way out by the time we’re done.

Shoulders back and a smug grin on his face, Ian revealed his cards. A three, a nine, a queen, and a king.

“What?” Riley exclaimed.

You dropped your forehead to the table.

Not again.

“They’re not even the same suit. You lied.”

“I win again.” Ian stated as the poker chips could be heard being pulled to his side of the table.

“Next time we’re playing Mario Party,” you groaned as you picked your head up off of the table.

“I am not playing that.”

“Afraid you’ll lose?” You countered.

“No. I simply don’t want to play.”

You made a short sound of acknowledgement in your throat.

“You have a Nintendo 64?” Riley asked as everyone tossed their cards to the middle so that Ben could take his turn to shuffle and deal.

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know you had one. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You never asked.”

“How was I suppose to know to ask if you had one?”

“Conversation?”

“Save the bickering for the game, shall we?” Ian interrupted without glancing up.

You gave the man a pointed look.

It was times like those that you weren’t entirely sure if he was playing along or actually annoyed. There were times when you honestly could not tell.

Worse case scenario, he’s always annoyed with me and Riley talking. He’s usually not this way when it’s just me and Ben.

Having finished shuffling the deck, Ben dealt the cards out to each of you.

“As a head’s up, this is my last game.” You said after checking the time.

“You’re not working overtime again, are you?” Ben asked.

“No.”

“(Y/N)…”

“I have to double check an e-mail and double check a few things. Respond to a few more e-mails. Stuff.”

“That’s working.” Riley said.

“I know. I know.”

“At least you’re making sure everything is done properly. Some times that’s hard to find in some people.” Ian added.

“Thank you.” You reached for a cookie and—

Crunch

You peered over to your right and saw Riley’s eyebrows knitted together as he ate another cracker. His eyes were trained just above his cards.

That was a little louder than normal, you thought as you ate the cookie. Mentally shrugging, you checked out your cards. Oh, okay. Not bad so far. Hmm.

“Any chance next time we could play Twenty-One?” You asked.

“Blackjack?” Riley nabbed a cookie.

“Yeah. Though if Ben says ‘no’ he indirectly admits his many defeats.”

“Hey. That’s a game of chance.” Ben pointed a finger at you.

“And strategy.” You added.

“It is older than Poker.” Ian said as he waited for Ben to add more cards to the table.

Ben eyed his own cards. “You know,” he started. “Playing cards were actually invented before 1000AD by the Chinese. The cards didn’t have numbers…”

Turning your head to the right, you caught Riley’s eyes. You gave each other knowing looks as Ben continued giving facts. That could mean two things: Ben was confident or he had a pretty good hand of cards. If Ian had picked up on that through the many games, neither you nor Riley knew. However, you were willing to play more logically to win.

Game on, Ben.

Riley slid the box of crackers closer to you. The box was moved just enough that when you leaned back, Riley subtly tilted his cards.

You had a better cards. You took two crackers and gave one to Riley. He returned his sights back to the center of the table with a nod.

Now to figure out Ian and Ben. Can’t always let one of them win.

“Riley.” Ben said.

“Hm? What?”

“Your turn.”

“Oh, right.”

You reached for more crackers to munch on as the four of you continued playing. Looking up for only a second, you saw Ben smiling and his smile only widened when he caught your eye. You raised an eyebrow in question. He glanced over to Riley then back at you. Acting on immediate reaction, you tossed a cracker at your best friend’s chest. Unfortunately he didn’t drop any of his cards so that you could see them.

Stop it, you thought. Too bad we don’t have telepathy. Then again, that could backfire with comments, but we could team up during poker. Also would save money on the phone bill. Hmph.

With more cards in your hands, your chances of winning were dwindling. It was not a big deal. But you really wanted to win.

Darn it.

“(Y/N), I hope you’re better at bluffing than giving instructions over e-mail.” Riley said, catching you off guard.

“Wha—Hey.” You pulled your cards closer to yourself. “It’s not my fault they don’t know what the icons mean.”

“You should have explained that first.”

“I’m not Internet one oh one.”

Ian rolled his eyes. “Can we get back to the game?”

Hiding your smile as you ducked your head, you muttered, “We already went over this.”

“Bluff.” Riley murmured.

Ben cleared his throat and said, “Your turn, Riley.”

That e-mail was likely not going to be easily forgotten. Then again, it did remind you that a specific e-mail, from the same co-worker, had finally been sent to you earlier in the day.

Could have had it done last week.

A couple of days ago, you had given Riley a personal museum tour and treated him to lunch in exchange for helping you type up an e-mail explaining how to send a document as an attachment to a co-worker. It wasn’t that you didn’t know how to send the e-mail. It was that you didn’t know how to explain it for the third time. Or rather how to explain it in a way that the co-worker would understand the instructions given.

The game went on for another ten minutes until Ian and Riley were at a showdown. Ben and yourself had folded, knowing you were both beaten.

“Alright, show your hand.” Ian said confidently.

Both men turned their cards face up. A Three of a Kind versus a Flush. Riley won the game.

“Aaaay!” You patted Riley’s arm repeatedly for more than a moment.

Riley shuffled a bit in his seat before sitting a little taller.

“Good game.” Ian pushed his cards away.

“Good job, Riley.” Ben congratulated his friend.

Pulling the chips to his side, Riley grinned. Victory was sweet at times.

“Hey, sorry to cut this short, but I have to get going.” You stood from your seat and grabbed your plastic container of cookies to seal them.

Can snack on the cookies later, you thought as you smoothly placed one in front of Riley. He won. Prize given.

You pushed in your chair.

“I-uh better go too,” Riley said. “I don’t know how traffic is going to be. It’s dark.”

“Okay, Riley,” Ben replied. “Don’t forget your jacket.”

“Thanks.”

You walked passed Ian, saying, “Any chance you can teach Ben to bluff?”

“Not something you can teach.” Ian answered as he gathered up the cards.

“I don’t need to bluff to win.” Ben added in as he lead you and Riley to the door. Always the nice host.

“Bye Ian,” you waved.

“I’ll see you two later.” Riley said.

“Drive safely.” Ben patted his friend on the shoulder.

“Don’t stay up too late, Ben,” you teased as you walked out the door.

“Bye, (Y/N).” He laughed. Behind you, Ben had shut the door as Riley followed you out.

Two steps away from the door and Riley walked up beside you.

“I can’t believe how many times Ian bluffed.” Riley said. “He must have taken almost half of the chips.”

“I’d say I’m surprised, but I’m not.”

He nodded. Many thoughts running through his head no doubt.

“You didn’t do so bad today,” you added.

“I could have been better. I just can’t tell when Ian’s lying or confident or confident in his lying.”

“There’s little difference.” You murmured as you two reached your apartment’s door. Stopping for a moment, you considered your next words.

Eh. Do it.

“Remember that e-mail you helped me with?”

“Yeah.”

“Would you like to see what they e-mailed me back?”

“How bad is it?” His shoulders slumped.

“What makes you think it’s bad?”

“Because you’re asking if I want to see it and you’re already laughing.”

Oh, I guess I am. You thought as your grin widened.

“You’re right. It’s pretty bad. In a really weird way.”

“Great,” he said sarcastically. A small smile edged its way onto his face. “Let me see it.”

Turning, you quickly grabbed your key and unlocked the front door. Once you pushed it open, you let Riley inside.

“Just give me a second to grab my computer.” You said.

Front door shut and cookies placed on a flat surface, you fast-walked to another room to grab your laptop.

It was not the first time Riley had been in your apartment. It was not even the only time he had been in your home without Ben present. As it turned out, you had made friends with Riley almost as fast as Ben did. There was something that just clicked. Similar interests, shared knowledge, and good old companionship that was refreshing.

Walking out of your room, you spotted Riley sitting on your couch with his glasses on. Your laptop was already up and loading your e-mails.

“Ready?” You asked.

“They didn’t put any attachments, did they?” Riley watched as you placed the computer on the coffee table.

“You’ll have to see.” You sat beside him.

A couple of clicks and you had opened the message from your inbox.

“Hey. There’s actual attachments,” Riley observed as he scrolled to the bottom of the e-mail. “Uh. Um. Were they only suppose to send you the documents?”

“Yeah.” You nodded and bit back a grin. “Click on that one.”

He clicked on the one that had caught his eye.

A large picture of a large cat lounging on an armchair filled up a part of the screen.

“Holy Lord.” Riley looked to you. “Please tell me not all of these are cats.”

“Just two cats.”

Riley groaned.

“I got the other ones they needed to send. Thankfully. I’ve been needing these possible layouts for the next exhibition for a week now.”

“We’re going to have to teach them how to remove an attachment before sending an e-mail now.”

It was your time to groan.

“You don’t want them sending Lord knows what else next time, do you?”

“No.” You sighed. “But…that means I have to mention the cats.”

The moment Riley made eye contact with you, you both started bursted out laughing.

Out of all things to send you, they sent you pictures of cats. Perhaps you should be thankful it was not anything else. Who knew at that point? The question at hand was how to word your next e-mail? It was suppose to be a follow-up message about which layout of the museum space was better not another how-to.

“I’m getting paid to say, ‘delete your cat photos…from the e-mail’.” You wheezed. Trying to breath between laughing and speaking was challenging.

“Maybe….maybe send two e-mails?” Riley’s grin was still present. “One for work and one for clicking the small ‘x’.”

“Yeah, but at this point you should be charging them for tech support.”

“Put that in your next e-mail.”

You bumped his arm with your own.

“Just saying.”

“If they ask for more help I’ll let them know. How’s that?”

“I’ll get the documents ready.”

You covered your mouth as loud laugh escaped you.

Oh goodness. I hope he’ll do it anyway.

Smile only partially fading, Riley gestured to the laptop. “Let me know if their lack of technology skills makes your instruction skills disappear again. But not on your day off.” He removed his glasses and stood up.

You followed suit and walked him to the door.

“You really shouldn’t put in more hours than they’re paying you.”

“I want the new exhibition to be perfect.” You added as you leaned against the opened door. “But you’re right.”

“Can’t work for nothing. Especially when you’re suddenly working free tech support.” He stood out in the hallway.

“Hey,” you said. “Thanks for hanging out today. It was really fun.”

A smile returned to his lips. “I had fun too.”

“Drive safely, alright?”

“I will. See you later.”

“See yah, Riley.” You waved before finally shutting the door. With a lopsided grin, you locked the door and skipped over towards the cookies. Perhaps your winnings will be more than chips won in a poker game some day. Maybe something a little more meaningful.

~~~

(If you love my writings and want to support me, I have a Ko-Fi where you can buy me a coffee. I would be eternally grateful.

Best wishes and happy reading.)

~~~~~

DreamerDragon Tags: @cubedtriangle

Riley Poole Tags: @darkenwolfy @wesleeporstudy @yearning-warmth

Riley Poole series Tags (Would you like to be added to Riley Poole Tags?): @imacuteprincess @gingerlaserbeam @sledgy14 @thecaptainsgingersnap 

**Let me know if you would like to be tagged in insert readers, either through replies, ask, or message.**

[theroguequeenaniki]

Questions 2009 -> 2021

This is from my Facebook. It popped up on my memories page thing. I originally answered this in 2009 when I was 15, it’s now 2021 & and I am 27, so I’m gonna do it again. Leaving the original answers. Original answers will be italicized. Commentary on the original answers in parentheses & crossed out? Lol. (I’m not gonna tag anyone, but, like, I guess if you want to answer these random questions from Facebook 12 years ago, go ahead lol) 

Questions

Can you fill this out without lying? You've been tagged, so now you need to answer all the questions HONESTLY. At the end, choose people to tag. Don't forget to tag me so I can see your answers! To do this, copy this entire message, then go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, delete my answers, and type yours. Easy! Next, tag people that you think may enjoy this (in the right hand corner of the app). Click publish (at the bottom). Have fun! :) 1.What was the last thing you put in your mouth? My cup with my Big Red in it The straw to my Kate Spade tumbler to drink my HEB Cola Lol.

2.Where was your profile picture taken? I got it off the internet. it's a random anime girl. My bedroom. 3.Can you play Guitar Hero? Never played it. Probably wouldn't be good at it. Not to good at video games. But I am good at Mario Cart, both 64 and the Wii. plus I'm good at some Sonic games. Still never played it. Idk if I’m any good at Mario Cart or the Sonic games anymore, I haven’t played either in years lol

4.Name someone who made you laugh today? Doctor Who TikTok. My cats.

5.How late did you stay up last night and why? Umm, probably about 10:00 cause it took me forevor to get into bed. Uh..Past 4am. Lol. B/c my sleep schedule is fucked. I was in bed by 3am though, but I was playing games & watching TikToks on my phone. Lol.

6.If you could move somewhere else, would you? Yes. I'd move to either New York or Sweden. I don’t know. Part of me says yes. But part of me says no..b/c even though Texas has it’s faults (a LOT of them), I cannot imagine living anywhere else long-term..

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks? HAHA. Yeah right. I've never even been kissed! Still nope. I have been kissed though. He just didn’t kiss me under the fireworks the one NYE we spent together...

8. Which of your friends lives closest to you? Um, I think R, but D might also. D is accross Stasney from me and R is a couple blocks down (I don’t talk to these people much anymore & I’m not going to share their names on Tumblr) Uh. I think Maybe Raven? B/c they’re the only one who lives in the same city still. But, Sarah might technically be closer distance wise? Hold on. Ok, yeah, Sarah’s closer, even though she doesn’t live in this city anymore.

9. Do you believe exes can be friends? It all depends on the situation.(I totally stold M's answer but it's true) (I don’t talk to this person anymore & I’m not gonna share their name on Tumblr) I mean, yeah. Two of my best friends are each others exes and they’re still friends. I haven’t stayed friend with my ex, but, uh, he ghosted me so? Lol.

10. How do you feel about Dr. Pepper? I love it. I still love it. Lol.

11. When was the last time you cried really hard? I can't remember. I don't think it was that long ago, I had a light cry on Saturday, but I don't remember the last time I cried really hard. When we got back from our trip in July. Had a full on breakdown that night. Overheated all weekend. Overwhelmed. Anxiety. It was not a very good vacation..I cry a lot though.

12. Who took your profile picture? I got it off of google. I did. 

13. Who was the last person you took a picture of? Umm, either myself, or one of my family members. Aside from myself. I think my dad, on his phone, b/c there was a cicada on his shoulder and he wanted to ask the family group chat if he could keep it. Lol. I take a LOT of pictures of cats though. Lol.

14. Was yesterday better than today? Hail yes! To much drama today! And I couldn't avoid it cause I was in the middle of it! (Oof, what drama was 15 yo Linda dealing with that she couldn’t avoid? Lol. I mean, I guess, Sophomore year was a bit full of drama lol) Anyway, I mean, they were pretty much the same. One wasn’t better than the other. One wasn’t worse than the other.

15. Can you live a day without TV? yeah. Now Music there is something I can't live without! Yep, Do it almost everyday. Sentiments about music remain the same. Lol.

16. Are you upset about anything? Yes. I'm annoyed about something and it's making me upset. (I assume this has something to do with the the drama mentioned earlier lol) Always. Anxiety & depression are a bitch. My rooms a mess & I can’t get myself to clean it. My shelves are still a mess.

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? yeah. though i havent really had one yet. I mean, yeah. Even though I haven’t had one last, aside from friendships, but they’re worth it. 

18. Are you a bad influence? I hope not. If so, let me know.(again I took M's answer but it's true) Probably. Idk. Lol.

19. Night out or night in? Depends on what's going on and how I feel about it. Night in usually. I do like going out sometimes, but, like, to dinner. Maybe a movie or a show. But, you know, we’ve been in a panini press, the only thing I’ve been comfortable doing is going to dinner (fully vaxxed & masked). But I also prefer staying home anyway. (Like I usually just go to dinner with my family lol)

20. What items could you not go without during the day? my computer. my book. my journal and a pen. My phone. My journal (b/c I write in it every night, as a diary, 14yo Linda wrote stories). Uh. I didn’t take food or drinks into account in the og, so I won’t in those. But, yeah. My phone & journal. I can go a day without my laptop if I need to. (Went the whole trip in July without pulling it out, though maybe that’s not a good example since my anxiety on that trip was so high..) I want to say a book, but I’ve been in a massive reading slump so...I wish I read as much as 15yo Linda did..

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? I don't remember. I think it was myself.(if you want to know, ask me in person) I honestly don’t know. I don’t remember the last time I was in a hospital. 

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say? "Mrbobbybones:  wish ted would finally meet their mother already. geez. get to it. However, I see myself in that character more and more each episode." yeah. That's what it says. It's from Twitter. (Huh? and I can’t even go check b/c my inbox doesn’t go back to 2009 on Twitter?? (I haven’t had my account that long) Wait wait wait just remembered I used to get tweets to my phone as text messages lol)

Facebook messenger: “ Cool” From our group chat. Lol.

From actual text messages on my phone: “ heeey! Just put up the Tuesday PDS just for you  it’s a big one.” From Phillip Defranco’s text line Lol.

23. How do you feel about your life right now? I'm loving and hating it. but hey nobody gets out alive right? Uh..I mean. I’m alive. I have WiFi. Food. Family. I haven’t seen my friends in 2 years. (Minus Alex, b/c they were here in July to cat/house sit, but I saw them for like, one night..) There’s a lot that could be better. A lot that could be worse. 

24. Do you hate anyone? yes!!! Oof. I mean, kinda.

25. If we were to look in your Facebook Inbox, what would we find? some random conversations. most of my convos on her though have been in chat or through comments. Facebook Inbox is now Facebook Messenger. So you’ll find all my Facebook Messenger convos. Mostly our group chat. And side group chats for secret planning (birthdays & stuff). Plus other chats? Lol.

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? I better! (excuse me miss 15yo Linda you absolutely could have passed a drug test you ALSO didn’t drink or smoke or take any drugs lol) Yeah. Absolutely. I don’t drink or smoke or take any drugs so, yeah? Lol.

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before? 

Yes. But I can't remember when... Yeah. Pretty sure. 

28. What song is stuck in your head? Gee by SNSD(Girls Generation) They're Korean. A few My Chemical Romance songs

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m., who do you want it to be? EDWARD CULLEN! Joke! lol. No I don't know. If it was Edward, I'd call the cops. whoever it is though better have an explaination or they are gonna get hit in the head with my Book of Shadows. (Maybe I wouldn’t mind Edward at my window though? Lol.) Uh. My friends? Lol. Idk if I want anyone knocking on my window at 2am.

30.Wanna have grandkids before you’re 50? I don't know....... Uh. No? Idk. Most likely not gonna happen. 

31. Name something you have to do tomorrow? I can't think of anything right now... Eat. Should probably clean my room.

32. Do you think too much or too little? Way to much! lol. Way way way too much

33. Do you smile a lot? i try to. I think I do. I get told that alot in Theater...

I think so

[zeppelin-and-unicorns]

Yesterday I introduced you guys to the Hyde family, and now it’s time to introduce you to the new generation of the Forman family!

Again, click on the thingy if you want to know more about them!

On the top row, we see Eric and Donna, and on the bottom row, we see their two children, Lucas and Hannah (there’s no hearing aid option on picrew so just imagine Hannah’s wearing one, okay?).

Eric and Donna have overall a nice marriage. I tend not to focus much on them in my stories mostly because I’m indifferent to their relationship. After s5 I completely lost interest in them, and there was a point where I didn’t even want them to end up together anymore on s7. But I do believe that they love each other and that they can end up together if given a nice storyline, which is what I tried to do.

TSG is mostly focused on Jackie and Hyde, so we don’t get a lot of details about Donna and Eric other than they’re together, married, and have children, so I’m going to give you guys a brief summary of what happened between them after the season finale.

Eric and Donna talked about everything when he came back for the New Year’s, and they decided to try again. Eric went back to Africa to finish the program, and Donna went to college. When Eric came back, he went to the same college as she did and they started living together. Donna became a journalist, Eric became a teacher, and they moved back to Point Place when they graduated.

As soon as they moved back, Donna got pregnant with Lucas. They lived in a small apartment for a while, until Lucas started running around everywhere and they bought a house across the street from Jackie and Hyde.

They did not plan on having other children until Lucas was older, but well... Accidents happen and Donna had Hannah in 1987, when Lucas was 3 years old.

About their children... they are something else, I love them so much.

Lucas, just like Dylan, has a lot of pent-up energy, but he’s also an introvert and not a prankster at all, so he uses most of his energy in sports (for Red’s delight lol). He’s really into hockey, like, really into it, and he starts taking hockey lessons from a young age.

When he’s older, Lucas joins the school’s track and field team, mostly because there’s no hockey team in Point Place High and he absolutely hates football and wrestling.

Lucas is a bulky guy, but he’s also geeky and he and his father are addicted to video games. They spend countless hours every week playing Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros on his Nintendo 64 (Eric loses every single time lol).

He’s smart, not only is he great with numbers, but he’s also great at chess. Seriously, he won countless chess matches against his uncle Hyde (who’s half-proud and half-bitter about it), and he was like, 10.

His dream job is to be a video game developer, and considering how he’s a math whiz and how he’s a great athlete, he gets a scholarship to study computer science at college.

He never gets into trouble, mostly because people are smart enough not to fuck with him. He’s quiet and not prone to violence at all, but he’s also huge and he could probably kill someone if he wanted to.

When Lucas graduates from high school and goes to college, some bullies start to mess with his little sister Hannah, but Dylan quickly puts an end to that.

Hannah is a sweetheart, she’s an animal lover and she’s probably the sweetest person from the series.

Oh, and Hannah is also hearing impaired.

One of the things that bother me a lot in the fanfiction world (actually in the whole entertainment industry), is the lack of representativity of people with disabilities. I live with people who have disabilities, it’s something I literally see every day, and sometimes I am genuinely shocked by the lack of information (and empathy) people have when it comes to that subject.

So I decided I wanted to include a person with a disability in my story, and I am going to make you guys love her.

Hannah was born healthy, she learned how to talk and she listened to things normally up until she was 5. But as she grew older, she started developing some behaviors that concerned Eric and Donna, like watching the TV too loud and not replying to them when they called her. They took her to the doctor, they found out she had severe hearing loss and would need to use a hearing aid probably for the rest of her life.

Eric and Donna were crushed (it even causes some problems in their marriage in the future), but Hannah never cared much about it, because she was too young and she could hear just fine whenever she had her hearing aids on. She’s overall a happy kid who loves playing outside and is completely in love with everything related to nature.

The Forman family has three cats, all of them were cats that Hannah rescued from the streets and begged them to adopt. Hannah’s also responsible for bringing Zeppelin into the Hyde’s lives.

She was playing outside with Dylan and Jordan when they found a cute little black puppy all alone, searching for food in the garbage. Hannah took the puppy and begged for her parents to keep him, but they already had three cats and they couldn’t keep him. Jackie and Hyde were in the same room when she arrived with the cute little puppy, and they decided to adopt him (for Hannah’s delight). The puppy was named Zeppelin (Hyde was the one who named him, by the way), and Hannah visits the Hyde’s almost every day just to play with their dog.

Hannah loves picnics and walks at the park, she loves watching the trees changing according to the seasons, she loves to stargaze with her aunt Jackie, she loves hearing Layla’s romantic stories, she loves babysitting the younger kids, and she loves spending time with her grandma Kitty, learning how to bake and how to sew.

When she grows older, Hannah becomes a vet and opens her own animal shelter.

Hannah never let her disability stop her, she’s incredible.

And again, I got way too excited, sorry.

If you have any questions about this universe please don’t hesitate on sending them to me.

Posting the Kelso’s picrews soon :)

[fastslot492]

Best Slot Car Set

Best Slot Car Set For Kids

Best Slot Car Set For The Money

Best Slot Car Set For Adults

Best Slot Car Set For Adults

Best Slot Car Set 1/32 Or 1/24

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Slot car set - Slot car sets have a long history dating back to 1912. Read about all the advances and buy the best slot car set here!

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Contents

1 Top 5 Best Slot Car Set

1.5 #5. Super Loop Speedway

Top 5 Best Slot Car Set

PreviewProductPriceAFX AFX21017 Giant (MG+) Set with Lap Counter Carrera First Nintendo Mario Kart Slot Car Race Track - Includes 2 Cars: Mario and Yoshi and... $77.99Scalextric James Bond Micro Slot Car Race Set (1:64 Scale)

#1. AFX AFX21017 Giant Set (MG +)

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#2. Carrera First Nintendo Mario Kart Slot Car Set

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The race car racing car has always brought the activity and zest of motorsport directly into its own four walls. Currently, you can sit in the driver’s seat and take control while your car races around the track. Teenagers and adults, young and old, can take part in this fast-paced activity and fight for the checkered banner. The slot car set prepared for the race contains everything you need directly in the container so that you can set up the track quickly and start immediately.

#3. Scalextric James Bond Micro Slotcar Racing Set

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In the event that you hunt a slot car set that is perfect regardless of the size of adults, this is undoubtedly what you should choose. In this way, you can reproduce the infamous James Bond vehicle replicas that you can find in the movies. It contains a work of art and today’s Aston Martini DBs, the ideal way to bring out your love for cars. The set includes a 12-foot race track, which can be extended. It is also easy to accumulate and has simple power controls that are an incredible choice for the little ones.

#4. Scalextric ARC One American Classic 1:32 Slot Car Race Set

Best Slot Car Set For Kids

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It is progressive from an indistinguishable manufacturer of the above article because you can download a good application in your phone that provides a unique method of controlling the vehicle while driving. This also allows customers to open a large group of new highlights.

Best Slot Car Set For The Money

You can customize each diversion by specifying the number of laps and the name of the driver in addition to other things. You can also check race details and fuel consumption effectively through the application. The track has a total length of 16 feet and four inches. Then, most likely, customers will specify it in three different layouts.

Best Slot Car Set For Adults

#5. Super Loop Speedway

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With this set, customers will almost certainly appreciate a range of up to 6 meters, making them one of the longest of the elements quickly tested in this manual. It accompanies two Porsche 911 GTS RS with a size of 1:43. It has the circles and curves that energize each race. There are also hybrid tracks, as well as press and lap counter tracks.

Best Slot Car Set For Adults

Our last note about this review

Best Slot Car Set 1/32 Or 1/24

Overall, the best slot car set will be an exceptional extension of the slot. In fact, even adults will appreciate such a toy. With such a large number of alternatives, the above are a part of your overview. Their excellent development will make the breeds particularly stimulating for the little ones.

[localtopegg]

1-30 for the video game ask. you know i had to do it to ya

I literally had to make a google doc for this, there was so many questions, cause formatting machine broke here:

Do you try to stay away from walkthroughs? 🥚 Aggressively. Walkthroughs, guides and videos are a last resort.

Company you're always loyal to? 🥚 I mean Nintendo's pretty high up there but I'm gaining a LOT of respect for Double Fine lately as well!

Best game you've ever played? 🥚 Super. Paper. Mario.

Worst game you've ever played? 🥚 Ninjabread Man... Yes. Ye's I've played that shovelware nightmare.

A popular series/game you just can't get into no matter how much you try? 🥚 I've never been able to get into most fighting games of any kind. Street fighter, tekken, smash brothers- Though I'm trying my hardest with smash, since my little brother is heavily attached to it and I'm heavily attached to him.

A game that's changed you the most? 🥚 There's a few games actually! Paper Mario 64, Pokemon Ultra Moon and Hollow Knight! - Paper Mario because it was my first introduction to dark themes hidden under a bright color of paint! Taught me that you don't necessarily need the world ending to have something scary! - Pokemon cause it's kinda been my first bold step out against my religious household's views. It was a good dose on independence! - Hollow Knight is smaller, admittedly... It introduced me to metroidvanias and speedrunning in a way that I can actually have fun! Cheating but not also is kinda fun, haha!

A game you'll never forget? 🥚 Club Penguin! Yes, I'm counting that here! That was my childhood and would probably have done what Paper Mario did if it had come first in my life!

Best soundtrack? 🥚 For those who don't know, I'm a HUGE music fan, so choosing one OST is kinda hard for me! That being said, I have a soft spot for both Mario Galaxy OSTs, A Hat in Time, Psychonauts and recently Paper Mario: The Oragami King.

A game you turn your volume off every time you play it? 🥚 The World Ends With You, after some of my father's comments on the OST, sadly...

A game you've completely given up on? 🥚 Granny Simulator. I don't have anyone to play it with.

Hardest game you've played? 🥚 Hollow Knight by far. You try to 112% Steel Soul that shit and get back to me.

Shortest time you've beaten a game in? 🥚 Maybe an hour? I beat Tattletail in about that time.

A game you were the most excited for when it wasn't released yet? 🥚 PSYCHONAUTS 2 PSYCHONAUTS 2 P S Y C H O N A U G H T S 2

A game you think would be cool if it had voice acting? 🥚 The Paper Mario Franchise as a whole honestly

Which two games do you think would make an awesome crossover? 🥚 Hmm, Genshin Impact and Xenoblade Chronicles! I think they'd mesh nicely!

Character you've hated most? From what game? 🥚 Gosh, genuinely hate? I've never hated any character... Okay maybe that's a lie. I don't hate him anymore but as a kid I HATED Huff'n'Puff from Paper Mario 64. Specifically his fight. He healed himself all the time and the amount of support puffs he could have. As a kid I could NEVER beat him and still have yet to go back to the fight. I know what to do nowadays, but the problem is getting the game.

What game do you never tell people you play? 🥚 ... Cookie Run? Maybe Fruit Ninja?

A game you wish your friends knew about? 🥚 SUPER! PAPER! MARIO!!! And Bugsnax!

Which game do you think deserves a revival? 🥚 Xenoblade Chronicles and Style Savvy!

What was the first video game you ever played? 🥚 Super Mario World for the SNES!

How old were you when you first played a video game? 🥚 Maaaaybe 5? 7?? I was very young, but my brother was younger!

If you could immerse yourself in any game for one day, which game would it be? What would you do? 🥚 Pokémon! I would love to try my hand at a league or even just having an in-person companion in my life.

Biggest disappointment you've had in gaming? 🥚 The Meat Circus

Casual, Hardcore, or in the middle? 🥚 It entirely depends on the game, honestly.

Be honest; have you ever used cheats (like ActionReplay or Gameshark)? 🥚 I never have, to my knowledge. That was more my brother's thing. I have only ever used "cheat codes" that were in a game before, and even then it was just to less around and not actually beat the game.

Handheld or console? 🥚 Computer, actually. I find myself on here more than I do my DS or Switch, mainly cause of my brother and father. I'm always anxious they'll come down here and be upset that I'm on the switch so I just. Don't touch it ever anymore. And my DS is currently Pokemon Nuzlocke Only, so I can hide the game in it.

Has there ever been a moment that has made you cry? 🥚 Mother. Fucking. Huff'n'Puff Fight!!!! Story wise, recently Genshin Impact's been tugging at my heartstrings some.

Which character's clothes do you wish you owned the most? 🥚 I never actually thought about this. Mainly cause I'm not exactly most character's sizes... Some of the NPC outfits in Genshin Impact look really comfy though!

Which is more important, gameplay or story? 🥚 Both are integral to a game! Without a good story, it doesn't matter how good the gameplay is, your players won't have motivation to keep playing. Without good gameplay, a good story will feel more drawn out and disjointed. It's incredibly vital to have both!

A game that hasn't been localized in your country that you think should be localized? 🥚 MOTHER 3! GIVE US AN OFFICIAL RELEASE NONTENDO!!!

[smash-64]

Ok so I typed up a super long review of Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and I spared nothing in what you might call a scathing review. It’s below the cut, but if you’d like the TL;DR part, I’d summarize it as follows:

The Starfox stuff is fun, but the rest isn’t. 5/10

Starlink Battle for Atlas review

Being a huge fan of Starfox, I’ve had my eye on this game for a very long time. However, the whole “toys as games” thing was a huge turnoff, coupled with the fact that apparently even getting the physical version meant you needed to devote 15GB of storage space to the game, which makes no sense to me. 

Anyway, I watched the reception closely, and it was pretty lukewarm, at best. People generally had very little to say about the game, so I only ever occasionally looked into whether it was on sale or not. Luckily for me, I got my hands on a 400GB microSD card for my Switch at the same time that the digital version went on super sale at 70% off, so I decided the time was right to try it out.

The Good

The Starfox team is at their graphical best in this game, by far. They looked great in Starfox Zero, but they look exactly how I pictured they would in my most fantastical dreams from when I was little. They all move smoothly, have perfect fur and feathers, emotive expressions, and they just fit so well with all the other characters in Starlink. There is a wide variety of allies and NPCs in this game, and they all have just as wide a variety of races and species. One guy looks like he should be a grass type Pokemon. I really think the character design is fantastic in this game. The fact that the entire inclusion of Starfox was an afterthought, yet they all fit in so perfectly is really a huge victory for Starlink. 

In addition to how they look, the Starfox team also sounds great. They got the original voice actors back for Fox and Slippy (and I do mean the originals from Nintendo 64!), and the rest of the squad, plus Wolf, came back from the 2011 remaster of Starfox 64 for the 3DS. That game was a great remaster, and the voice work was phenomenal. The characters and their personalities all shine through just as you expect them. They banter slightly less than on the N64, but part of that might just be because sound bytes were at a premium on that system, so they had to pick and choose what lines to include more carefully. So, I don’t think you can really count that against Starlink, which is a game that can include just about as many lines of dialogue as it wants. Fox, for one, has a TON of dialogue and I loved every bit of it. I kind of wish I lived in the Seattle area so I could hear Mike West’s radio show (and hear Fox’s voice all the time), which is how Nintendo discovered him for the original voice of Fox McCloud way back in 1997. Another great piece of work here.

In what very well might have been the source of the “Star Fox Grand Prix” fake leak a few years ago, there is a planet called the Crimson Moon where you can take part in what is essentially pod racing with your Arwing. Now, I really did not enjoy the pod race scene of Star Wars Episode I, and aside from Mario Kart 64, I really don’t find racing games very rewarding. However, these racing levels are actually pretty fun. There are hidden shortcuts you can take, plenty of obstacles, and the computer racers are actually fairly difficult. I honestly found myself getting really into these races. The only downside is, there aren’t very many of them. They’re also kind of long, which is no problem for a veteran of N64’s Rainbow Road, but I was a bit surprised at the length of some of the courses.

The Meh

The music, which I have come to believe might be the element of games that really determines whether I just like a game, or love it, is fairly generic. It sounds like your average Marvel movie soundtrack, except without any real bangers. The Corneria remix is too short and not often played, and the Star Wolf theme is the same deal. That’s just about it for Starfox music, and the rest of it is just so generic that I can’t even comment any further. A real letdown for me, although it doesn’t particularly take away from the game or produce any grating tracks.

The difficulty was a mixed bag as well. I played about 70% of the game on Hard mode because I’m very experienced with Ace Combat and Starfox games, so I thought I’d be fine with the air/space combat. But, the difficulty slider didn’t really make the game more difficult, it just made it take a lot longer. I guess that could be seen as a good thing for people who get upset about dying really quickly on harder difficulties, but it felt like a way to cheat at padding the game’s playtime. I ended up lowering the difficulty just so I could finish faster.

The Starlink characters are a really big missed opportunity. They all have very distinct personalities, but I was shocked at how little content actually featured them. They each have a backstory cutscene that highlights them, but those scenes are so short that it’s more of a 30 second elevator pitch than anything else. None of the characters have more than a sentence or two to comment about said cutscenes, and none of them ever show any growth. Even the “main” character of Mason is basically the same by the end of the game. Although, I do think their designs are excellent and their personalities stand out from one another well enough.

The Bad

Spoilers ahead for the next three paragraphs! The story itself is pretty crappy. I’m still not really sure what was going on or why the Equinox (the main ship) was where it was. In more than one of the character-specific backstory cutscenes I already mentioned, they talk about Earth. So, ok, we understand that almost everyone on the Equinox is human, that’s fine. But...how exactly did they get here and why do they want to recapture the solar system of Atlas? As you play, you essentially claim territory in the name of Atlas, but it’s not clear at all who that exactly is. Does that mean the Equinox is in charge? Is there a government somewhere? Military affiliations or alliances? Because plenty of territory seems to be independent, in addition to enemy-controlled territory. Maybe there was a single line of dialogue I missed somewhere.

But, ok, we just want to fly spaceships and shoot stuff, who cares about politics! Well, there are still issues with the story because I honestly could scarcely care less about any of the plot in this game, which makes it tough to get into any of the battles or things at stake. The entire Starlink team was so unimportant that I literally never used ANY of them even one time, and the game never encouraged me too, either. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the unparalleled writing and character development of the Kiseki series of JRPGs, or maybe I just really don’t like the storytelling methods and style of western RPGs, but I feel like the story should make you WANT to learn more about characters. Instead, I was just constantly asking questions like “Why does any of this matter?” 

Now, that would be a totally unimportant question if the game was all about space battles and explosions and pew pews, but it pretends to have this really deep, engrossing story with characters wracked over the (spoiler!) kidnapping and death of their leader and captain. We barely even get to know who this dude is before he’s kidnapped, and then the rest of the story is so bare-bones that most of what we’re “supposed” to be feeling has to be completely assumed under the guise of “Well, I guess he was the captain so we’re supposed to feel bad, right?” He did apparently act like a father figure for many of the Starlink pilots, but we are only briefly told that in those previously mentioned 30 second elevator pitches. We never actually see it.

Ok spoilers done, but I’m not. The enemies that you fight in this game are also horribly boring and repetitive. We get about 10 enemies in total throughout the entire game, and most of those only have very slight variations. They try to spice it up a bit by adding in “elements,” but about 70% of what I fought ended up always being the fire type anyway. Sure, we get five or so “boss” type enemies, but they’re not particularly special, either. Most of these enemies are copy-pasted all over the planets you visit to give the impression of a planet full of activity, but really it’s just the same things over and over. 

The real issue here is how the Big Bad, a bird guy named Grax, is supposed to be really feared but we only get like two cutscenes about him. His army is completely faceless. It’s really shocking that we got significantly more development from the Star Wolf team almost 25 years ago on the Nintendo 64, and all of that was delivered in five second one-liners spread through only a couple levels! 

All I’m going to say about the “toys as games” thing is that it’s stupid and clunky and should never be used, especially the way they make you mount the ship onto your controller. What an absolutely idiotic method. I can understand having a portal like they did with Skylanders. Still not a fan, but you can toss something onto it and it doesn’t weigh down your controller. If it was required to play, I would have never even tried this game.

Gameplay is supposed to be the real winning point here, with an honestly unbelievable amount of content available for each planet you visit. I think there were six or seven planets you could visit, so there was actually a ton to do. But I can’t imagine beating my head against the wall so many times on each planet to complete any of it. If you really enjoy grinding, monotonous, pointless gameplay, then by all means, try this game.

Conclusion

I mean, if you like Starfox, I think you’ll have at least some fun with it. The Starfox levels are fun, and it feels like legitimate Starfox content. It also shows that Starfox could branch out into something different, but I’m not sure I’d be a big fan of it going such a repetitive route with regards to gameplay. If a game like this were fully devoted to a Starfox story, and not just including Starfox as an afterthought, then I do think it could be a good game. But as it stands, Starlink: Battle for Atlas is an example of something that looks and sounds great, but revels in gameplay mediocrity and fails at story-telling. 5/10. If there was no Starfox content, it’s honestly a 3/10.

[hatchermatches276]

How does gaming affect technology advance

Strategies For Starting A Gaming Blog

We've as soon as again teamed up with our close friends at Dire Wolf Digital Studios to bring this incredible game to your gaming table. Hi Frags, it all comes down to the quality of visitors you get. Selling stuff via your internet site is hard when there are only common content material on it, but if you target a precise group of gamers and make a loyal following, recommending solutions gets less difficult. It will also rely on the type of items you sell, there are in the end a lot of elements contributing to having a productive gaming weblog. Truly glad you liked the short article! I will definitely verify out your blog.

The gaming WordPress themes contain some one of a kind traits like design and style and options. And most of the themes that are featured here provides you with a full solution for your gaming web page. The Search engine optimization alternatives, social network tools, various solutions, and multiple colors will make you a lot easier to begin your new web-site. All these themes are customizable where you can alter each and every and just about every aspect of the themes with no touching any of the codes.

Luca is operating in the field of gaming for six years, initially as an indie a single-man-group junior developer and, the latter five years, as gameplay programmer and computer software architect in a company exactly where he created video games for all key mobile platforms, Computer, Steam, PS4 and Xbox 1, as properly as minor gaming consoles, increasing as a professional. Lately he founded Twin Wolves, an indie video games development studio, exactly where he's the CTO.

Paul: In 2009, the concept for Green Man Gaming came about when we have been contemplating exactly where the games market place was going to go and what was going to come about next. There was a sturdy organization model in trading in games in the sector and there was the begin of the move to a totally digital marketplace. The coupling of these two marketplace mechanisms have been supported by analysis from London Business enterprise College displaying that a customer's propensity to buy is heightened when offered the alternative to trade-in a item or recoup some of its value. So the significant idea” was to combine digital and trade-in into the same platform, proficiently becoming a retailer and a marketplace on one particular global digital platform.

Due to mobile game development outsourcing , the most up-to-date indie games made by small studios or person programmers get lots of focus and positive feedback from each players and journalists. With the aid of software program outsourcing providers, each individual, with proper knowledge, can develop and promote gaming apps without having any obstacles.

Do not you want you had been truly sitting on a racecar seat just about every time you play Forza, Gran Turismo, or any other racing game? With the racing seat design of the Ficmax Swivel Gaming Chair , finding this experience is now a reality. The completely ergonomic Ficmax is made with a fully retractable footrest to assist sooth tired decrease limbs and assistance facilitate the extra efficient circulation of blood. It also comes with a lumbar massage support to enable stop or even handle low back pain which is very widespread among individuals who sit in an workplace chair for unusually lengthy period. Our handy guide to the very best ergonomic workplace chairs characteristics far more great goods like this.

The Hidden Mystery Behind GAMING

Paul: Our company model is growth focused and we cover 3 important areas in the gaming business. Firstly, we're a worldwide e-Commerce retailer promoting over 7,500 games from 450 publishers in more than 190 countries to millions of gamers. Secondly, Green Man Gaming has a thriving community who talk about and track their game achievements on our neighborhood platform. This data combined with the industrial information of the shop offers Green Man Gaming a considerable depth of knowledge of our customers. Ultimately, we have a publishing arm that aids developers publish their own games and bring them to industry, supporting them every single step of the way. The fusion of Green Man Gaming's e-Commerce shop, a sturdy community producing billions of information points and publisher support sets us apart from our competitors.

It is February! In 2017 that indicates that we get six a lot more weeks of winter AND your yearly dose of video game statistics and trends. We're taking a appear at important events and shifts in the gaming business and considering the current state of gaming. Take a peak, or stay for a week! All statistics are completely researched. See sources at the bottom of the web page for additional information.

Nintendo 64 and PlayStation ushered in a new era of gaming. Polygons replaced pixels, and 3D rendering entered into the gaming vocabulary. Retro gaming hits like Crash Bandicoot, Mario Kart 64, and 007: Goldeneye pushed the limits of technologies, and made the most realistic virtual environments noticed up to that point. We also have some retro games for systems that may well not really feel as old as they are, including PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and the original Xbox.

Style patterns: To shop information in DynamoDB, gaming companies partition game state and other player information working with player ID, and use the key-value access pattern (1:1 modeling). In circumstances when additional fine-grained access is named for, these companies use a sort important (1:M modeling). This permits them to access and update diverse properties or subsets of a player's dataset separately. This way, they never have to retrieve an complete dataset. In this approach, various items that retailer distinct properties can be updated transactionally by making use of the DynamoDB transactional API Some providers compress user data to reduce expense. PennyPop, for instance, makes use of gzip to compress player data and shop it as a base64 string, decreasing the player information to ten percent of its original size.

Mobile games serve as a source of speedy, boredom-beating entertainment, a bit of pressure relief and a distraction from true life worries, and just as a restful moment (such as gaming in one's downtime). Additionally, 60% of girls say that gaming makes them feel good, and given that mobile gaming is speedy and simple - the game is generally on their particular person - it really is simple to play although on the go. As Refinery29 says in their dive into girls and mobile gaming, ladies have not been historically nicely-served by the sedentary nature of video games, but mobile gaming changes the story right here, given that they can play anywhere.

Ask yourself why you happen to be considering starting a gaming weblog or youtube channel? If it really is simply because you assume you have what it requires to be the next PewDiePie or DanTDM (or TheTechieGuy ), then you're not alone. However, your principal reason really should be that you have an overwhelming love for gaming. It doesn't hurt to have a fantastic voice and a thing to contribute to the gaming network. (Of course, the perks ain't negative when they commence rolling in, either).

The gaming business saw a quantity of thrilling developments in 2016 touching on various aspects of the sector. Gaming technology is creating in really thrilling approaches. The long promised revolution of virtual and augmented reality moved closer to realization. The mania around Pokémon GO with its mass market appeal and utilization of mobile phones introduced untold millions to the possible of augmented reality. With its launch in India and South Asia it has turn into the poster youngster for the prospective of mobile games provided its advanced technologies and the huge international smartphone penetration.

Commonly utilised to refer to games that are produced by key studios with a substantial price range, requiring a high sales volume and in depth software program expansions to retain profitability. Like hollywood, these games tend to rely on reasonably low-danger sequels over larger-risk artistic projects, so anticipate to see your operate all more than billboards and Tv advertisements. You are going to be focused mostly on eeee2.site Pc gaming blog Computer, Playstation and Xbox gaming for AAA titles.

We use our GeForce Practical experience servers to determine the most effective excellent settings primarily based on the user's CPU and GPU, and target higher frame prices than 'normal' optimal settings to make certain the lowest latency gaming encounter. These settings are automatically applied when the game is launched so gamers do not have to be concerned about configuring these settings themselves.

[leisureleech767]

What is the purpose of a gaming website

On the web Gaming Weblog

Producing a gaming website with WordPress has never ever been much easier. How do businesses fight back though keeping their clients content? We chatted with Danièle Thillmann, Senior VP of Fraud and Payments at Green Man Gaming. Danièle reveals how businesses can confront the exclusive challenges of a digital vertical. Armed with years of practical experience in the gaming planet, Danièle shares how gaming organizations make a tricky and vital decision: which fraud prevention remedy to use.

Definitely glad that my weblog inspired you to start off your own. Yes it really is difficult function and it requires some time to grow, but if you do it appropriately you can have a terrific on the net brand. Beginning the blog is only the starting, so make confident to study the rest of my articles in the Gaming Blog Series which will take you via all the steps. If you have any inquiries never hesitate to ask me, I am delighted to enable exactly where I can.

With the abundance of established gaming websites present on the online, it is finest to do some competitor evaluation and research about the most popular websites and the newest trends in gaming to hold your web page up to date. A couple of search queries on Google would assistance you see what are the latest trending subjects gamers are searching at. This will aid you see what most gaming web pages have to present, and how they present their content to their audience. You would also be in a position to locate out how to stand out and know your audience far better.

I got into action games late but when I did it totally changed how I viewed gaming forever. The game which brought me round was Viewtiful Joe. Here was a game with a deep and open-ended combat system which seemed to be built as a means for the player to express creativity. This technique is then pitted against opponents and obstacles which have been developed from the ground up to interact meaningfully with the core system. The course was fixed, but the technique for dealing with that course was absolutely down to the ingenuity, talent and inspiration of the player. You play like you have a enormous audience watching and the game regularly entices you to improve the focus is not basically on receiving the player from A to B, the focus is on finding the player to play Viewtifully”.

Due to mobile game improvement outsourcing , the most current indie games developed by small studios or individual programmers get lots of focus and positive feedback from both players and journalists. With the assistance of software outsourcing organizations, each and every particular person, with proper expertise, can build and promote gaming apps without the need of any obstacles.

1 of the best characteristics of this WordPress theme is the truth that is ready to go. You can just set up the theme files then use the a single-click importer to get your WordPress-powered gaming internet site on the web. Even so, if there's anything about this theme and your website you'd like to alter, that's not a issue either. By making use of the integrated Visual Composer plugin, you can open up any of the demo content material for editing, all by means of a drag-and-drop user interface.

5 Simple Steps To An Effective GAMING Strategy

The Atlantic Gaming Desk is a piece of steel furniture that's especially built for today's contemporary gamer or even a property workplace owner. Its sturdy legs come totally integrated with cup holders and other attachments that are just best for organizing a wide variety of your computer accessories and peripherals. The Atlantic Gaming Desk also attributes a distinctive cable management method that organizes the distinct wires and cables that your devices possess. There is a charging station, a monitor stand, game storage rack, game controller hooks, gaming speaker trays, and a whole lot additional. Its padded feet will not also scratch your floor.

Today's games are larger, better, and much more immersive than ever. You can come across incredible games across a wide range of genres. Most important game franchises are accessible on each PlayStation four and Xbox One, whilst the Nintendo Switch provides a substantial selection of games suited for kids and families. For the most realistic visual experiences, upgrade to the PlayStation 4 Pro or Xbox One particular S to enjoy breathtaking 4K and HDR gaming. Exclusive titles are readily available for every single console, which additional underscores the need to have to strategy ahead and pick up the proper system for your must-personal games. Discover the huge collections of previously played games at fantastic deals and give your older consoles like the PlayStation three , Xbox 360 , and Nintendo Wii U continued life.

Nintendo 64 and PlayStation ushered in a new era of gaming. Polygons replaced pixels, and 3D rendering entered into the gaming vocabulary. Retro gaming hits like Crash Bandicoot, Mario Kart 64, and 007: Goldeneye pushed the limits of technology, and produced the most realistic virtual environments seen up to that point. We also have some retro games for systems that may not really feel as old as they are, like PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and the original Xbox.

Remember these annoying 8-bit tones the old web pages utilised to have? If your web-site is aimed towards the retro gaming neighborhood or if you feel like implementing a nostalgia-inducing website style, this theme is best for you. You can also use this wonderful theme to build a retro-themed arcade, a blog web-site for reviewing older games or newer indie games and appeal to the nostalgia aspect of the 80s to the late 90s gaming sector.

Social media is one particular of the greatest strategies to attain out to your audience, as it assists make communication more hassle-free by andryprog.site pc gaming news permitting comments and messages. Gamers across the globe use Facebook as one particular of their principal social media platforms, and it is hugely evident when you see how lots of likes, shares, and views gaming-connected content material receive on a every day basis.

Ask oneself why you're considering starting a gaming blog or youtube channel? If it is due to the fact you feel you have what it requires to be the next PewDiePie or DanTDM (or TheTechieGuy ), then you are not alone. However, your most important purpose should really be that you have an overwhelming like for gaming. It doesn't hurt to have a wonderful voice and something to contribute to the gaming network. (Of course, the perks ain't terrible when they start rolling in, either).

You'd be surprised at just how versatile the AmazonBasics Laptop and Tablet Bag is. Available in five unique sizes, with the biggest totally capable of holding and protecting a huge 17.three inch ultra-high overall performance gaming laptop, this laptop bag comes with avariety of storage pockets for all of your smaller sized peripherals like gaming mouse, 3D pens, digitizers, and even smartphones, MP3 players, pens, and numerous far more. Its smallest version which is designed for holding a 7 inch tablet or a ten inch netbook is equally valuable as it comes with the similar accessory pockets complementing its most important storage compartment.

Typically applied to refer to games that are developed by big studios with a substantial spending budget, requiring a higher sales volume and in depth software expansions to maintain profitability. Like hollywood, these games have a tendency to rely on somewhat low-danger sequels more than higher-danger artistic projects, so anticipate to see your work all more than billboards and Tv ads. You'll be focused mainly on Pc, Playstation and Xbox gaming for AAA titles.

IGN (Think about Games Network) has emerged as the hot favorite game web page on a global level. Launched 21 years ago, IGN is mainly focused on video game & entertainment enthusiast markets. The game site is 1 quit online destination for gaming, motion pictures, Tv Shows, Comics and everything you can feel of. You can discover not too long ago launched video game news, testimonials, videos, gaming information, strategies, and so considerably much more.

[thewritingstar]

1-200 we're all in quarantine so got nothing to do. Might as well ask pls

oo anon you were gonna ask anyways lol. But I did this hella quick during a zoom.....

1. What is your middle name?

-Rose

2. Do you have any nicknames that aren’t derived from your actual name?

-Star

2. Do you have any allergies?

-Penicillin (not really thou), but no

4. What is the longest your hair has ever been?

-Lower back

5. How well can you write in cursive?

-Its readable

6. Name one item on your bucket list.

-Going to all the Disney parks in the world

7. Have you ever been on a blind date?

-haven’t even been on a real date

8. What is the oldest piece of clothing you still wear and how old is it?

-prob like five years ago and its jeans

9. How often do you eat out at a fancy restaurant?

-nothing like I have to dress up but maybe once a year??

10. How grammatically correct are you when you text?

-rules don’t apply in text

11. Can you drive stick?

-hell no

12. What foreign country would you most like to visit and why?

-japan because I think it would be so cool

13. Nutella or peanut butter?

-NUTELLA

14. At what age did you have your first kiss?

-...............ahahhahahh

15. DC or Marvel?

-DC. Harley Quinn owns my ass

16. Have you ever hosted a wild party?

-my parties consist of drinking capri suns and playing cards against humanity and Mario kart

17. Name/author of the last book you read cover to cover. Do you recommend it?

-...ooof haven’t read a book in a while

18. How many of your Facebook friends do you actually hang with?

-my mom

19. Have you ever donated blood?

-I was apart of a cancer study so I used to donate my blood (and pee) to science

20. From 1-10, how much do you like decorating for holidays?

-8 I love to decorate but I’m not allow near the Christmas trees

21. Coffee or tea?

-vaniila iced lattes or raspberry ice tea own me

22. What is your go-to Starbucks drink?

-Vanilla bean frap with extra vanilla

23. Last show you binge watched?

-currently its assassination classroom

24. Dogs or cats?

-puppy’s

25. Favorite animated Disney character?

-Jessica Rabbit, Dumbo, Rey, Tamatoa and Guedo

26. Have you ever cooked a big family meal by yourself?

-mostly baking for my family

27. Favorite winter activity?

-Staying inside

28. Have you ever butt dialed anyone?

-probably

29. Can you blow a bubble gum bubble?

-yes

30. How early in the year do you start celebrating Christmas?

-my mom plays Xmas music year round

31. What emoji best describes your life right now?

-the wilting rose

32. Are you fluent in more than one language?

-nope

33. What is the longest you’ve ever kept a New Year’s resolution?

-I don’t make them

34. Have you ever successfully been on a diet? Did you gain any of the weight back?

-I’m on a diet to gain weight and its not going well

35. Are any of your grandparents still alive?

-only on my moms side

36. How good are you at communicating through facial expressions?

-hahaha my face gives everything away and I can read people pretty well

37. Have you ever gotten a commercial jingle stuck in your head?

-EDUCATION CONNECTION! Get connected for free

38. Have you ever left a movie theater before the movie was over?

-Nope

39. Do you consider rapping singing?

-rapping is in its own ballpark...its why its called rapping

40. Does your home have a fireplace?

Yep

41. Favorite non-chocolate candy?

-sour gummies worms

42. If you could have only one superpower, what would you want and why?

-oooof ummmmmm maybe teleportation

43. Have you ever locked your keys in your car?

44. Do you listen to any religious music?

-noooooooooo

45. Do you drink soda? If so, which one is your favorite?

-I hate soda

46. What was your ACT score?

-do not do me like this (21)

47. Rice or quinoa?

-rice

48. From 1-10, how good of a driver do you consider yourself?

-like an 8

49. Do you like horror movies?

-nope

50. How easily do you cry?

-uh depends on what it is

51. Do you have any tattoos? If so, of what and where?

-no but I want some

52. You are hanging with your closest friends. What are you most likely doing?

-being dumb and quoting tik toks at target

53. Can you handle spicy foods? What is your spice limit?

-not very well

54. Can you play any musical instruments? If so, which ones?

-no

55. Are you more introverted or extroverted?

-middle of the road

56. Last CD you bought?

-Folklore by Taylor Swift

57. Do you like roller coasters?

-yessss but they cant be extremely tall

58. What day of the week is laundry day for you?

-uhhh depends on when I have time

59. Have you ever played spin the bottle?

-uh maybe once but I was in fourth grade and walked away

60. How long have you known your best friend?

-I’ve known my bestie for 16 years (met when we were 4)

61. Can you eat using chopsticks?

-yes!! I usually eat my Chinese food with them

62. Do you have any stickers on your laptop computer? If so, what are they of?

-no because I need to get a case for my iMac and iPad

63. How often do you say y'all?

-every fucking day. Y’all is my go too

64. Favorite flavor of ice cream?

-cookie dough, pralines and cream, blue raspberry sherbert, vanilla, coffee

65. How long was your longest relationship? Are you still with that person?

-my longest relationship was like three weeks in fourth grade with my friends cousin who I saw twice

66. Star Trek or Star Wars?

-haven’t seen either but prob Star Wars cause r2d2 is cute

67. How good are you at math?

-ehhh I’m okay at stats

68. Have you ever acted in a play or a musical?

-used to do the plays in middle school :)

69. How often do you read/pay attention to your horoscope?

-not much my horoscope but just my sign in general

70. What is the shortest your hair has ever been?

-just above my shoulders

71. Have you ever broken any bones?

-my big toe

72. Do you like to go fishing?

-nooooooo I went fishing once and it pooped on me

73. Do you believe in evolution?

-of course

74. Favorite costume you wore for Hallowen? How old were you?

-I was perry the platypus…. 19

75. Real or fake Christmas trees?

-fake!!! WHO WANTS TO CLEAN THAT UP???

76. How many pillows do you sleep with?

-usually 1-2 but like 5 in the winter

77. Do you live in an apartment or a house?

-House rn

78. How many of your friends are of the opposite gender?

-in my close circle, one but I do have many boy homies

79. Have you ever had a near-death experience?

-many times

80. How long have you been at your current job?

-four weeks

81. What kind of car do you drive (year, brand, model, color)?

-white car

82. How flexible are you?

-not super but mama can bend

83. Have you ever ended a romantic relationship?

-haven’t even started one

84. Phrase you say the most?

-“I’m uncomfortable” “Y’all” “I would let J.D from heathers…..”

85. Have you ever kissed anyone of the same gender? If so, did you like it?

-no but I wish

86. Do you own any homemade clothing?

-not that I know of

87. Do you like fast food?

-yessss

88. Have you ever given anyone CPR?

-nope

89. Have you ever learned to do anything from a how-to video on YouTube?

-I fixed my moms glasses yesterday with a video so she wouldn’t have to spend a shit ton of money

90. Describe your sense of humor.

-if Always Sunny in Philadelphia and “vine comp that butters my eggroll” had a baby

92. Favorite cereal?

-no

93. Have you ever auditioned for a reality competition show?

-no

94. Have you ever gotten a TV theme song stuck in your head?

-Sugar, spice and everything nice, these were the ingredients…….

95. Do you believe in ghosts?

-indifferent

96. Do you think there is life on other planets?

-hell yeah

97. Have you ever given money to a street performer?

-yep

98. Your deepest fear?

-lets not go there

99. Pancakes or waffles?

-waffles but I don’t even like them that much

100. Are you still friends with anyone from high school?

-yep, my friend circle dates back to elementary

101. From 1-10, how good of a dancer do you consider yourself?

-7

102. How much of a patient person are you?

-I can be extremely patient. Once waited three hours in a dressing room with my friend and I didn’t have a phone

103. Do you know your IQ?

-no but its prob god level

104. Do you eat meat at all?

-mama loves meat

105. Do you own any clothes from a garage sale or a thrift store?

-I think so

106. Have you ever bought anything from a flea market?

-yess my mom used to take me to flea markets all the time

107. Have you ever quit a job?

-early this year

108. Have you ever gotten a song you dislike stuck in your head?

-many times

109. Any movie(s) you can watch over and over and over again and enjoy just as much each time?

-robots to ratatouille

110. Do you or have you ever worn glasses?

-just sun glasses

111. Have you ever skinny dipped?

-when I was like 6

112. Are your birth parents still together?

-yep

113. Have you ever been in the audience for the taping of a TV show?

-not that I know of

114. Favorite type of cookie?

-chocolate chip or the sugar cookies with the pink frosting on them (I’m a whore for them)

115. Have you ever been broken up with?

-nope

116. How often do you smile when getting your picture taken?

-most of the time

117. Have you ever accidentally dialed 911?

-yes I have and I was 6 and bullied for it for years by my uncle even though my cousins tricked me into doing it

118. Oldest memory?

-throwing a chair at a kid in preschool for stealing my cookie

119. Have you ever been the victim of a nasty prank?

-nope

120. How often do you snort when you laugh?

-uhhhh a lot

121. From 1-10, how good of a singer do you consider yourself?

-5

122. Favorite Disney song?

-uuuuuuhhh Shiny, See the Light, Why Don’t you Do Right, Show Yourself

123. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

-hopefully in la

124. What is your Myers-Briggs personality type?

-I’m an advocate

125. Have you ever had a fortune cookie fortune come true?

-I think so

126. Name one thing you wish people would stop posting on social media.

-fascist, racist, homophobia stuff

127. Last musical artist you saw live?

-Jonas brothers

128. Credit cards or cash?

-cash cause I feel like I didn’t spend anything

129. Favorite fandom?

-the powderpuff girls or fairy tail

130. What is your astrological sign?

-Aries

131. Have you ever been fired from a job?

-nope I’m a good noodle

132. Any hidden talents?

-I can do the cinnamon challenge

133. Can you surf?

-nope

134. What motivates you to do well in life?

-the fear of failure

135. Your worst physical feature?

-my acne

136. From 1-10, how much are you like your father?

-mehhhhhhhh like a 4

137. How lucky do you consider yourself?

-I’m a pretty lucky person ngl

138. Name a moment in your life when you were pleasently surprised.

-when I won a coffee maker at my senior grad night raffle

139. Have you ever been summoned for jury duty?

-nope

140. What type of shoes do you wear the most?

-my converse

141. Favorite summer activity?

-getting coffee

142. Favorite song to sing in the shower?

-any Taylor swift song

143. Have you ever lived with a roommate you did not get along with?

-my parents sometimes

144. Have you ever lived on a farm?

-my grandparents owned a cherry farm when I was little

145. Have you ever kept a diary or a journal?

-tumblr is my diary

146. TV show or movie you quote/reference the most?

-Always Sunny, The Office, Gotham

147. How often do you get mad at yourself?

-constantly

148. Have you ever gotten any stitches?

-only in animal crossing (he’s so cute)

149. Have you ever been hunting?

-no

150. Favorite YouTube channel?

-Jenna marbles, try guys, mukbang edit channel, drama channels

151. Have you ever had a pet besides a dog or a cat?

-I had a mouse once

152. From 1-10, how well do you work with others?

-9

153. Are you friends with any of your exes?

-I don’t got exes

154. Apple or PC?

-I have an Apple Mac rn but I think I loved my pc so much so I’m getting used to the format

155. Do you collect anything?

-what don’t I collect? Funko, pins, so much stuff

156. Have you ever seen any Broadway plays or musicals?

-I saw Newsies and A Music chorus

157. Any missed opporunites you wish you had taken?

-I’m not too sure

158. Have you ever uttered a spoken hashtag?

-yes

159. Do you have a pool at your house?

-nope

160. What is the longest you’ve gone without sleep?

-like 24 hours and it was hell

161. Last thing that made you laugh?

-a meme 20 sec ago

162. Disney or Nickelodeon?

-Disney

163. Name one celebrity you wish was still alive.

-Billy Mays (Oxyclean dude)

164. From 1-10, how much are you like your mother?

-maybe a 6

165. Your best physical feature?

-my hair

166. Earbud or earmuff headphones?

-earbud

167. Have you ever wished you were born the opposite gender?

-..hmmmm sometimes I think it would be cool but I’m pretty content with being a girl...

168. Do you have any piercings anywhere besides your ear lobes?

-my nose

169. How often do you wash your hair?

-every other day usually

170. Showers or baths?

-I love a good bath but I take showers more

171. Have you ever been a bridesmaid or a groomsman?

-noooo but I wanna be

172. Bottled or tap water?

-bottle

173. What was your favorite TV show when you were a kid?

POWERPUFF GIRLS

174. Any guilty pleasures you’re willing to discuss?

-watching glee

175. Favorite video game?

-Mario kart

176. Have you ever gotten a New Year’s kiss exactly at midnight?

-nooooo why are there so many questions about kissing

177. How many of the United States have you visited?

-four, ive passed over a few more in a plane

178. Have you ever given money to a homeless person?

-yes

179. Have you ever gotten a surgery?

-no

180. Your least favorite food?

-cheese

181. From 1-10, how competitive are you?

-depends. I’m like a 6 but I can be pushed to a 10 when motivated

182. Do you like wearing hats?

-only a snap back occasionally

183. How much of a jealous peron are you?

-ehh not really

184. What was your SAT score?

-900-1100 (stop nationwide testing doesn’t work and I didn’t learn eveything)

185. Have you ever voted for a reality competition show?

-no

186. Does anyone in your family currently serve in your country’s military?

-my cousin

187. Snowboarding or skiing?

-I don’t do snow

188. What celebrity would you most want to play you in a movie about your life?

-jack black

189. Have you ever been a Boy or Girl Scout?

-hell no

190. Have you ever dyed your hair?

-many times

191. From 1-10, how good of a cook do you consider yourself?

-7

192. You have just opened up a web browser. What is the first site you visit?

-this cursed site

193. How many things can you do with your weaker hand?

-a lot

194. Were you involved in any academic clubs in high school?

-honors i guess

195. Have you ever played hooky from school?

-like twice

196. Are you comfortable with watching rated R movies?

—-not with my parents

197. Do you root for any sports teams?

-bold of you to assume i do sport

198. First thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

-pee

199. If you could take home any one animal from the zoo, which one would you choose?

-a lizard

200. Tell something about yourself most people don’t know.

-uhhh ummmm (I have a tik tok with 7.5k followers) 

[thethousandyearwitch]

The Show Must Go On! - A Youtuber AU you didn’t want and didn’t need

Hisoka Morrow, italian Makeup Youtuber, enjoys his life in the comfort and occasional drama of his profession. But nothing brings more drama into his life than the eldest son of the Zoldyck fashion magazine empire.

Meanwhile, aspiring australian Twitch Streamer Gon Freecs forms a special bond to a Speedrunner commonly going by "Kil".

Chapter 2

FF.net link - AO3 link

Gon Freecs had started his twitch account mostly for fun. After he had saved enough of his money from summer jobs to afford a computer for himself, the young boy had discovered the vast world of video games, diving headfirst into whatever flash games or free steam games he could (Until Mito caved and gave him some redeemable online gift cards as a present). Pretty quickly he started making connections over some of those games, getting invited to discord groupchats, and developing friendships with people he’d frequently play with.

One Day, his friend Leorio, a medical student from France who Gon had met through one of those groupchats, asked if he wanted to join his Sunday Stream. He explained that they’d just team up for a couple of rounds of Fortnite, and Gon could leave whenever he wanted to if he ended up not liking the Twitch experience. Leorio did not admit to the fact that he only asked Gon because his usual partner bailed due to a bad hangover, and he himself was too hungover to manage a stream by himself. This resulted in a lively evening filled with banter, excited yelling, and only minor technical difficulties considering Gons location further out in the country. Leorio ended the stream, thanking his viewers, signing off, but he stayed on call with Gon.

“Thanks so much for jumping in today, I owe you!” His French accent wasn’t too thick, but it still curled around his words.  

“Its no problem! It was actually pretty fun, so if you ever need another stream-pal...” The young boy trailed off as he started to feel faint traces of sleepiness creeping up on him. His computer screen was the only light on in the room, and it wasn’t exactly gentle on his eyes.

“About that actually; Have you thought about trying to stream for yourself?”

“Huh?” Gon could hear the tell-tale creaking of Leorios chair as he reclined back. “I mean, you’ve definitely got the energy for it, you’re not half bad at playing video games; Though that’s not really a requirement...Point is, I think you’d have fun with it.” Gon let the thought of it roll around his mind like a marble. He did have a lot of fun livestreaming this once, and there wasn’t anything that exactly spoke against it, except maybe that his sleep schedule could suffer under it. But that may as well be expected of a boy his age.

“Do you think people would really come to watch me play video games?” He finally asked, voice lined more with curiosity rather than insecurity. “Are you kidding? My chat loved you! Everyone loves a cute kid whose always one victory royale away from changing his legal name into his gamer tag and develop an addiction to monster energy.” Gon giggled in reply, “I’m not even allowed to drink those.” “Thank God you aren’t, if you had any more energy than you already have, you’d probably explode on the spot. Those things are loaded with junk anyways.” Gon decided not to bring up the infamous Redbull-pyramid that always lingered in the corner of Leorios videos. He could always use that another time if Leorio tried to lecture him about healthy living habits.

“Well, I guess I could try it out this week…But I think I’d need a guide to help me set the whole thing up…” Gon grinned to himself, hearing the familiar creaking again as Leorio sat up straight on the other end.

“I mean, I did say I owe you, and who would I be to leave a kid struggling with modern technology. And since my chat seemed to love you, I may even host your first stream, get you some exposure, y’know?” Mission success, Gon fed into Leorios ego and ensured that he wouldn’t have to struggle with stream setup by himself. He was quite thankful for the older mans (by stretch of that word) help and friendship, almost like an older brother, switching between caring protectiveness and friendly torment.

“Now, isn’t it time for you to get some shut-eye?” Busted. Gon glanced at the clock in the corner of his screen, 12:13 am. They said their Goodbyes, and the young boy settled into bed almost as quickly as he fell asleep.

The coming week, as promised, Leorio had helped Gon figure out his stream setup, settling for his channel name ‘Foxbeargaming’. With each passing day and conversation about the topic, Gon felt the static inside him build up, excitement and anticipation mixing in his bloodstream, until that long-awaited Friday.

And it was worth that wait. Gon spend a good 3 hours that day streaming Fortnite, at first in Teams with Leorio and his usual stream-pal Zepile, and later a few single matches. He hadn’t even realized how easy it came to him to interact with chat, leisurely talking about what came to mind, joking about events in the game, and just basking in this new way of releasing his bubbly energy. Leorio had warned him that he may feel exhausted after the first stream, but that’s not at all what the young boy experienced; After turning everything off, he was still beaming with joy. When he nestled into bed, he curled to his side, trying to repress his smile, though it would still take a good hour before he had calmed down enough to drift to sleep.

That joy he had experienced was enough to drive him to continue to stream at least once every 5 days, not consistent enough to build a schedule, but often enough to slowly gather a fanbase, loyal viewers who started tuning in whenever he announced a stream. It took a couple of months before people started posting his stream highlights to YouTube, and after that only a few weeks before someone offered to do official edits for him, on his own YouTube channel. A YouTube channel ended up drawing even more attention to him, people in Twitch-chat mentioning they found him through compilations and highlights.

Of the people whose attention was caught by the bright faced boy, one appeared for the first time in chat while he was streaming Super Mario 64, a palate cleanser from his usual Fortnite streams. The first message had been inconspicuous enough, provoking, but not too much out of the ordinary.

“KilCat666: try a BLJ lol”  

This however prompted Gon's entire chat to egg him on to try various speedrun tactics, until the rest of the stream was spent attempting (and failing) a “Lobby Backwards Long Jump”. Gon took it well and promised chat that if they wanted to he’d try to practice again on the next stream, asking for tips in his Discord chat. Speedrunning wasn’t really his way of playing games, he was too impatient and would rather experience the game as intended, but it shook things up, and was a surprisingly great way to regain focus after playing a different game for too long. Soon enough, the Server started bubbling with tutorials, tips, and heated discussions about optimal routes. Gon read through the chat, enjoying how everyone seemed to get into the topic, while also mourning his dwindling attention span as more and more messages came in. With the overflow of information, his brain felt like it was thrown into a deep fryer (Though maybe he was just hungry). Defeated, he dropped his head on his desk. Maybe he bit off more than he could chew. How was he supposed to take all this information in and actually learn it in time for the next stream? This was worse than school. Maybe he should ju-

Bloop.

Gon raised his head from his desk, greeted by a new private message. It wasn’t anyone from his friends-list, but that wasn’t too unusual, a lot of people from his Server would DM him, and he didn’t mind talking with anyone who had something to say to him.

“Kil: Yo.”

“Kil: do you need like help with SM64 lol”

The young boy adjusted his tired eyes to the screen, trying to find recognition into the profile picture of a white cat, but not finding it.

“GON: Hi!! :^D I’m taking tips right now if you have any!”

“Kil: your inputs were really sloppy lol”

Ouch, though true.

“Kil: but you’ve got morale at least”

“Kil: I made a short guide on my channel, if u wanna check it out?”

Attached to the last message was a link to a YouTube video, and just as announced, it was a eight minute tutorial on “LBLJ”, with text overlay explaining the various steps. What stood out more to Gon however, was the view and subscriber count to the Channel ‘Kilcat666’. After scrolling through the channel a bit more, and following another link to an adjacent Twitch channel with the same name, it dawned on him; This guy was a pro.

“GON: WOW :^O you are really good at this!!!!”

For a while, Gon thought that’s it. He browsed through a couple more of this kid’s videos. He was usually just referred to as ‘Kil’ or in rare instances ‘Killu’, and there wasn’t much on him as a person, just a short bio: “Kil, 14, him/his, Yorkshire area. SM64 0 Star contender.”. His streams of attempting to break the World record for any given game got a reasonable amount of viewers, with a steady fanbase that would spam inside jokes and cat emojis in chat. And in no single video did he ever show his face, or even speak. The only real communication he seemed to do with his audience was the occasional answer in chat, or text-overlays in his YouTube videos. Gon thought about how he was a little honoured to have another well known streamer actually give him advice and watch his stuff, though obviously it seemed that Kil wasn’t interested in keeping more in conta-

Bloop.

“Kil: Thanks uh, if you’d want to, we could like make a deal?”

“GON: What kind of deal? :^O”

“Kil: I could show you some tricks for casual speedrunning”

“Kil: And maybe if you want to you could show me how to get better at fortnite lol”

Gon was beaming. He wasn’t sure why, but he was grinning from ear to ear, and it didn’t even register to himself that he was already typing up a response until he hit the enter button.

“GON: Sure!!!!!! :^D!!!! Have you ever played before? We can team up with a friend of mine for the first couple rounds!”

  Killua was never a child with many friends. Or any friends. Growing up sheltered by his family, with the mindset of one day inheriting a multimillion-dollar company, it was taught to him that acquaintances were convenient, friends were distractions.

When he got pulled out of school and put into home-schooling, it was because his friends at school were distractions.

When he snuck out to play with other kids in the country, he was placed on supervised house arrest, because he had been too distracted.

When he noticed his brother appearing in some weirdos YouTube video, he had to be told “That man is not my friend, he is a work associate.”

And like a drop of water can gradually tear through stone, the constant echoing of this rule tore through Killuas head. He still didn’t want to overtake the family legacy, but he knew better than to endanger others with his efforts of finding friendship. Instead, he decided to find solitary distractions, and found those in video games he first borrowed (or rather, took without being noticed) from his older brother. Gradually, he got more and more invested in video games, how they work, and the cultures surrounding them. That is how he found out about Speedrunning and streaming. Speedrunning was fascinating to the young boy. The effort to clear a game as fast as possible, faster than anyone else, past all supposed limitations a game would present casual players with. Specific tricks would look messy and incoherent to untrained eyes, but the hidden inputs were mechanical and exact. This is a distraction worth investing in.

At first, he didn’t care much about streaming or even recording his attempts. However, as he was slowly approaching Regional and World Records, there was hardly a way around it if he wanted to get verified records published. So, he started a Twitch Account, opting to go for his shortened name “Kil”, a half-assed attempt at keeping his family off of his tail. And as his collection of Top-3 Records grew, so did his audience when he was streaming attempts. When he got used enough to a game, he learned how to read chat while playing, even occasionally taking the time to answer questions, followed by a wave of excited cat emotes.

These are not friends, they are fans.

If he could continue to justify this, keep these people at a distance from him, it would be fine. Minimal interaction. No attachment. Easy enough.

It should have been easy enough.

But when he went through active play sessions of Super Mario 64 on Twitch, and he chose to tune into the first stream that popped up, it stopped being easy. It stopped being easy when he found himself laughing along with the cheery voice of the young streamer.

He wasn’t sure what he expected when he sent that first discord message. A small part of him hoped that this Gon kid wouldn’t reply. That way he could have just written him off as some vain lowtier streamer who isn’t worth Killuas time.

But of course he replied. And of course he would reply so kindly despite being contacted by a random stranger. Killua could feel something pull in his chest writing back and forth with Gon. This was just friendly- no. This was normal banter between two streamers who were exchanging helpful information. Two young, up-and-coming professionals in video game streaming, who can communicate like professionals.

Like work associates.

Work associates help each other out. They make deals. So, it would be okay if Killua would make a deal with Gon. Maybe get to know him in the progress, just a little, just enough to get a sense of his personality.

The pull in Killuas chest subsided when Gon agreed to his deal. But it would come back the first time they were on a call together, the first time Killua let someone else online hear his voice, hushed through a shitty in-ear cable headset, careful that he wouldn’t draw attention if someone were to walk past his room. And it subsided again when he heard Gon laugh at every bad joke he’d tell, loosened even more when he let himself laugh with him. Gon would try his best to follow any instructions he’d been given to learn speedrun strategies, and in turn Killua would let himself be guided through fortnite battles and aim-lessons. They worked well together, as if they had known each other for years, falling into a natural rhythm of jokes and casual conversation. This rhythm would continue for weeks, always coordinating when to call, taking turns with the games they would play.

Slowly, they started branching out to more games to play with each other. Slowly, Gon introduced Killua to his friends. Slowly, Killua got used to speaking on stream, just so Gon and he could guest-star on each other’s streams.

Through this gradual process, Killua felt like he was trapped in a pot of water, and the heat was being turned up just slow enough that he wouldn’t notice until its too late. Until the pull in his chest would threaten to tear him apart.

And then it did, as his mother raised her voice at the breakfast table, “You’ve been spending an awful lot of time on your Computer, Killua.”

“So is Milluki.” He tried to keep his voice unwavering, desperately trying to keep all of these gathered secrets behind it.

“We are just concerned of what you are doing on there; The internet has a lot of dangerous sides..” Kikyo Zoldyck was awfully good at turning her voice into a wail at any given time. Killua could feel his phone in his pocket vibrate from what he was sure was a message from Gon.

“..Maybe we should put some restriction on your use of it. Before it can start distracting you.”

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #454

Top Ten Launch Games 

Oooh, it’s finally here!  

By the time you read this, the Xbox Series X/S consoles will be out, and the PlayStation 5 will be imminent if not already with us. At the time of writing I’ve yet to sample either console, although hopefully that will soon change. However, it’s a bit of a weird console launch, especially for Xbox owners, as there’s not much in the way of actual launch titles. PlayStation has the excellent-looking technical showcase (in that it shows off their sexy new controller, if not necessarily the excesses of the console’s visual prowess) Astro’s Playroom. But on the Xbox side, the only genuine first-party exclusive (not including the port of rather smashing PC title Gears Tactics) was to be the troubled Halo Infinite, which has now been pushed to next year to deal with some of its apparent graphical deficiencies. For what it’s worth, as a Halo fan, I thought the actual gameplay presented looked as good as it always has, so I’m still very excited, but it’s a shame not to sample something genuinely new and shiny at launch. For me, then – as someone not getting a PlayStation this year – I’m going to have to contend myself with updated versions of older games, and hopefully something like the really exciting-looking The Falconeer or, eventually, Cyberpunk 2077.  

Of course, it’s not always been like this; in the past, a landmark game has often been the core reason to upgrade to a new console. Certain titles have defined their hardware platforms, offering a taste of the experiences to come, be it through revolutionary control systems, previously-unimaginable graphics, or simply by shattering preconceptions and expectations. As such, this weekend I’m celebrating my favourite launch titles. 

Now, a couple of my usual caveats. I’ve hardly owned any consoles in the grand scheme of things; I was a computer gamer until the launch of the first Xbox, and even then was PC-first until about midway through the 360’s life. As such I came to a lot of these late, or played them on friends’ systems. I’m sure a videogame historian would give you another list, one that was able to put each title into its historical perspective. For my part, I’m mostly basing it on how much I like the game, but I am also trying to weight it in terms of its “importance”. I mean, one of my favourite “launch titles” of all time would be Lego Marvel Super Heroes on the Xbox One/PS4, but that seems a bit of a ridiculous game to call a launch title, especially as it doesn’t really show off the hardware or define the generation in any particular way. I just think it rocks. So I’m trying to judge it also in terms of how effective a given game was at being a launch title, as well as my personal preference; as such, some games, which I think are more emblematic of their time or their hardware, might end up higher in the list than if I was otherwise just ranking my favourites.  

Christ, that was boring. Look, here are ten games that I like that came out when a console came out. Have at it. 

Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox, 2001): it’s not just that it made playing an FPS on a console as comfortable and enjoyable as on PC, but it revolutionised what an FPS could do. Expansive open landscapes, dynamic combat with intelligent enemies, an ingenious shield/health combo, two weapons, drivable vehicles, and frankly outstanding graphics. And for Xbox – a curious underdog, a big black sheep devoid of cool or class and feeling like Microsoft was trying to buy its way into the console space with a hefty dose of brute force – here was something unique, something incredible. I don’t think anyone quite expected Halo, and it’s arguable that it single-handedly changed not only Microsoft and Xbox’s fortunes but the entire game industry too.  

Wii Sports (Wii, 2005): the Wii was this strange outlier, a tiny white box that eschewed the grunt and girth of its rivals, and seemingly built around its unique motion controller. Would it work? Wii Sports proved that yes it would, a delightful bundle of games that perfectly showed what the console and controller could do. Immense fun in and of itself, but the Wii’s ability to lower the barrier of entry to non-gamers meant that your dad could thrash your brother at bowling. And that is a thing to cherish forever. 

Tetris (GameBoy, 1989): depending on where you look, Tetris may just be the best-selling game of all time. It’s on everything now, from the Xbox Series X to your watch. But there was a time when “Tetris” meant “GameBoy”; that four-colour greenscreen box of wonder that everybody had but me. It was beyond ubiquitous, and its short-form nature and simplistic styling made it ideal for the portable console, its chirpy and iconic music sounding perfect coming from those tiny speakers. And above all else, of course, Tetris is fantastic, one of the greatest games of all time. It was a perfect marriage of software and hardware. 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, 2017): so here’s the thing: I like Zelda, but I’ve never fallen in love with it. I didn’t grow up with it, so coming to Ocarina of Time, there were too many old-fashioned trappings in the way; it just didn’t feel as enthralling or as fun to play as, say, Half-Life or Deus Ex. BOTW changed that; the limitations were gone, the world was blown wide open. It no longer felt like an 80s game in three dimensions, it felt new. Better than new – it felt like tomorrow. Despite the Switch being graphically weaker than its contemporaries, BOTW was and is simply gorgeous to look at, but it’s how it plays, how it feels like a vast but real world, how it has its own rules and they make sense instantly. It’s the greatest open world game of all time, and emergent physics sandbox, and yet it’s still unquestionably Zelda, emphatically Nintendo. Okay, it technically came out on the Wii U at the same time, but who the hell played that? This was the game that made you want a Switch.  

Super Mario 64 (N64, 1997): this is often the game people cite as being one of the great revolutionary launch titles, but I must confess its charms were lost to me at first. Taking what was great about Mario and converting it expertly into 3D was a heck of a feat; graphically for the time it certainly impressed in the scale of its worlds, and whilst back then I felt it lacked the detail and granularity of some PC titles, in retrospect it was a perfectly-suited art style, offering smooth textures even when right up close. But it was its precise controls and the open, hub-based nature of its worlds that was revolutionary; many games aped its style, but it took a long time before anything really matched it.  

Hexic HD (Xbox 360, 2005): not every game here has to be some genre-busting graphical powerhouse; they can be simple but quietly revolutionary. Hexic HD is a terrific puzzle game with a simple hook, brilliantly executed, and enough intrigue and nuance to keep you coming back for one more go, to beat your high score, to get to the next tricksy level. But the time and manner of its release, and what that signified, marked it out as something more important. It was the first Xbox Live Arcade title; Microsoft’s curated gallery of smaller, more indie-flavoured games. More than that, it was free, coming pre-installed on all Xbox 360 Pros (the ones with the removable hard drive). It was a taste of what was to come, introducing audiences not only to the idea of playing these kinds of smaller, less intense games on a console, but also the idea of purchasing and downloading them digitally. It was great and ground-breaking in equal measure.  

WipEout (PlayStation, 1995): I kinda missed the PlayStation generation. I was still, more or less, in my PC-centric “consoles are toys” mindset (which I wouldn’t fully shake off till the release of the N64). But I came to appreciate its qualities as a cool, exciting, super-fast futuristic racer. I’m pretty sure it’s not the first 3D hover-car racing game, but it was presented in such a groovy package that it ticket all the boxes, and helped show off just what the PlayStation was capable of in terms of its 3D graphics and CD sound. And, of course, it helped define the console as being a bit more edgy and grown-up than the previous Nintendo and Sega stalwarts. 

Super Mario Bros. (NES, 1988): what can be said about one of the most iconic games of all time? Mario Bros defined not only a console, not only a generation, but arguably an entire artform. Creating what we now know as a platform game, it expanded and surpassed the basic template of Donkey Kong into a roaming adventure, part twitch-gaming reaction test, part puzzle game. I played a lot of copycat games on my Amiga, but even then, as a whiny computer brat, I knew that Mario was better. Even when my cousins got a MegaDrive and Sonic, I knew – deep in my heart – that Mario was better. It's a deep game, an endlessly replayable game, a supremely fair game despite its difficulty. I think it’s hard to overstate just how good, or how influential, Mario was. 

Project Gotham Racing (Xbox, 2001): I tried hard to pick a different platform for every game in this list, but I couldn’t exclude PGR. This may be tied up with my biography a little bit, but my other half and I played this game to death. I never think of myself as a big racer fan, but every once in a while a title comes out that I just really, really get into – Jaguar XJ220 on the Amiga, Midtown Madness on PC, the Forza Horizon series nowadays – and PGR did that in spades. A gorgeous arcade racer, it was a great launch title to show off the sheer grunt of the Xbox; then, as now, the most powerful console on the market. It also offered a terrific four-player split-screen. But its Kudos feature – borrowed from semi-prequel Metropolis Street Racer – offered ways to win outside of sheer racing graft, awarding cool driving. I still love the original, and I kinda wish they’d bring back or reimagine its city-based driving for a future release or Forza spin-off. 

Lumines: Puzzle Fusion (PSP, 2004): okay, so this is a bit of a cheat as I've barely played the original PSP version, but Lumines is just phenomenal; the best moving-blocks-around game since Tetris, and probably the most influential one since then too (for the record, I've played it extensively on multiple other platforms). An excellent spin on a Tetris-a-like, its use of music and colour made it a beautiful, brilliant sensory experience. With Sony entering the handheld market, the PSP needed a USP, something vibrant and cool that suited a portable experience, and Lumines provided it in spades; also its funky visuals and music was a good fit for Sony’s brand.  

Well, that was fun, and a lot harder than I expected. If you’re enjoying a new console this Christmas, then hopefully you’ll have fun with one of the new launch titles too – even if I doubt any (apart from maybe Astro) would trouble a list like this in the future (although I do think The Falconeer looks all kinds of cool).