Backlog: The Embiggening – July, 2020
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/28/20 at 03:15 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future. Here we sit in July, right at the height of the Summer Game Drought Season, with COVID-19 showing no signs of relenting and “going away with the Summer heat,” as our Dear Leader promised – in his infinite ignorance – that it would. So we’re all still stuck at home with nothing but our (huge enormous) backlogs to keep us company. Yet, surprisingly, this year’s annual Summer Game Drought has been remarkably mild, with a large slug of titles slated for release in July… and it’s not all crap!
Of course, we will start with the crap. Get your shovels ready, folks, because it’s getting a little deep in here. We’ve got two upcoming anime-based games in “Fairy Tale” and the Junk-Latin titled “Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris.” We’ve got two upcoming annual releases in two officially licensed Racing series, “NASCAR Heat 5” and “F1 2020.” Shockingly, VR (specifically PlayStation VR… the …
The PC Gaming Show 2020: Good/Bad/Ugly
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/21/20 at 04:52 PM CT
Hot on the heels of Sony’s PlayStation 5-centric ‘Direct’ video, “PC Gamer Magazine” has produced a new entry in the annual PC Gaming Show, only this time it is, like the PlayStation Direct and… everything else in 2020… outside the context of the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Look below for a list of my hot-takes on the show’s announcements and reveals, followed by a more in-depth summary.
Good: “Torchlight 3,” “Fae Tactics,” “Inkulinati,” “Troy: A Total War Saga,” “The Forgotten City,” “Weird West,” “Dungeons of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet of Chaos”
Bad: Effing Survival games, effing Roguelikes, ports of bad games like “Persona 4 Golden,” the trend of so-called ‘retro-shooters,’ “Potionomics,” remasters of bad games like “Shadowman,” “Mortal Shell,” “Surgeon Simulator 2” (why?!)
Ugly: Political BS statements, atrocious pacing and long-winded ‘comedy’ intros, …
The PlayStation Direct: Good/Bad/Ugly
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 06/14/20 at 04:02 PM CT
This past week, Sony disgorged an enormous amount of video content on their corporate Youtube account. While E3 may have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sony had already decided to pull out of the big June gaming event prior to the cancelation, which, in hindsight, appears to have been a great move, as they were able to continue producing their Nintendo-style (because Sony loves nothing more than copying Nintendo) ‘Direct’ set of video presentations, including the reveal of the upcoming PlayStation 5 console and a swath of games that will be available on the new platform.
Since I don’t get to do an E3 Impressions article this year, I’m just going to remaster the format for the PlayStation Direct, changing “Want” to “Good,” “Do Not Want” to “Bad,” and “Not Sure if Want” to “Ugly.”
Good: “Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart,” “Sackboy: A Big Adventure,” “Kena: Bridge of Spirits,” “Little Devil Inside,” “Horizon: Forbidden …
Disgruntled Dad: Tired of Nintendo’s Approach to Game Data
Matt - wrote on 06/07/20 at 08:35 PM CT
The family Nintendo Switch is dead. It no longer will charge. The pins in the USB-C are bent, and the console is lifeless. The culprit, who caused this predicament, is most likely my four-year-old, or his older brother. The boys have taken to playing Pokémon and Animal Crossing, and they probably broke it putting the Switch back into its cradle. I know, I shouldn’t let such young kids charge the thing, but the system was bought for the family, and since we have more time on our hands, I relaxed and let the little boys charge it instead of their older sister. The incapacitated Switch has made me one disgruntled dad, frustrated by Nintendo’s somewhat-Luddite approach to modern online technologies and their draconian attempt to curtail modding and piracy.
Overall, since 2018, I had been pleased with the Switch. It was the evolution of my all-in-one-game-console dream, a system for entertainment while traveling — we do a fair bit of it — and a system for a TV. Although I …
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