New Year’s Backlog Ablutions 2026
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 01/04/26 at 02:54 PM CT
The results of the last year’s New Year’s Backlog Ablutions are in! While it came down to the wire, with Erstwhile Matt submitting his third and final review within 24 hours of the final deadline, all of us succeeded at wiping away our obligations to our bloated backlogs for 2025.
That means we’ve got a new winning streak started, so we’ll have to see if we can keep it going in 2026! Since nobody lost and everybody won, no Penalty Games were purchased, and since no Penalty Games were in the mix, we all got to choose all of the games we plan to tackle in 2026.
To reiterate the rules: We all have one year to play three specific backlogged games that we’ve chosen for ourselves in advance. Included within those three games must be whatever we received from failing competitors from the previous year. We must be ‘done’ with these games – as in, not planning to play them anymore, as neither finishing a game that turns out to be terrible nor getting 100% completion or …
Backlog: The Embiggening – January, 2026
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 12/25/25 at 06:24 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! 2025 is on its way out the door, and we find ourselves looking into a brave new future without the looming forms of the Big Three threatening us with terrible “AAA” releases. Likewise, with old, worn-out samurai like Square-Enix, Konami, Capcom, Sega, and even Nintendo failing to produce the way they once did, it seems like the second half of the 2020’s will rest firmly on the shoulders of Indie developers, as they become an ever-larger-and-more-important facet of of Gaming’s ecosystem. Will 2026 mark the beginning of a Gaming Renaissance? Or will we all come to our senses and realize that the vast, overwhelming amount of new game releases are Indies already, and only a couple of good ones float to the surface each year? Let’s try to divine the entrails of January’s releases in an attempt to see the beginnings of a (new?) pattern!
Well... things might be starting off somewhat on the right foot, as there is no …
Year in Review: 2025
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 12/21/25 at 03:41 PM CT
It’s been another wild ride as the world hit the mid-way point of the 2020s. We’ve had to deal with the wild pendulum of the Culture Wars alongside Social Media companies being outed as the cancer underlying all of our symptoms and Big Tech continuing to “move fast and break things,” only in this case, the “things” being broken have been the global economy and job market. Of course, Gaming and Nerd Culture weren’t spared from this widespread ruin, resulting in yet another year in which the Fails came easy, while the Wins were hard-won and somewhat subjective.
Top 5 Fails
5. Entertainment Software Association (ESA) Intentionally Blocks Software from Being Perpetually Entertaining
Ever wonder why IP rights and consumer rights always collide in the world of videogames, and especially the preservation of old favorites? It came to light this year that all of this BS is ON PURPOSE, and is committed at the behest of the NGO that is supposed to have the medium’s best …
MeltedJoystick Games of the Year 2025
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 12/14/25 at 03:42 PM CT
Well, 2025 certainly was a year, wasn’t it? While we got to enjoy the *michaeljacksoneatingpopcorn.gif* spectacle of “AAA” Industrial Gaming beginning its long-overdue implosion, we were expected to sit by like the *doginaburninghouse.jpg* and say, “This is fine.”
Of course, some of us are more stubborn than others, and this year’s docket of exemplary games contains... absolutely nothing new! 2025 was a year where remakes, remasters, and compilations absolutely dominated in a way they’ve been trying to do for years, with the 5 most intriguing releases of the year ACTUALLY being releases from many, many years ago. Let’s dive in!
1. Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars (Multi)
This HD remastered compilation of the two best ‘Suikoden’ games – originally released in 1996 and 1999 – illustrates the sad state of RPG development. Konami, who stopped publishing new ‘Suikoden’ games in 2009, still hasn’t been able to top the …
Review Round-Up: Fall 2025
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 12/07/25 at 01:11 PM CT
Welcome back to another installment of the MeltedJoystick Review Round-Up. Here’s what our staff has reviewed since last time:
Nelson’s Reviews:
I made the mistake of researching a game after buying it and deciding to make it the next title to come off my backlog. What I learned killed my motivation to play anything (besides “Warframe”) for an additional two months. I’m surprised I got anything done during the Fall, but I finally ripped off the band-aid, blasted through the bad game as an excuse to test Steam for Linux, played a second good game in about a week, and the crew FINALLY finished “Baldur’s Gate 3 after nearly a year of chipping away at it in pathetic 2-hour chunks.
Bramble: The Mountain King – 2/5
Revenge of the Savage Planet – 4.5/5
Baldur’s Gate 3 – 4.5/5
Chris’ Review:
Chris officially finished his last Backlog Ablution game for the year... and nothing else. He then announced that he would NOT be playing anymore huge-ass Sandbox …
Backlog: The Embiggening – December, 2025
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/30/25 at 12:34 AM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! Winter is upon us, and the deadlines are all drawing near. Will the Games Industry manage to squeeze out a last minute must-play? Or will it be nothing but a succession of constipated turds? Will the MJ Crew be able to clear their Backlog Ablutions? Or will Chris and I (who already have) be getting more free games that we won’t play? Let’s dive into the last dregs of the year and see if there’s anything worth salvaging!
Ugh, well don’t get your hopes up too high for a last minute sock-off-knocker, as the shovelware outnumbers everything else coming in December. In Licensed Swill, there’s a ‘Nicktoons’ game and a ‘Terminator’ game (that was supposed to come out last month)... But that’s really it! There’s no Cazual Swill or Annualized Swill... The rest of the shovelware takes the form of Noteworthy Ports (and there are even more non-noteworthy ports that got pruned from consideration): The Nintendo Switch (not …
Microsoft Finally Listens, but it’s Too Late
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/23/25 at 03:26 PM CT
Remember how long I’ve been saying that Xbox should just be a fancy front-end for Windows that makes it easy to navigate on a TV using nothing but a controller? Remember how Microsoft and the Xbox Division have done ANYTHING and EVERYTHING besides that one simple idea to make Xbox less of a laughing stock?
Well, it seems that, as both Shoes, the Sword of Damocles, and various other unfortunate dangling proverbs fall on the Xbox Division’s head simultaneously, the House of Gates has finally – FINALLY – decided to not only create a nice, clean, controller-friendly frontend for Windows, but to make it broadly available to... Xbox Insiders? Well, they had to have a catch in there somewhere.
Yup, as a preview of coming attractions, Microsoft is making the alternate Windows 11 GUI they’re calling “Full Screen Experience” available to all Xbox Insider program members before rolling it out across the entire platform. For those not in the know, Windows 11 Full Screen …
Valve Drops the Mic, Set to DOMINATE 2026 with 3(!) New Hardware Options
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/16/25 at 02:25 PM CT
For decades now, Gamers have believed that Valve, the once-small-time developer and publisher of the ‘Half-Life’ and ‘Portal’ IPs was incapable of counting to three, since none of their games have ever gotten a third, officially-numbered sequel. Well, this week, Valve, the no-longer-small-time owner of Steam, the non-monopolistic, yet still biggest storefront in all of PC gaming, just announced THREE new hardware devices that they will be bringing to market in the first quarter of 2026 (provided no doo-doo comes into contact with any turbines regarding global trade and supply chains).
And I’m going to buy ALL OF THEM!
The world’s most charismatic nerd, Linus of the LinusTechTips Youtube channel, got a special invite to a Valve preview session with these devices, and based on what he showed off, they all look quite amazing.
First up is the Steam Frame, the long-awaited sequel to the Valve Index VR platform. Far from being a mere Index 2.0 as was speculated, the …
Nearly 100% of Corporate Suits Believe Steam is a “Monopoly” in PC Gaming
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 11/09/25 at 02:11 PM CT
Just when you think the corporate overlords that are actively ruining the economy on a global scale can’t get any more cringy or stupid, they always manage to find a way to lower the bar even further. In a recent study performed by the “who the heck are they” digital games sales consulting firm, Rokky, 72% of survey respondents said that they “perceive Steam to be a monopoly” in PC game sales. What’s interesting is that 75% of the people questioned in this survey were C-Suite Executive Sh!theads, so using some incredibly suspect “math,” it “seems” that only 3% of these plutocrats actually understand what a monopoly is, with the remaining 97% seeming to believe that a monopoly is “anything that prevents ME from having 100% of the business in a given sector.”
Based on their long-running stupidity, it seems that C-Suiters don’t know what a monopoly is when looking at it from either side. First, they’ve spent decades proclaiming that none of the wireless …
Backlog: The Embiggening – November, 2025
Nelson Schneider - wrote on 10/31/25 at 03:23 PM CT
Welcome back to another look into the near future! With harvest season drawing to a close, in our pre-industrial civilizations, November was typically a month to take a moment to give thanks for what blessings the Earth Gods heaped upon us – or, in leaner times, to give thanks that the Earth Gods bothered to give us anything at all, so at no to offend them into making the problem long-term.
The Gaming Gods have not given us a whole lot to be thankful lately, but I suppose we should at least take the time to pick through the overturned-outhouse leavings in the event that they slipped something good in there by mistake.
Thankfully the shovelware is much tamer than last month... But there’s still something in every category of uselessness. In Licensed Swill, there’s a new ‘Spongebob’ game, a new ‘Hello Kitty’ game, and a new ‘Terminator’ game. In the Casual Swill category, there’s “Let’s Sing 2026,” which conveniently abuts to the Annualized Swill …
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