Year 3: June Update

I almost let June go by without a monthly update! Obviously not a big deal but I've been busy and haven't been getting as much done as I'd like which seems to be the case most months. June was rather quiet with E3 being the highlight. My E3 predictions were posted at the end of May and then I updated it a few times as the show was in progress. As I stated in the updates, it wasn't a show of big announcements which was expected. Microsoft did reveal that its next Xbox hits retail holiday 2020 but didn't provide many details. Something I didn't mention since I was focused on the big games and my predictions is that Konami is going to release a TurboGrafx-16 mini (aka PC Engine mini and PC Engine Core Grafx mini). This is surprising because the console was never very popular though I believe it did fare better outside of North America. While the system was originally from NEC, Konami now owns the rights to the console due to its acquisition of Hudson Soft. No price or release date were given.

I've not been playing too many games. I did post a Let's Play video of the LEGO Speed Champions add-on that released a couple weeks ago for Forza Horizon 4. Since posting that I realized there is a barn find (it's an achievement) but from what I've read the vehicle in it is not yet available, and there are only three LEGO cars in the game currently. While the add-on is cute and I've enjoyed it, more cars and LEGO buildings in the world would make it much better. You can drive the regular cars there too, it's not LEGO-only. Yesterday I started Judgment which is a M-rated game from the studio that makes the Yakuza titles. One of my Let's Play videos that got a ridiculous (for me) amount of views is Paw Patrol from Outright Games. If anyone is interested in more licensed kid games that publisher did recently unveil upcoming games based on Jumanji (second movie) and Ice Age.

I currently have a free month of Netflix which is one of the reasons I've been busy. Every year Netflix offers me a free month to try and get me to subscribe but I always cancel at the end of the free month. During last year's free month I recommended the Netflix exclusive The Toys That Made Us. There aren't any new seasons but it's worth mentioning again because it is great. However, as I stated last time the Barbie and Masters of the Universe episodes are not kid-friendly due to some images in the background of interviews and the language used by former and current Mattel employees. There are two seasons available with four episodes per season that also cover Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, Transformers, LEGO, and Hello Kitty. Season three is in production and it is expected to include Power Rangers, wrestling toys, My Little Pony, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

That's about all I've got this month though I will say summer has definitely arrived as Southeast Michigan is quite warm this week. I'll try to get a Let's Play classic game video done next weekend. 

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan