Saturday, July 25, 2020

Year 4: July Update

I only managed four posts in June and July has been busy so I might not be able to even match that. A large part of my time has been dedicated to the Video Games 2020 project that I keep thinking about quitting. I'm currently playing games released in June for that so I am still more than a month behind. Other than that I'm just busy with life, working, sorting stuff, listing items on eBay, and doing yard work at two properties.

LEGO unveiled a new Star Wars item coming September 1st but it is part of the LEGO Art line rather than the standard vehicles and play sets. On September 1st you'll be able to purchase a 3-in-1 Sith-themed art set for $119.99 that features Darth Vader, Darth Maul, and Kylo Ren.

There has been quite a bit of video game news this month and one game that has peaked my interest has not been officially announced yet. It was in the first week of July that I received an email at work from a distributor listing a new G.I. Joe video game that is coming October 13th! It's titled Operation Blackout, will cost $39.99, and be released in stores for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch. While it was the Australian game rating board that outed the title, I shared what I knew with G.I. Joe fansite HissTank and I believe that was the first place you could learn much of anything beyond the title. Gamefly later posted the same details with a placeholder genre and someone on Instagram recently acquired the box art from somewhere, most likely an obscure retailer. We don't know the developer but there is good reason to expect mediocrity due to the publisher being GameMill Entertainment. I'll hold out hope that it will be fun though and if you want to refresh your memory about previous G.I. Joe video games check out one of my earliest blog posts: G.I. Joe: The Video Games.

If you're a Karate Kid fan you might be more interested in the other GameMill game coming in October: Cobra Kai. It's the same price and on the same platforms as Operation Blackout but I don't know the genre of either game at this time. Intellivision Amico continues to promote its October release as well with a special presentation coming August 4th. Atari has been making news too with its VCS that releases in December. Both are expensive with the VCS costing from $249.99 to $399.99 depending on the model and if you want a bundle with controllers, while Amico is $249.99 which includes two controllers plus six games. Although not direct competitors to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, the release timing certainly isn't great. Four new systems within a three month span is a lot even if they appeal to different audiences.

Intellivision Amico
Atari VCS 

Ubisoft and Microsoft both had presentations this month too. There isn't much worth noting from Ubisoft since it primarily showcased games we were already familiar with. Microsoft showed quite a few games over an hour, including more on Halo Infinite, Psychonauts 2, and Grounded. Plus many new games were announced, such as State of Decay 3, Forza Motorsport (no number in the title), Fable (again, the same name as the original), Everwild from Rare, and Avowed from Obsidian Entertainment. Brief trailers were shown for most games with little actually being said about them. Some of the third-party titles on display were S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, Tetris Effect: Connected, and Tell Me Why from Life Is Strange developer Dontnod.

Grounded
Everwild

Baseball season actually started two days ago and while I didn't have a post ready, I did post something back when the season was originally going to begin: Delay of Game. In the grand scheme of things sports aren't important right now and shouldn't be taking place. It's possible the 60-game season will fail to finish too but I'll it enjoy it while it lasts. Take care of yourselves.

-Jonathan

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