Year 4: October Update

It's almost Halloween which was usually a good time when I was a kid but I've not really done anything on the holiday since then other than trying to tie a blog post into it. At this time I've got nothing but maybe I can quickly find a game article to scan this week. Over the past few years I have posted the 1984 McDonald's sign a few times between here, Twitter, and Facebook I think, and since I probably haven't posted it enough yet here it is again.

This month I did get some G.I. Joe toy coverage up and played the new video game a bit. I've only had time to play three full levels and while I won't say it's bad, it's not great either. I like the graphics fine, the characters are from the best cartoon and toy line of the '80s so of course they're great, and the story is good enough. However, the action is repetitive and the early level design, notably missions two and three, are on the bland side. One could argue most games are repetitive and it is a shooter so it's not surprising that players will spend most of the time shooting waves of enemies. The levels are disappointing early on which I expect is a combination of the budget, short development cycle, and employees likely having to work from home. Regardless, it's nice to have a new G.I. Joe game and hopefully it leads to more games based on the license.

The next Xbox and PlayStation consoles are now just two weeks away. Unfortunately, the launch titles that aren't also releasing on current generation systems don't appear to be must plays. Console launches do tend to have average games at launch though. That said, I was hoping to be able to get my hands on the new consoles through work for my Video Games 2020 YouTube channel but we have limited options for making company purchases and we've been told from one distributor that we may have to wait until quarter two of 2021. On the positive side, a new Family Feud game is releasing on November 12th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch! I do enjoy the game shows as you may have noticed during the Commodore 64 game show week I did earlier this year on the blog's YouTube channel.

Two months ago Warner Bros. held DC Fandome which I did mention in the August update since it had some video game unveilings. There were also panels for a variety of things and a sweepstakes to enter. I'd guess there must have been a lot of entries but I was fortunate enough to be one the runner-up winners. I didn't know I won anything until the prize arrived in my mailbox last week which was a nice surprise. As you can see in the photo to the right, it's a LEGO mini-figure of Supergirl. 

That's all I've got for this month's update. Thanks for visiting the blog and have a happy and safe Halloween!

-Jonathan