Gaming Ads: Backfilling #17

Last video games ads post was September 2022  so it has been a while but I do have more and will hopefully continue getting them from time-to-time. One is fitting for the holidays as it's a Christmas-themed Game Boy ad from Nintendo. Two of them are retail ads from Target (Game Boy) and Walmart (Konami handhelds), and the last is a PC controller from Microsoft.

Year 4: September Update

Another slow month around here as far as new blog posts. I did do a small LEGO build on camera at the end of August which mostly went well. My plan that may or may not happen is to try and do a G.I. Joe week in early October in relation to the new video game. I'm also trying to take a mini-vacation of sorts within these busy months. It's been 2.5 years since I took more than one day off in a row from work and that was mostly for an important family obligation aside from the quick stop at Funspot. Next week I will be taking two whole days off! I'll be making a lengthy drive to do some hiking so it's not extra time to spend on the blog or videos.

Quite a bit has happened in the gaming world since August. We now know the Xbox Series X releases on November 10th alongside a lesser model named the Xbox Series S. I'm not so sure a Series S is necessary as it cannot even run Xbox One games with the enhancements they receive when played on Xbox One X. It will likely confuse consumers too but it does cost quite a bit less with the Series X retailing for $499.99 and the Series S at $299.99. Sony countered with a release date of November 12th and a price of $499.99 for the PlayStation 5 (PS5) while the digital version (no disc drive) is priced at $399.99. The new PS5 DualSense controller is $69.99 with Xbox controllers staying at $59.99. 

As expected, more next generation games are listing for $69.99, though I am surprised at the types of games hitting this price point. The PS5 launch titles Demon's Souls and Demolition AllStars are both $69.99. When I first wrote about likely game price increases I thought it would be for the big open-world style games, not remasters, arena combat, and sports titles (NBA 2K21). The games getting those prices feel as if they should be $59.99 or less. There is an ultimate edition of Spider-Man: Miles Morales that includes a remaster of the original Spider-Man game for $69.99 as well but the standard edition is only $49.99. Fortunately, the Miles Morales game will release on PlayStation 4 too. That's the only first-party launch title I'm interested in and I believe all the third-party titles I'd like to play are available for the current generation so thus far I'm not feeling the excitement for new console launches. 

On Monday huge news broke from Microsoft when it announced that it had reached a deal to acquire ZeniMax. If you're not someone who follows the game industry closely maybe you aren't familiar with ZeniMax and are thinking who cares. ZeniMax happens to be the parent company of Bethesda, id Software, and a number of other skilled developers that work on popular franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, and Wolfenstein. Microsoft is going to have a very strong library of role-playing and first-person shooters that does make the Xbox brand more appealing. It's possible not every single game from this deal will remain exclusive to Xbox (and PC) but one has to expect they will all launch first on Xbox and likely with bonus content.

I finally saw the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. It's not great but it is watchable despite a fair amount of weak humor. I'd expect it is more appealing to younger audiences than the adults who grew up with the Genesis games. That's about all I have for this month, or at least all that I can remember. Thanks for reading!

-Jonathan

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

Year 3: December Update

It's time to close out another year with January 2, 2020 marking Vault 1541's 3rd anniversary. As the years have gone by I've actually kept rather steady even though I've not posted as much as I'd have liked (by the way, this is the 300th post!). I'll be wrapping up the game ads in 2020 but once I complete the publisher posts I will have some other ads, plus I'll upload new ads as I find them. YouTube is definitely going to slow in 2020 as I'm preparing to launch a new channel that will take a lot of my time. It's strictly for the year 2020 only and I won't be appearing or speaking in any of the videos, they'll be only gameplay of physical games released in 2020. I'll post more about it once I finalize and launch it. Three days ago I did purchase a Nintendo Switch so I could play the 2020 exclusives for the new channel though I have yet to actually open it. Why even start another channel? Well, primarily to leverage my access to most retail games in an attempt to generate ad revenue but I know the odds of that are not good. Also, I felt like the idea here wouldn't really fit with the Vault 1541 theme so I thought it best to make a separate channel. As I said, it's a one year project so it at least has an ending point.

I wouldn't have expected December to have too much game news but it actually did. The big story hit during The Game Awards when Microsoft showed the next Xbox console but the name is causing some confusion. It was shown as the Xbox Series X though whether the "Series X" part is just one model of the next Xbox or the official name isn't clear. A Microsoft representative has since indicated that it would be called Xbox which is obviously the same name as the original if that's the case. It's a big rectangular box that can be stood vertically or horizontally and is backwards compatible. Here's a semi-shocker: Sony will be releasing its baseball video game series MLB: The Show on other platforms as early as 2021. This is more Major League Baseball's (MLB) doing than Sony's but I do think Sony was in the driver's seat on this. MLB wants a great baseball game to exist and its own RBI Baseball series has not been good. Therefore, it wasn't going to keep the license from Sony if it didn't agree to release the game on Xbox or Switch but it likely offered a great deal that will benefit both parties financially. It's not easy to start developing a realistic, in-depth baseball game from scratch; there aren't too many publishers with the resources and maybe none with the desire to attempt it. I'd say it is also very possible Sony won't actually be the publisher for the other consoles. Instead there will probably be a distribution or publishing agreement like Microsoft has for Minecraft.

Intellivision turned 40 this month and I didn't do anything for it since I already have done coverage on the console though I did post a video of Astrosmash. I also didn't do anything for the PlayStation which turned 25 based on the original release in Japan. North America was the following year so maybe I'll do something next year if I have the time. Makers of TheC64 Mini, Retro Ltd., unveiled a new version called TheC64. While it is another plug 'n' play device with built-in games, this is a full size Commodore 64 functioning keyboard so you can use the keys for gaming this time and even writing programs. Although it was intended to release this month, I'm not sure if it actually has and it will probably take a bit longer to reach North America.

A couple weeks ago I posted an early video of Shenmue III and today I finished the game. While making the video it was tough to cover a lot as I didn't want to show any story and I was still early on and thus learning everything myself. The game begins in the village of Bailu which isn't too big but you'll still spend a fair amount of time there before heading to the city of Niaowu where there are a lot of vendors, mini-games, and capsule toys to collect. If you're a fan of the series then you should play it, however, I don't think it is worth paying full price. Although I was aware that the game would not conclude the story, it really doesn't move the story forward much at all. Most of the game is spent looking for thugs and Shenhua's father, and for all the time I spent improving Ryo's kung fu, there aren't enough story battles. I also don't like the stamina/food system and the quick-timer events that are far too fast for me. It was rare that I actually completed a quick-timer event on the first try. Also, I should point out that the mini-games do not include any classic arcade cabinets, likely due to Sega not being involved. 

December also marks the release of another Star Wars movie. I've not seen it yet but reviews from critics seem to indicate fans should have fun with the spectacle despite an unsatisfying story. I'm not sure when I'll see it as I don't go to the movies too often and don't mind waiting to avoid the initial crowds. Christmas is in a few days for many people so if you celebrate: Merry Christmas! If not, hopefully you'll at least enjoy a few days off from work or school. That's kind of where I'm at since I'm not traveling and don't live close to family so I'll be working three days out of the week. Then the following week will be a couple more days off for New Year's Day. Take care and enjoy the holidays!

-Jonathan

E3 2019 Predictions

As I mentioned in the May update, this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) will likely be Xbox-centric since Sony is skipping the show. With the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 generation winding down, Sony skipping the show, and more and more games being announced or leaked ahead of time, this could be a very quiet show for new games, especially exclusives. The last couple from Sony were primarily trailers and Nintendo does the prerecorded video with some folks showing a few games afterwards (not on stage).

Last year I didn't spend too much time on third-party publisher predictions after going all out in 2017. I've spent a few hours writing this and now I'm basically rewriting it because my first draft was too much rambling and news is hitting earlier than I was ready for so I'm posting early this year too. It's not unusual for news to start weeks before the show but one of my predictions already came true! I said Nintendo would reveal a sequel to Detective Pikachu and while it did not provide many details, it did say yesterday that a new one is in development for the Switch that would conclude the story to the 3DS game. I know, that was an easy one to guess.

While Sony won't be on the show floor, E3 is still a convention for retailers to see what's upcoming and help steer their orders so Sony could be there behind closed doors and there could be some news, like the release date for Dreams (Game Informer reviewed it already based on the early access version). Sure, PlayStation 4 has sold extremely well but it still has to keep the sales going by convincing retailers to order more, more, more. In my first draft I also mentioned trailers could be shown for Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima, and nearly two weeks before E3 we now have both a new trailer and release date for Death Stranding (November 8, 2019).

I'll break up the rest of this post as it will still be just a bit long though I'll skip mentioning most of the games already confirmed to be there.

Microsoft
This is Microsoft's time to shine with the only console maker to have a stage presentation so I have to believe the next Xbox will be the highlight. I'd say seeing the hardware or game demos is unlikely, instead it will be a name, specs, maybe a tech demo, and perhaps a release window (November 2020?). Last year it purchased a few development studios that may or may not be able to get games ready by then. I lean toward it being too soon especially with Obsidian being busy on a game for 2K and InXile currently working on Wasteland 3. Microsoft isn't quite done with the Xbox One but I doubt there will be any exclusives we don't already know about as it looks to the future.

If, and it's a very big if, Microsoft lists a bunch of games with working titles for the next Xbox here are my guesses: Forza Motorsport 8, Halo Infinite (in addition to Xbox One), Gears of War 5 (in addition to Xbox One), Minecraft 2, Fable 4, Crimson Skies (that was my prediction for Xbox One last year), and a third-person action game from Ninja Theory (too generic? how about a third-person Age of Empires action game...but with Ninja Theory it is more likely something original).

Bill Gates and an original Xbox prototype at the
Game Developers Conference - March 10, 2000.

Nintendo
Earlier this year Nintendo stated Metroid Prime 4 development had been restarted so don't expect anything from Metroid. Maybe it's time for a new Donkey Kong Country or with Sonic and Crash returning to kart racing, it could be time for Diddy Kong Racing 2. Unlike the other consoles, the Switch is hitting its stride so Nintendo should have some new announcements, however, it could also hold back for the Tokyo Game Show. There were some rumors of a redesign for the Switch and it's probably time for new bundles and colors. I didn't think Arms was huge though it sold well enough to get a comic book so I'll predict we see Arms 2.

Random thoughts & predictions for the rest...

-Ubisoft recently delayed Skull & Bones to 2020 and it might be too soon for another Assassin's Creed. Who am I kidding, it's never too soon for another Assassin's Creed game. We all know Just Dance 2020 is coming and it must be time to leave the Wii behind (Just Dance 2019 is available for Wii and Wii U) and probably the Xbox 360 too. Following the success of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle another team up with Nintendo could be in order. Many keep expecting a new Splinter Cell and one employee mentioned it before Ubisoft said it was a joke. It's possible it unveiled the next Ghost Recon already to put the spotlight on Splinter Cell at E3.

-Sega will finally be bringing the Yakuza samurai spin-offs to North America. Skies of Arcadia 2 will be announced for release in October 2020 on the first game's 20th anniversary. Hey, it's possible!

-XCOM 3 will be unveiled, it has to be! It's been more than three years since XCOM 2 released which was my favorite game of 2016. For myself, being able to create a team that resembles G.I. Joe characters is one of the highlights when playing XCOM.

-There have already been LEGO Star Wars rumors and although Warner Bros. skipped The Last Jedi, we could be hearing about a trilogy with a complete edition of The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. With Telltale gone and Warner owning Batman, it just might find a way to continue the Batman adventure game Telltale started or we'll hear about a brand new Batman game. Last year I thought Rocksteady would show its new game that has been in development a while but it didn't so why not this year. The money is on a Superman game though maybe it's Wonder Woman or Justice League or something else completely.

-Square Enix did confirm a big presentation for Crystal Dynamics' Marvel's Avengers game. I'm thinking Tomb Raider takes a break and I'm hoping Deus Ex returns from a break.

-What happened to Activision? Not including Blizzard, it just doesn't make many games any longer having recently let go of Destiny. Last E3 it did have Sekiro and it published that game outside of Japan for FromSoftware earlier this year. Call of Duty is the one and only big franchise it goes back to time and time again, and lately it's been leveraging older properties, such as Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. Maybe it doesn't need much more beyond Call of Duty but for a publisher of its size it must have something else in development. In 2017 I thought Pitfall could make a return and I'll just keep guessing a new Pitfall until it happens. Other than that, perhaps it will get a big license to focus on. Folks from The Simpsons television show are going to be at E3 so a game must be in the works; maybe Activision is involved?

-If Activision isn't backing The Simpsons the next best guess for publisher would be Electronic Arts which has published a variety of Simpsons games over the years. I think we know most of what EA is currently working on but I'll throw out a guess for a new SSX; not like the last one, instead something more like the first few. A remaster of the first three would work though it would probably not be able to get all of the same music.

-Bethesda is another publisher we've probably already got covered after last year's E3 where the announced games are still a ways off. It's likely going to try and redeem Fallout 76 so expect some changes for that game to be shown.

-THQ Nordic has bought up many properties and other companies the past few years and now has more than 80 (!) games in development across all of its subsidiaries. I'll say it will show a new Saints Row game and since it owns Deep Silver I'll put my dreaded Shenmue III prediction here. I'm thinking Shenmue will be delayed until at least Q1 2020. It's currently three months away which feels too soon.

The presentation schedule:

June 9th: Microsoft (1 PM PT/4 PM ET), Bethesda (5:30 PM PT/8:30 PM ET)
June 10th: PC Gaming Show (10 AM PT/1 PM ET), Ubisoft (1 PM PT/4 PM ET), Square Enix (6 PM PT/9 PM ET)
June 11th: Nintendo (9 AM PT/12 PM ET)

6/7/19 UPDATE: This past week has been full of announcements, leaks, and rumors so I'm doing a quick recap before the press conferences begin on Sunday. Only a few tie into my predictions above.

-Shenmue III has indeed been delayed though not for as long as I expected. It's currently targeting November 19, 2019.
-The next Watch Dogs game called Legion was leaked and Ubisoft confirmed it. I'd actually forgotten about this series when writing my predictions even though I did complete the first two.
-THQ Nordic unveiled Darksiders Genesis which differs quite a bit from the other Darksiders as it is an isometric RPG. Also, the publisher and Black Forest Games are remaking the 2005 title Destroy All Humans, and THQ Nordic is partnering with Purple Lamp Studios to remake the 2003 game SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom.
-Ninja Theory's next game leaked today and it appears to be an original third-person action game. However, it also looks to be multiplayer focused which is very disappointing to myself. I very much enjoyed the stories in Heavenly Sword, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice but this game might not have much of a plot.
-Rocksteady says that it will not be showing anything at E3. That's unfortunate.
-Larian Studios announced Baldur's Gate III during Google's Stadia conference (I did not realize Google was holding that this week). I've played very little of Larian's games but its Divinity RPGs have been well received so hopefully it can do Baldur's Gate justice. The first two were developed by BioWare way back in 1998 and 2000. In somewhat related news, on June 3rd Beamdog and Skybound announced the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Editions (as well as Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Neverwinter Nights) will be coming to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Switch this fall (at retail too).
-Bandai Namco had a big leak on Friday as well. The first Ni No Kuni is getting a remaster already. Eldin Ring is the game collaboration between FromSoftware and George R.R. Martin. A new Tales game called Tales of Arise is in development.
-Not every game announced in the past week is timed for E3 but here are a couple others: there is a sequel in the works for Yooka-Laylee and Outright Games (focuses on licensed kid games) will be publishing a game based on the most recent (2017) Jumanji movie.

6/10/19 UPDATE: Not sure if I should keep doing updates as I might make this post super long and I doubt many if any at all will come back to read the updates. In any case, I messed up and said EA wasn't having a conference; while that is partially true as it hasn't had an actual press conference in years, it did do an EA Play briefing which was held outdoors. That was primarily about FIFA, Madden, Apex Legends, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and a new expansion for The Sims 4.

The Microsoft presentation was very close to what I expected, though it did not spend too much time on the next Xbox other than to say it's powerful, it's coming holiday 2020, and Halo Infinite will launch with it. As mentioned in the previous update, Ninja Theory does have a third-person action game coming soon for Xbox One. Also, a new Minecraft game was announced but not a sequel, instead it is a dungeon crawler and I'm not too sure you can even build in it. Many of the games shown were from third-parties that are not holding conferences; with Sony not appearing Microsoft was the place for those games to get some time in the spotlight (CD Projekt Red even had Keanu Reeves representing Cyberpunk 2077). New content for State of Decay 2 and Forza Horizon 4 were shown as well but no major titles which doesn't surprise me as I expected any AAA games in development to be for the next console.

There should be more from third-parties in the next day or two so I don't know how wrong I was on all my predictions but we did see a new LEGO Star Wars title from Warner Bros. It does not appear to be a compilation of past LEGO games even though it covers all three trilogies. Sega is indeed bringing a game over to North America that has been in Japan for a while, just not the game I guessed. Phantasy Star Online 2 will be free to play on Xbox One. No other consoles were mentioned, however, that doesn't mean they aren't included. Onto Bethesda which, of course, is trying to redeem Fallout 76 and to do that it is adding human NPCs that players can converse with and a battle royale mode. New announcements included The Elder Scrolls: Blades for Switch, Commander Keen for mobile, Deathloop from Arkane, and Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire Tokyo.

6/13/19 UPDATE: This should be my final update as the show is just about over. My predictions didn't work out too well. Nintendo mostly had expected updates and third-party announcements aside from a Breath of the Wild sequel teaser. It is possible I missed some news but I didn't see anything new from Activision. I think EA might have The Simpsons license as the Tapped Out game is still active which was talked about at that Simpsons panel. However, there was no mention of a new Simpsons game which made the whole thing seem odd. 2K didn't announce anything new so no XCOM 3, unfortunately.

Square Enix's press conference had a lot of Final Fantasy and other classic JRPG stuff. It showed off Marvel's Avengers but that did not grab me at all. Ubisoft's conference wasn't as good as the last couple of years. No Splinter Cell though you can be Sam Fisher in a mobile game with other Tom Clancy characters. There is a new Rainbow Six that involves alien parasites which is not the Rainbow Six I know, and really, why even call it that (yeah, I know, brand recognition). Watch Dogs: Legion does have a cool feature where you can recruit any NPC, though the setting doesn't interest me much (dystopian London). Just Dance 2020 is actually going to be released on the Wii! The Wii U and Xbox 360 platforms have been dropped but not the Wii, amazing.

If you want to see Shenmue III footage it was shown during the PC Gaming Show. Yu Suzuki was there too though he didn't say very much. While he primarily speaks through a translator, they really should have spent more time interviewing him. I suppose PC players might not be too interested in the series, however, with Sony not there and the game not on Xbox One there wasn't anywhere else for him to be. There were plenty of other games announced from smaller publishers this week but that's about it in regards to the games/companies I was making predictions around. As I said at the start of this post, I expected a quiet E3 for new AAA game announcements and sure enough it was. Regardless, I still enjoy taking it all in and watching all the conferences, and expect next year to be a huge show.

Year 3: February Update

February has had some big news for both video games and toys. All of the toy news came out of Toy Fair last weekend; I tried to put together an overview but had a hard time with that and my post didn't turn out too great -- and I'm sure I missed a lot. As I said in that post, the Transformers crossover with the Ghostbusters is likely the coolest unveiling at the show for kids of the '80s like myself. This past week also saw Nintendo of America president and COO Reggie Fils-Aime announce his retirement. He started at Nintendo in 2003 as the executive vice president of sales and marketing and became president of the company in 2006. Many video game fans know him best from his E3 presentations back when Nintendo was still doing on-stage press conferences.

Reggie unveiling the Nintendo DS at E3 2004.

In other game news, on February 4th Respawn and Electronic Arts made a surprise release of Apex Legends, a battle royale game that is already challenging Fortnite. Speaking of battle royale, there is now a battle royale Tetris game called Tetris 99 for the Nintendo Switch. Yesterday BioWare released Anthem though the reviews haven't been great. I'm a big fan of Mass Effect and many other BioWare role-playing games but I don't have much interest in Anthem. I'll probably try it anyway since I need to get some better screenshots for work than what is being offered to the press when I have the time. I'm currently busy with Metro Exodus after completing the Persona 3 and 5 dancing games last weekend.

Tetris 99

There have been a lot of rumors surrounding Microsoft's future plans for Xbox Game Pass and what it might unveil at E3. The rumors have Microsoft making its Game Pass accessible on the Nintendo Switch which would allow Switch owners to play Xbox One games via streaming. Sony is sitting out this year's E3 and the expectation is that the future Microsoft console will be announced. As far as the blog, Facebook continues to give me fits. The gaming ad albums will not remain in alphabetical order! I apologize for that as this transition from Flickr hasn't gone as well as I initially thought it did. I'm sure I've repeated myself a few times because it bothers me quite a bit. In April I should be posting Sega ads and hope to have a week of Sega content at that time. Most likely I'll divide up the Sega ads into two or three separate posts; I've got over 160 ads which will take some time to upload and label.

Thanks again for visiting!

-Jonathan

Gaming Ads: Microsoft and MidNite Entertainment Group

Microsoft was founded in 1975 (as Micro-Soft) by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The company moved from New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington in 1979 and was incorporated in 1981. It was also in 1981 that IBM released the first personal computer that used PC DOS as the operating system. PC DOS was IBM's name for MS-DOS, which was the operating system (OS) Microsoft purchased from Seattle Computer Products. Of course, today everyone knows Microsoft for its Windows operating system which was first introduced in 1985, though it wasn't really until Windows 3.0 released in 1990 that the OS started to become a household name.

As far as gaming, Microsoft released a text-based adventure in 1979 aptly titled Microsoft Adventure. Its second game was Microsoft Decathlon, 1981's release of PC DOS included a racing title, and 1982 saw the first release in the long running Microsoft Flight Simulator series that was developed by subLogic. Microsoft released a variety of software products over the years with its most popular products arguably being Microsoft Solitaire and Minesweeper which were often installed on computers with the Windows OS. Some its flagship releases of the '90s include Microsoft Golf (1992) from Access Software (Links), Terminal Reality's Monster Truck Madness (1996), Ensemble Studios' Age of Empires (1997), Rainbow Studios' Motocross Madness (1998), Angel Studios' Midtown Madness (1999), and the MMO Asheron's Call (1999) from Turbine Entertainment.

Along with games, Microsoft also released numerous PC gaming controllers with its line of SideWinder products that ran from 1995 to 2003. Aside from having its OS Windows CE inside the Sega Dreamcast, Microsoft wasn't too involved with console gaming until November 15, 2001 when its own game console Xbox hit store shelves. The Xbox was the first console with a built-in hard drive and an Ethernet port. Some of the console exclusive games for the Xbox include Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Crimson Skies, Fable, Forza Motorsport, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Shenmue II, Panzer Dragoon Orta, and Jet Set Radio Future. Perhaps the most significant contribution the original Xbox made to games was its online service Xbox Live that began in 2002 and was the prime example for competitors to mimic in future generations.

As Microsoft's first console and the only one on the market made by an American company, the Xbox faced tough competition from Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's GameCube but it got an early jump in the next console generation by being first to the market with the Xbox 360 in 2005. The success of the 360 solidified Microsoft as a major player in console gaming, though it did stumble in launching its third system the Xbox One. Although much more can be said about Microsoft, I think this is a good overview and I'm going to wrap it up here. I don't have too many Microsoft ads since I focus on pre-2000 which obviously pre-dates the Xbox. That's why I've added a second company to this post, though for that one I only have two similar ads for the same game.

There is not much information available for MidNite Entertainment Group, a Chicago-based developer responsible for the Atari Jaguar game AirCars, a vehicle shooter with multiplayer support for up to eight players. Originally known as Car Wars, AirCars was planned for a 1994 release but it didn't actually became available until 1997, the year after the Jaguar was discontinued. Publisher ICD made only 300 copies available making it a rather rare video game. A 1995 version of the game titled KA AirCars was also released in limited numbers from Beta Phase Games in 2015 and 2016. Although the game was published by two other companies, I'm placing the ads with MidNite since it's responsible for the ads as it was intending to publish the game itself.

Microsoft albums: Facebook - Google Photos

MidNite Entertainment Group albums: Facebook - Google Photos

E3 2018 Predictions

The 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is next week and I thought it might be fun to attempt some predictions again (last year's predictions). I feel like there have been more significant leaks ahead of E3 this year though there are a lot every year so it's hard to say. Hopefully surprises still await as that is the best part of the E3 press conferences. I'll see if I can keep this a bit more brief than last time as I'll just cover the console makers and then some random stuff.


Microsoft continues to drag its feet on Xbox One exclusives and new properties so it seems unlikely it would unveil any original games but it really needs to. It's a good bet we'll get announcements for another Forza Horizon and Gears of War, possibly something Halo related, and a better look at Crackdown 3. Last year my long shot pick was a new Age of Empires which is actually in development now so we could see some footage of that too. With Xbox One's backwards compatibility putting original Xbox games back in the spotlight there could be renewed interest in a sequel or two for some of those games. How about Sneakers 2? Just kidding. Perhaps Microsoft can publish a timed third-party exclusive, like Jade Empire 2, even though there is less than a 1% chance BioWare is working on that.

New Game Prediction: Crimson Skies
Long Shot: Battletoads


Last week Nintendo announced a few new Pokémon games coming out soon, and we already knew about Pokémon, Smash Bros., Metroid Prime 4, and Yoshi games in development for Switch. Nintendo is also publishing Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Wolfenstein II for Switch soon. A rumor hit earlier in the year about a Diddy Kong Racing game which could be legitimate. Aside from possible ports or remakes, I'm not sure how many more new games Nintendo itself could have in development. The safest best would be an Animal Crossing game for Switch and maybe another Labo kit. Switch is a much bigger focus than the 2DS/3DS these days since Switch is a portable console so I'm going to skip predicting any handheld games.

New Game Prediction: Animal Crossing
Long Shot: F-Zero


Sony will more than likely be showing more of the games that were announced two or more years ago that still aren't out: Spider-Man, Days Gone, The Last of Us: Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, and Dreams. Wild is another that could make an appearance though I wouldn't count on it. That's already quite a few games so how many other new games could be in development? Probably not too many and while I love new announcements, Sony might be better off waiting until some of the aforementioned games have been released before revealing even more big budget exclusives.

Outside of games, I do expect Sony to unveil something I learned about a month ago that I do not believe is widely known yet. It's not a big deal but there was an embargo on it from the third-party publisher I first heard about it from. However, a week later I got similar information from a retail distributor with no mention of an embargo and one game listing related to it can be found on some retail websites so I believe it is safe to discuss. Now that the PlayStation 4 is close to five years old, Sony will be starting up a Greatest Hits line again, this time simply called PlayStation Hits. The games will cost $19.99 when the program goes into effect on June 28th. Thus far I know of 11 games that will be in the first wave of PlayStation Hits but I will hold off mentioning those just in case it would upset a publisher.   

New Game Prediction: Horizon 2
Long Shot: Uncharted spin-off


The third-party publishers have been experiencing leaks and making quite a few announcements the past few weeks. Some of those games include Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Fallout 76, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Battlefield V, Rage 2, LEGO DC Super-Villains, and Team Sonic Racing. Last year some of my predictions that didn't happen were The Elder Scrolls VI, Dragon Age 4, Borderlands 3, more LEGO Star Wars, a second season of Telltale's Game of Thrones, a new Splinter Cell, and another Prince of Persia. I'd guess Elder Scrolls and Borderlands could be good guesses for this year, and I'm still surprised there hasn't been another LEGO Star Wars as there have now been three more movies since The Force Awakens.

There is a very good chance that Warner Bros. reveals what Rocksteady is working on, which is more than likely another game based on a DC comic book character (Superman?). Two of my favorite developers are Firaxis and Remedy; Firaxis could be readying XCOM 3 and Remedy is expected to show something new at E3. I'm also still waiting for a great G.I. Joe video game which was one of the things I wrote about early in the blog's life. Unfortunately, I know that's probably not happening any time soon but I have to always bring it up to keep the hope alive! Perhaps the property will gain some traction when another movie hits, though I want a game based on the cartoon and toys from the '80s rather than a movie.

6/6/18 UPDATE: I made a couple changes as Sony has stated Death Stranding will make an appearance at E3 and today I received more information on the PlayStation Hits from a second distributor which listed eight Sony-published games that would be joining the label/price cuts on June 28th.

6/13/18 UPDATE: Last year I added my thoughts to the comments but I'm going to toss a few here as an update now that all of the conferences ended. The show is about half over as well so I don't expect any major announcements at this point. As far as the non-expected announcements, my predictions were 1 out of 6 as Microsoft is indeed working on a new Battletoads game. Sony primarily stuck to showing the games we already knew of which is what I thought might be best course of action though I did expect it to at least have some people on stage and reveal the PlayStation Hits line. Unfortunately, it was just a lot of trailers like last year which I find odd because this is E3, the world is watching so why not speak to the people and engage them. Nintendo had the usual pre-recording and about 90% of that was Super Smash Bros. As far as other companies I was hoping to hear from: Remedy's new game is Control; Firaxis was quiet (all of 2K has been quiet after announcing the next NBA 2K last week); nothing from Rocksteady; Ubisoft's conference was entertaining but no Splinter Cell; Sega is finally bringing Yakuza to PC; Bethesda is working on a new property called Starfield and the next Elder Scrolls is in development though it's a long ways off; and there was a mention of a new Star Wars game from EA and Respawn titled Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order with a release window of holiday 2019.

I'm not sure it's worth ranking the conferences but I can easily say, regardless of quality or quantity of games, Microsoft and Ubisoft were the most enjoyable to watch. EA is really only good for those that like to compete in sports games, Square Enix was short and similar to Sony's trailer fest, and I'd put Bethesda in the middle. Seeing as how I'm not interested in Smash Bros. there wasn't much to see from Nintendo and I don't care for Sony's presentation, even if it does have one of the games I'm most looking forward to (Ghost of Tsushima).