Year 3: August Update

Has it been a month already? Once again I didn't get a whole lot done but I have been working on those Dreamcast ads! Maybe I'll get a "Let's Play" video up tomorrow if I have time; I did try to record one last week but didn't like it so I need to try again. Last week I used a He-Man image on my update and this month there was some good Masters of the Universe news so here is another to the right. Kevin Smith is bringing a new version of the cartoon to Netflix that will pick up where the show from the '80s left off. Netflix also has a She-Ra cartoon though I don't expect this one to be in the same animation style as that which doesn't look anything like the original She-Ra.

Since I've been putting 2-6 hours/day into editing the Dreamcast ads I've not been gaming much at all. After a three week break of almost nothing beyond some quick looks at five games to get screenshots for work, I put Wolfenstein: Youngblood back in, lowered the difficulty, and beat it. I was stuck on the last battle which is probably easy with a co-op partner but with the AI character it can be frustrating. The European game show known as Gamescom was this past week so there was a variety of news though much of it was new trailers, screenshots, release dates, etc. Sega did announce a Yakuza remaster collection for parts 3, 4, and 5, and showed a new strategy game called Humankind from Amplitude Studios that gives off some Civilization vibes. Electronic Arts finally unveiled the next Need for Speed game that releases in November. Google showed a bunch more games coming to Stadia, something that is also not far off at all as it is expected this November too. Intellivision Entertainment released a new trailer for the Amico console that is coming October 10, 2020.

I was reading comments at Game Informer (GI) and, well, reading comments on Internet articles is never a great idea (and responding to a dumb comment is probably a worse idea) but I do it anyway. People tend to say stupid things and like to believe they're being funny by being negative. While the Amico may very well be unsuccessful, there really is no reason to hate on it. It's self-funded and Tommy is clearly excited about it which I think is great. However, despite my love of the original Intellivision, I'm not exactly the target audience. It aims to appeal to families with a strong focus on local co-op and simple gameplay. The controllers have screens similar to a smartphone which makes sense as that would not intimidate those that don't normally play games. Parents will certainly have an easier time picking up on Amico games than something on PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch. Another appealing factor to parents is that games will be inexpensive too ($2.99-7.99). I'd guess the biggest hurdle will be the price of the Amico itself which is expected to be $149-179. Atari is actually releasing something similar this year, yet it's the Amico I'm always hearing about.

Speaking of Game Informer, its owner GameStop laid off a bunch of staff including 7 of the 38 people at GI. I don't have a subscription to GI but I do regularly visit its website and was surprised by some of the folks that were let go. They're definitely skilled writers and possibly half (or at least a third) of the reviews/features writers GI had. The editor-in-chief said the print magazine will continue though I can't help but wonder if it will shrink dramatically. It's too bad as most video game magazines are long gone and I don't know that there are any others still around in the U.S. aside from maybe a couple fan-made retro gaming mags. Hopefully everyone that lost their jobs can find work quickly, and a job that's just as fun as I assume working at GI was, though I expect it's difficult to get good paying jobs when it comes to writing about games these days.

Look for that Dreamcast coverage on 9/9/19! (...or maybe the day before which is a Sunday!)

-Jonathan

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

Year 2: May Update

May is more than halfway over and like last month I still feel as if I'm not posting enough, plus I missed my first ads post since I began the blog. If you saw the Funspot post you'll know I had to go out of town and Funspot was a day I took for myself. I was in the car for 30 hours during those four days as I went from Michigan to Connecticut to New Hampshire and then back to Michigan. Here are some bonus photos from Funspot that are close-ups of arcade cabinet parts which I wish I had taken more of. I went with the grayscale on Rolling Thunder since it looked very orange from the lighting.

Atari's Star Wars controller.

Panel art from Namco's Rolling Thunder.

Last week I activated a free month of Netflix so I've been spending too much time watching a lot shows lately. One show I watched this week was The Toys That Made Us. The show covers toys that were hugely popular in the '80s; season one's four episodes consist of Star Wars, Barbie, He-Man, and G.I. Joe. On May 25th the second season debuts with four more episodes, this time covering Star Trek, Hello Kitty, LEGO, and Transformers. While this may sound like a great show to watch with kids, it actually isn't always. I think the Star Wars and G.I. Joe episodes are safe but the Barbie episode has adult content and there is a fair amount of swearing in the He-Man episode. Therefore, I'd recommend you view them first before deciding if you want to watch them with your kids. The show is definitely worth watching, especially if you love toys.

I've not played too many games since my last post though I did complete Yakuza 6. Recently Shenmue III was delayed but I never expected that one earlier than 2019 and it allows for more time to replay the first two Shenmue games when Sega releases the updated versions later this year. There have been quite a few game delays popping up this month with E3 fast approaching. Last year I had three days of pre-E3 coverage where I made predictions, posted Next Generation magazine's coverage of 1998's E3, and wrote about my time at E3 in 2003. The predictions were a mix of what I expected and what I thought would be fun surprises. I did get some easy ones correct and a bunch I predicted just a bit too early, like Shenmue I & II, the Spyro trilogy remaster, and a new Age of Empires. I think those posts were some fun reads and I'll try to put something together for this year's E3 as well.

The next Star Wars movie, Solo, releases this week too and I wanted to make a quick video of the Millennium Falcon toy. However, my toy has what appears to be permanent discoloration/stains, the sound effect doesn't work (as is very common with all of my old toys), and it is missing two pieces, the cockpit windshield and the removable floor panel. Quite a few stickers dried up and fell off as well though I found all but one and reapplied those yesterday. At the end of the month I hope to be able to complete the non-toy G.I. Joe video that I hinted at a couple months ago in the March update.

One thing I'm a little concerned about is that SmugMug is taking over Flickr. It's possible changes will be made that affect how the video game ads display but the frequently asked questions indicate nothing will change any time soon.

Once again, thanks for reading!

-Jonathan