Lover of Men is an upcoming documentary film directed by Shaun Peterson and written by Grace Leeson which explores the age-old question: was Abe Lincoln gay? Specifically, the movie examines Lincoln's relationship with four different men, with whom Lincoln shared clothes, sleeping arrangements, and deep emotional connections:
David Derickson, Lincoln's Civil War-era bodyguard often stayed in his tent and wore his clothes
Joshua Speed, Lincoln's former roommate and close friend, whose many corre
Lover of Men is an upcoming documentary film directed by Shaun Peterson and written by Grace Leeson which explores the age-old question: was Abe Lincoln gay? Specifically, the movie examines Lincoln's relationship with four different men, with whom Lincoln shared clothes, sleeping arrangements, and deep emotional connections:
David Derickson, Lincoln's Civil War-era bodyguard often stayed in his tent and wore his clothes
Joshua Speed, Lincoln's former roommate and close friend, whose many correspondences were described by one historian as having a "streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets";
Billy Greene, another roommate from Lincoln's 20s who factually slept in the same bed with him and whose thighs Lincoln once described in writing as "as perfect as a human being could be";
and Elmer Ellsworth, an army officer and close friend of Lincoln.
This 1953 U.S. Navy training film discusses the mechanisms used by the fire control computers. Yes, mechanical computers calculating fire control for big-ass guns—though 70 years ago, men were still needed to move the dials. [via Hacker News]
The ship's location, direction, speed, and the enemy ship's location, direction, and speed—in a matter of seconds so that the ship's guns may fire accurately and effectively.
— Read the rest
The post 1953 U.S. Navy training film about fire control compu
The ship's location, direction, speed, and the enemy ship's location, direction, and speed—in a matter of seconds so that the ship's guns may fire accurately and effectively.
Calculating Empires is a "a genealogy of technology and power since 1500" — a beautiful and interactive monochrome chart you can zoom in and out of to trace the connections between all such things in the modern age. I immediately crash zoomed in and found myself face-to-face with a Debord quote: "In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. — Read the rest
The post Calculating Empires: an huge online chart of t
Calculating Empires is a "a genealogy of technology and power since 1500" — a beautiful and interactive monochrome chart you can zoom in and out of to trace the connections between all such things in the modern age. I immediately crash zoomed in and found myself face-to-face with a Debord quote: "In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. — Read the rest
The UMPC is making a comeback, and it’s mostly thanks to the GPD Win. UMPCPortal is making a comeback too. Over the last year I’ve been working hard to salvage the site and bring it back to the standards that you expect. More on that, the problems this site had, and the outlook for UMPCs in 2019, follows. In the last year on UMPCPortal there were just three posts. In the last 2 years, just 7 posts. UMPCPortal wasn’t just on ice, it was getting a bad reputation for being […]
The UMPC is making a comeback, and it’s mostly thanks to the GPD Win. UMPCPortal is making a comeback too. Over the last year I’ve been working hard to salvage the site and bring it back to the standards that you expect. More on that, the problems this site had, and the outlook for UMPCs in 2019, follows. In the last year on UMPCPortal there were just three posts. In the last 2 years, just 7 posts. UMPCPortal wasn’t just on ice, it was getting a bad reputation for being […]
UMPCPortal, the site that I started as Carrypad.com in Feb 2006, survives! It’s full of mobile computing history that needs to be preserved. Maybe in another 10 years we’ll be able to look back at the equipment and wonder how we ever survived. Here’s 2007, for example. Crazy! You’ll notice that most ads and plugins and bells and whistles are now gone so the site is faster and hopefully more stable. You might also notice that the sites Ultrabooknews and Chromebookworld are gone. They were out of
UMPCPortal, the site that I started as Carrypad.com in Feb 2006, survives! It’s full of mobile computing history that needs to be preserved. Maybe in another 10 years we’ll be able to look back at the equipment and wonder how we ever survived. Here’s 2007, for example. Crazy! You’ll notice that most ads and plugins and bells and whistles are now gone so the site is faster and hopefully more stable. You might also notice that the sites Ultrabooknews and Chromebookworld are gone. They were out of date and needed […]
From the beginning of the hobby, there have always been many different methods to randomize how an uncertain event transpires in TTRPG. Because it is uncertain, there is a chance of failure. Because we have been trained from our very beginnings in life to seek success, many of us fear failure. What if I told you failure is a much more interesting outcome? (at least in TTRPGs)
For some, it might be a bit controversial. Getting to land that crit in the final boss to send them to their final slumb
From the beginning of the hobby, there have always been many different methods to randomize how an uncertain event transpires in TTRPG. Because it is uncertain, there is a chance of failure. Because we have been trained from our very beginnings in life to seek success, many of us fear failure. What if I told you failure is a much more interesting outcome? (at least in TTRPGs)
For some, it might be a bit controversial. Getting to land that crit in the final boss to send them to their final slumber might be epic and rad af, but there are amazing stories to be told as well through failure. In fact, in many cases I would argue these stories are even MORE interesting than those that come out from successes.
Some time ago, I encountered this video from Dropout and Dimension 20’s Sam Reich, talking about why he prefers failure over success in TTRPGs. And you know what? I agree with him. So for that, I piled up all my reasons why and put them into this article. Feel free to debate with me in the comments if you believe I am right or not. How do stories begin in media? They start with a problem. How does the problem occur? That is because there was a failure either from one of the protagonists or the world itself. That is what creates a story interesting enough to deserve to be told. A story of a protagonist overcoming the odds after a failure, getting to learn from it, or maybe the other way around, succumbing to a path of corruption coming from that first domino piece. All in all, what is it that kickstarted it all? You know it – the failure!
Failure in life
There’s no better starting point than one’s own experience to begin my argument. We all experienced failure in our lives, in a bigger or lower scale. I am no different. In fact, you can search for some of the interviews I was done in the space, and you will find me talking about many of my failures. But I grew stronger from them all. I learned. I like to think I am a better person because of it, and will not trip with the same stone again. We all love the underdog story for a reason. We can see ourselves represented in it because (except for some crappy people) we have all been there. That is what makes our story interesting to tell. We better discover ourselves and get a good story from it through our failures.
Botching your check
A Natural 1, botching your roll, dropping the Jenga tower… however it is in the game you are playing that you get the worst possible result. Our character is going to have a terrible time. Look back in your memory lane to your most memorable moments in TTRPG. I am CERTAIN that at least one of those involves botching a roll. It may have derailed your whole campaign possibly. It has THAT level of impact at times. Not that a success may not have it, but failures are even more unexpected than successes, and that tells brilliant tales in my opinion.
Picture a normal battle against some bandits occurring. Basic, simple. Now, they place them in the middle of a gala, and have a ranger’s fire arrow start a fire due to a botched roll. By the next round, you are fighting bandits while rescuing people in a raging inferno of a mansion. That encounter went from boring to incredibly exciting only from the result of a roll. I am sure that will leave some consequences that will turn into an unexpected and incredible story going forward. As a simple example, the player characters may now be sought by the law for the disaster they caused, forcing them to become criminals from a mafia organization.
Learning and Character development
Without failure, we decrease the stakes, consequences, and slow the pace. And, most importantly, without failure there is no character arc.
– Sue Coletta, Resident Writing Coach for Writers Helping Writers
As stated before, I find nothing is better than failure as a learning experience. When you create your perfect cyborg in your futuristic game, it is when they get hacked due to a failure on their part and start to doubt their humanity that true character development starts for them. Overcoming a problem (success) may have plenty of impact in character progression, but where would that all be without a previous failure on the character’s part that put them there?
Degrees of success and failure
Part of these problems occur due to the binary types of results most of the popular TTRPG offer. You either succeed or fail. There is not much of an in-between point according to the rules. If the GM adds one, that’s more of a house rule or optional rule. However, nowadays we have plenty of narrative-first games like Powered by the Apocalypse games that bring with them the chance of more often than not moving the story forward, but with something else going wrong or happening. These degrees of success and failure are added into the games to solve this problem by adding more failure into the mix, instead of being mostly a 50/50 chance, or granting more success than failure.
Conclusion
As you see throughout the article, I have provided several reasons why I believe a botch is more interesting than a critical success. I tie it with how failure works in the narrative of a story, and indicate how a moment of utter failure helps in most cases characters and the setting around them grow in ways it wouldn’t normally. There are great things to come out of successes and critical successes, of course! I just want to open this debate and see what y’all have to say from your experience.
So… what’s your take? Do you believe I am a GM that likes seeing my players suffer? Do you agree with me wholeheartedly? What’s your position in this debate? Let me know in the comments below!
8/20/1866: President Andrew Johnson proclaims an "end to insurrection in the United States." President Andrew JohnsonThe post Today in Supreme Court History: August 20, 1866 appeared first on Reason.com.
8/19/1937: Justice Hugo Black takes the oath. Justice Hugo Black The post Today in Supreme Court History: August 19, 1937 appeared first on Reason.com.
American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century, by Michael Willrich, Basic Books, 480 pages, $35 The lawmaking and policing powers of late 19th and early 20th century America did not think anarchist agitators deserved the protective penumbra of our Constitution. After Emma Goldman immigrated to the United States in 1885 from czarist Russia, she became a dynamic and hugely
The lawmaking and policing powers of late 19th and early 20th century America did not think anarchist agitators deserved the protective penumbra of our Constitution. After Emma Goldman immigrated to the United States in 1885 from czarist Russia, she became a dynamic and hugely popular traveling lecturer on anarchism and other rebellious causes, such as draft resistance and contraception. Consequently, she was arrested a lot—and in 1919, along with hundreds of other accused anarchists, she was deported to what was now Bolshevik Russia. (Goldman's version of anarchism was not the free market kind; she wanted to eliminate private property as well as the state.)
Many anarchists saw a bright side to these legal fights: an opportunity to preach their beliefs in a courtroom setting, where the press often amplified their message. The anarchists sentenced to death in the notorious 1886 Chicago Haymarket bombing case spent three days in court laying out their beliefs; in one of their own trials, Goldman and her sometime consort and lifelong comrade, Alexander Berkman, settled for five hours of speaking their anarchist minds.
Berkman did more than lecture against the state and capitalism; in 1892 he decided to try to kill a murderously strikebreaking Carnegie Steel factory manager, Henry Frick. (While he shot and stabbed Frick, he failed to kill him.) This did not help public opinion of their cause. Neither did the fact that Leon Czolgosz, the 1901 assassin of President William McKinley, was a self-proclaimed anarchist who claimed that Goldman's rhetoric had "set me on fire."
In American Anarchy, the Brandeis historian Michael Willrich argues that those legal battles surrounding anarchism in America forged two distinct and opposing elements of modern American policing and law.
On one hand, the anarchists' enemies, from New York City cops to military intelligence to the departments of Labor and Justice, built a wider and more intrusive system of political surveillance and repression to quell and expel the anarchists. These systems' techniques—often relying on frequently unreliable, nativist, and paranoid citizen snoops and snitches—might seem quaint in the post–Edward Snowden age. They also seem especially brutal, given the cops of that era's habit of giving "the third degree" (that is, terrible beatings) to seditious radicals, and to people the officers merely assumed were seditious radicals. Many prosecutions hinged on the accuracy, or not, of some cop's written notes on what a suspect had allegedly said in public.
This repressive apparatus, Willrich writes, was "cobbled…together by putting public power in the hands of private civilian operatives, harnessing local police to national purposes, and drawing upon surveillance technologies developed both in the U.S.-ruled Philippines and in the internal immigrant 'colonies' of New York." The result was "an inefficient and stunningly violent operation that foiled few actual plots, put thousands of people on trial for speaking out against capitalism or the war….and showed an almost total disregard for…constitutional liberties."
And that planted the seeds of these battles' second great effect: Ironically, they ultimately made First Amendment doctrine more respectful of free expression. After the crackdown on the anarchists died down, and past the Cold War repressions under the Smith Act, it became more difficult to imagine anyone could go to jail in America solely for saying or writing a political heresy. Even when people are targeted for their speech, propriety requires that a more substantial charge be added. (The modern inheritor of the mantle of "enemy for whom constitutional protections can be ignored" is the drug seller and user, though different amendments are implicated.)
Three prosecutions during the World War I–era crackdown on political dissidents under the Espionage Act ended up before the Supreme Court. Free expression lost every time. But in Abrams v. United States, based on a 1918 expansion of the Espionage Act known as the Sedition Act, a dissent signed by two justices established an attitude toward the First Amendment's reach that became standard over the course of the 20th century.
In August 1918, the Army Corps of Intelligence Police had arrested a group of Russian immigrants in New York for distributing allegedly seditious pamphlets. The defendants insisted that the literature—many copies of which were tossed out windows for passersby on the street—was not meant to impede the ongoing U.S. war efforts against Germany, that being the basis for many of the charges. The literature was rather opposed to U.S. interference in revolutionary Russia, with whom we were not at constitutionally declared war.
The Abrams defendants were represented by Goldman's lawyer, Harry Weinberger. His role in Willrich's narrative is as central as hers and Berkman's. (Willrich argues that the war on anarchists essentially created the modern figure of the civil liberties lawyer.) The Supreme Court upheld the convictions, 7–2. But a dissent authored by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (who had written the earlier, bad decisions in the Espionage Act cases) laid out a First Amendment vision that more strictly limits when government could constitutionally punish expression: only if said expression represents a "present danger of immediate evil or an intent to bring it about."
After reading the dissent, a future founder of the American Civil Liberties Union wrote to Weinberger that "we are going to put it to some use all right." Civil libertarians in and out of the judiciary have been doing so ever since, in ways that have expanded Americans' expressive rights.
***
Things got predictably worse for civil liberties and for anarchists as the war went on. The 1918 Immigration Act, as Willrich sums it up, "authorized the secretary of labor to deport any person identified as a noncitizen and an anarchist." Even your individual beliefs could be elided, since "being a member of an organization that advocated 'anarchistic' ideas was now sufficient cause for deportation." Having built your life here productively for decades and having a family was not enough to save you from being grabbed and shipped out, if a government official thought you didn't believe the state should exist. (In 1903, during the post-Czolgosz wave of anti-anarchist action, Congress passed an immigration law that barred entry to anarchists, though it was difficult to enforce and in its first seven years caught a mere 10 anarchists among millions of immigrants entering.)
The story of the anarchist crackdown is, for good reasons, often used as a crackerjack historical example of the anti-liberty madness that even the supposed land of the free can descend to. This wave of anarchist repression was indeed destructive to many people and organizations—the Industrial Workers of the World, for example, were nearly annihilated by mass raids and arrests.
But the aftermath of these authoritarian spasms suggests we should give at least half a cheer for the Constitution. The rights it lays out were sorely dishonored, but at least they could be called upon eventually.
After World War I ended, President Woodrow Wilson commuted sentences for more than 125 Espionage Act prisoners. One assistant secretary of labor—Louis Post, who actually respected the Constitution—canceled 1,140 deportation orders, nearly three-quarters of the cases he was able to review when briefly in command of the process. The notorious 1919 and 1920 Palmer Raids sent 500 accused radicals to Ellis Island for deportation, but as public opinion and the grinding of the courts turned against the mania, only 23 of them were actually deported. And in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt gave a general amnesty to the remaining World War I–era political prisoners.
Contrast that with Russia, where many of the anarchists were deported. The Bolshevik state murdered many of them, including two of the Abrams defendants.
Willrich's richly detailed study is especially relevant today, as that expansive sense of First Amendment rights that Willrich traces back to Holmes' Abrams dissent is under fresh fire from legal academics who see the amendment as a barrier to progressive change, from young Americans who think certain possibly hurtful things ought not be legally spoken, and from a culture that in general seems increasingly and angrily eager to shut opponents up. This valuable book shows one big reason why an expansive reading of the First Amendment is important: Without it, human beings have been beaten by cops and exiled from their home, just for saying or writing things the authorities don't like.
Goldman, for one, thought America was better than that. She once told a huge crowd in New York City that when people like her denounced war and conscription, they did this not because "we are foreigners and don't care." They had come here "looking to America as the promised land," and they grappled with the country's errors "precisely because we love America."
8/17/1988: Republican party nominates George H.W. Bush for President. He would appoint David Souter and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. President George H.W. Bush's appointees to the Supreme Court The post Today in Supreme Court History: August 17, 1988 appeared first on Reason.com.
Updated: August 21, 2024
Checked for codes!
With many different anime characters to collect and use, each with its own unique abilities, Roblox ASTD offers a plethora of different strategies and playstyles for you to experiment with. One of the most intriguing aspects of All Star Tower Defense is the use of codes. You can enter codes in the game to unlock exclusive characters, gems, and other rewards that will help you progress through the game faster.
Roblox All Star Tower Defense i
With many different anime characters to collect and use, each with its own unique abilities, Roblox ASTD offers a plethora of different strategies and playstyles for you to experiment with. One of the most intriguing aspects of All Star Tower Defense is the use of codes. You can enter codes in the game to unlock exclusive characters, gems, and other rewards that will help you progress through the game faster.
Roblox All Star Tower Defense is an addictive tower defense game filled with non-stop action and excitement. As a player, you aim to defend your tower against waves of enemies by strategically placing your units and upgrading them to become more powerful.
Here are the steps to enter codes in Roblox All Star Tower Defense.
Launch Roblox All Star Tower Defense on your device.
Look for the settings button on the top left side and click on it.
In the option that appears, the area to enter codes is below.
Type or paste the code you want to redeem and get your freebies.
How can you get more codes for Roblox All Star Tower Defense?
If you’re an avid Roblox All Star Tower Defense player, you’re probably always looking for new codes to redeem. Luckily, there are a few places to find them — the game’s official Twitter account, where new codes are often announced, and the game’s Discord server, where players can chat with each other and stay up to date on the latest game updates and code releases.
Why are my Roblox All Star Tower Defense codes not working
If you are having trouble redeeming your Roblox All Star Tower Defense codes, there could be a few reasons why your codes aren’t working. First, double-check to make sure you’ve typed the code correctly – even a small typo can cause the code to fail. If you’re sure you’ve typed the code correctly, it’s possible that the code has expired. Codes are time-sensitive, so if you don’t redeem them timely, they expire.
All new units in Roblox All Star Tower Defense
Here is the list of all new units in the game.
The Hammer
Water Mage
Rhikadai
Ex-Captain (B-Kui)
Anti Magician (Demon Arm)
Pegasus Warrior
Tyrant (Furious)
Kogo The Curse
Saiya Heroes
UltraToken
Eyezen (Traitor)
Eyezen (Hog II)
Eyzen (Butterfly)
Kura (Origami)
Super God T (Hero)
Jokato Koju (ASCENDED)
Worl (Air Power)
True Evil
Mushi
Pinky
DekuEvolve
HandEvolve
Deku (BlackWhip)
True Evil (Awoken)
Hammer Giantess
Wrathdioas (Marked)
Meliodas(Assault)
Meliodas(King)
Blazing Prince
Blazing Prince (Djinn)
Stampede II
Stampede (100%) II
Stampede (???%)
Expert Sorcerer II
Ultimate Sorcerer
The Asura
Sand Globe
Becky
Double
String Mage
Lupin III
Afro Samurai
Kage Kakashi
Todoroki Both
Winter Koku
Winter Vegu
Is Roblox All Star Tower Defense worth playing?
If you’re a fan of tower defense games, Roblox All Star Tower Defense is definitely worth checking out. With over 100s of different units to collect and upgrade, there’s always something new to discover and experiment with. The game’s vibrant and colorful visuals make it easy to distinguish between different units and attacks. The inclusion of different game modes, such as Gauntlet Mode and PVP battles, adds extra layers of excitement and challenge to the gameplay.
Updated: August 6, 2024
Searched for new codes!
Nothing beats relaxing and spending some time out in nature, catching fish. You can reel in as many fish as you want in the Roblox Fishing Simulator, but there’s more to do than throwing your line out. You can also capture fish, hunt for treasure, and create a unique aquarium full of your favorite fish. There are always new areas to explore, and even a fishing boat.
How to redeem Roblox Fishing Simulator codes
When you’re ready to re
Nothing beats relaxing and spending some time out in nature, catching fish. You can reel in as many fish as you want in the Roblox Fishing Simulator, but there’s more to do than throwing your line out. You can also capture fish, hunt for treasure, and create a unique aquarium full of your favorite fish. There are always new areas to explore, and even a fishing boat.
How to redeem Roblox Fishing Simulator codes
When you’re ready to redeem any of the codes in Fishing Simulator, you need to be in the game to do so. From there, after you’ve logged in, go to the right side of the screen, and click on the golden ticket. It’ll bring up a small pop-up where you can type in the code that you want to use. After you’ve finished typing it in, click on the redeem button to activate it.
Active Roblox Fishing Simulator codes
150000 — Reward: 400 Gems (New)
NATIONALFISHINGDAY— Reward: 400 Gems (New)
Expired Codes
4HUNA — Reward: 40 Gems
FISHMAXXING — Reward: 250 Gems
EASTER — Reward: 100 Gems
HALFADECADE — Reward: 500 Gems
AMILLI — Reward: 1000 Gems
2024 — Reward: 500 Gems
THANKSGIVING — Reward: 200 Gems
TimelessTides — Reward: 250 Gems
stpatricksday — Reward: 200 Gems
NewYear2023 — Reward: 250 Gems
VOIDSTORM – 300 Gems
500KGROUP – 300 Gems (valid until September 10th)
Ocean — 300 gems (valid until September 5th)
Mischief5Year – 500 Gems
RepMischiefBalkBirthday – 100 Gems
BIGSPENDER – 150 gems
VAL2022 – Redeem for Gems
Ranbo – Redeem for 500 Gems
20KRANDEM – Redeem for 150 Gems
20KSHARK – Redeem for 50 Gems
20KTUNA – Redeem code for 50 Gems
20KTROUT – Redeem code for 50 Gems
BIGLIKES – Redeem code for 200 Gems
200K – Redeem code for 150 Gems
BowTime – Redeem code for 500 Gems
FruitCake – Redeem code for 500 Gems
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SPYBDAY – Redeem for 150 Gems
1mill – Redeem for Gems
MARBLEBDAY – Redeem code for 150 Gems
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MSCHFBDAY – Redeem code for 150 Gems
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love – Redeem code for 150 Gems
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Goldensnapper – Redeem code for 30 Gems
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FishBoat – Redeem code for 250 Gems
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PinkBird – Redeem code for 300 Gems
GamganStyle – Redeem code for 500 Gems
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Group100K – Redeem code for 2,500 Coins
Xbox One
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Introduction to 'My Happy Marriage' on Netflix. "My Happy Marriage" is a show on Netflix that tells a sweet and exciting story from a popular book by Akumi Agitogi. People are really excited about it, especially after a movie based on the same story came out in Japan. The show has already released five episodes, and the newest one came out on Wednesday, August 2nd.Every Wednesday, a new episode of "My Happy Marriage" comes out on Netflix. This season, the anime will have 12 episodes, but Netflix
"My Happy Marriage" is a show on Netflix that tells a sweet and exciting story from a popular book by Akumi Agitogi. People are really excited about it, especially after a movie based on the same story came out in Japan. The show has already released five episodes, and the newest one came out on Wednesday, August 2nd.
Every Wednesday, a new episode of "My Happy Marriage" comes out on Netflix. This season, the anime will have 12 episodes, but Netflix hasn't said the exact number for sure. So, there might be more or fewer episodes.
They release new episodes every week. If the show really has 12 episodes and they release one each week, the last episode could come out on Wednesday, September 20, 2023. But remember, this isn't confirmed by Netflix.
Episode Number
Release Date
1
July 5, 2023
2
July 12, 2023
3
July 19, 2023
4
July 26, 2023
5
August 2, 2023
6
August 9, 2023
7
August 16, 2023
8
August 23, 2023
9
August 30, 2023
10
September 6, 2023
11
September 13, 2023
12
September 20, 2023
Weekly Episode Releases and Season Length
People all over the world can enjoy watching this interesting show whenever they want, thanks to Netflix. You can easily watch the whole series and get lost in the lovely romance between Miyo and Kiyoka.
In Japan, the home video Blu-ray has confirmed that "My Happy Marriage" has 12 episodes.
The Storyline of 'My Happy Marriage
What is My Happy Marriage about?
"My Happy Marriage" is an anime series that follows the story of Miyo Saimori, a young woman from a noble family known for having special powers. Despite her family's importance, Miyo faces difficulties due to her mean stepmother.
When Miyo becomes old enough to get married, her dreams take a hit when she finds out she's supposed to marry Kiyoka Kudou, a commander known for being cold and unkind.
But as time goes on, Miyo learns that Kiyoka isn't as bad as she thought. They start to understand each other and realize that they could find real love and happiness in their unexpected marriage.
Audiences are in for a treat with "My Happy Marriage." This TV series beautifully brings to life the wonderful story of Miyo and Kiyoka as they search for true love and happiness. The show is based on a popular romance novel from Japan, which has become really famous.
With amazing visuals and a touching plot, this anime version is expected to have 12 episodes in this season. It's likely to hold people's attention with its deep emotions and characters that feel real. As you watch Miyo and Kiyoka, you'll see a mix of romance, drama, and personal growth, sharing in their happy moments and challenges.
"My Happy Marriage" isn't like other anime shows. It goes beyond with its exciting story and captivating animation, raising the bar for this type of show. In the end, this anime gives you a wonderful break from everyday life and brings you on a special adventure filled with love, change, and fate.
Your favorite talking Pokémon is back, and there are more mysteries to solve! Detective Pikachu Returns will release exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on October 6, 2023. As usual, this Pokémon adventure was developed by Creatures and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.
First announced in 2019, the Nintendo Direct on June 21 of this year gave us our first peak at this cinematic sequel. Not a ton of information has been revealed about the gameplay itself. However, it’s fair to as
Your favorite talking Pokémon is back, and there are more mysteries to solve! Detective Pikachu Returns will release exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on October 6, 2023. As usual, this Pokémon adventure was developed by Creatures and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.
First announced in 2019, the Nintendo Direct on June 21 of this year gave us our first peak at this cinematic sequel. Not a ton of information has been revealed about the gameplay itself. However, it’s fair to assume that it will be somewhat similar to the original. Detective Pikachu released on the 3DS in March, 2018. Check out the trailer to Detective Pikachu Returns below, and find out everything we know about the return of this iconic, case-solving duo.
The adventure continues
Detective Pikachu Returns trailer
The story of the original Detective Pikachu is remarkably similar to the film adaptation, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. The Pikachu of this game belongs to Harry Goodman, a detective who mysteriously disappears after a car crash. Confronted with the need to start asking questions, Pikachu finds that the only human who can understand him is Harry’s son. You play as Harry’s son, Tim Goodman. Together, you and your talking Pikachu scour Ryme city, solving mysteries in search of Harry. But of course, the journey is full of twists and turns.
The Pokémon world is a little different in Ryme city. Here, Pokémon are more than the beloved companions of humans. In Ryme city, humans and Pokémon live side-by-side. Tim is in college, rather than Ash, who is 10 years old. The original, as well as Detective Pikachu Returns are a little closer to a platformer or puzzle game. It’s a welcome departure from the top-down, turn based combat of the core games. It also melds the more modern, world-traversing games like Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
There are some clues available to solve the plot of Detective Pikachu Returns. It’s important to remember that the overarching goal of the series is to find your father and Pikachu’s owner, Harry. However, in the first game, a more pertinent mystery unfolds. Without spoiling anything, it involves a plot for control and a mysterious compound that puts Pokémon into a violent rage. The first game ends with Tim and Pikachu resuming the search for Harry.
Buzzing with excitement… or caffeine?
Based on the first game and the trailer’s short amount of footage, we can surmise a bit about the gameplay. Most obviously, it seems you’ll be able to control different Pokémon to assist in your investigations. Growlithe can use its sense of smell, Darmanitan can break through walls, and there’s sure to be more. We’re introduced to Tim’s mom Irene, and sister Sophia. Something is bound to happen at the local coffee shop. It seems the maps have definitely gotten bigger and more varied, if not just better looking. Detective Pikachu Returns is definitely upping the anti in the sequel, and we’d expect no less of Nintendo.
It also seems like Tim and Pikachu will become wrapped up in another epic mystery that distracts them from their primary goal. If you’ve seen the movie, then it might easy to guess where that plot line is likely going. As such, we can only hope that the mystery at the center of this game adds something new to the story. And of course, you can expect plenty of neo-noir dialogue and quipping from the most talkative Pikachu there’s ever been.
Solve the case in Detective Pikachu Returns next month!
Detective Pikachu Returns releases exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on October 6, 2023. You can pre-order the game on the Nintendo store or wherever you buy your games.
Stay with us, we’ll let you know of any updates as they become available. Are you excited?
After years of rumors and false hopes, the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is finally happening. Konami announced Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater earlier this year as part of the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase. It’s the first Metal Gear title since 2018’s lackluster Metal Gear Survive, and the first time familiar Hideo Kojima characters have graced our screens since 2015.
Considering his rocky exit from Konami and subsequent new ventures, Kojima’s future with the Metal Gear series seemed over. A
After years of rumors and false hopes, the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is finally happening. Konami announced Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater earlier this year as part of the May 2023 PlayStation Showcase. It’s the first Metal Gear title since 2018’s lackluster Metal Gear Survive, and the first time familiar Hideo Kojima characters have graced our screens since 2015.
Considering his rocky exit from Konami and subsequent new ventures, Kojima’s future with the Metal Gear series seemed over. And while he’s still working over at Kojima Productions, Konami has been hard at work remaking one of his classic stealth-action games.
Metal Gear Solid 3 was first released back in 2004 and garnered critical acclaim. It remains one of the most popular games in the franchise, with many players voting it as their favorite. Now, players will get the chance to explore the origins of Big Boss and the Metal Gear Solid franchise once again, with updated graphics and gameplay.
Metal Gear Solid Delta doesn’t have a release date yet, although we anticipate this Snake Eater remake might come out in 2024. Until we know for sure, here’s everything we know about this title.
The dead are not silent
The original Metal Gear Solid 3 came out in 2004.
It helps to understand the backstory of the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, as it’s been a rumored project for a few years now. Although Konami mostly exited the video game business a few years back, talks of a separate division or company remaking classic Metal Gear entries was still buzzing. Konami wasn’t one to confirm rumors, and Hideo Kojima was too busy working on Death Stranding and Kojima Productions to worry one way or the other.
Still, the rumors persisted, and gained heightened attention in the lead up to the PlayStation Showcase in May. Many industry insiders proclaimed that Konami would reveal the MGS3 remake at the event. Many fans were understandably apprehensive, but the showcase proved that their fears were unfounded.
Konami revealed the remake, titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, at the event alongside the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection. The latter is a series of compilations that bring classic Metal Gear games to current-generation consoles; the first volume will include all mainline Metal Gear games up to Snake Eater, with some additional games as well.
With that and Metal Gear Solid Delta, it seems that MGS3 fans will have plenty to look forward to. As old and new players alike experience the original game through the Master Collection, we also have a revamped version on the horizon. With that, it’s time to start the mission proper.
We’re off on a mission of virtue
A boss and her snake.
Konami and the team have confirmed that Metal Gear Solid Delta is as close to a 1:1 remake of Snake Eater as possible. Although it’s built on a new engine with recreated graphics and sound, the actual storyline and progression is the same. The team is even reusing the original voice clips, preserving the original script as much as possible.
As such, we can provide a basic rundown of the story as it relates to the original. (There won’t be any spoilers in this section, so fret not!)
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is the story of Naked Snake, an agent in the FOX unit. He’s sent deep into the jungles of Russia in 1964 to retrieve a defector from the Soviet Union. However, his commanding officer on the mission, a woman known as The Boss, interrupts his mission by defecting to the Soviets. She wounds Naked Snake, leaving him for dead and coordinating a strike on Russian civilians to frame the United States.
With the mission exposed and Russia threatening to retaliate if the situation isn’t under control, Naked Snake is forced back into the jungle after he recovers. He needs to stop The Boss and her Cobra Unit and shut down the new Soviet weapon, a mysterious combat vehicle nicknamed the Shagohod.
Head back into the jungle in Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
The Russian wildlands of Tselinoyarsk have been lovingly recreated.
Up to this point, the Metal Gear series was primarily focused on interior locations and buildings. You’d sneak around long hallways and open rooms while trying to find cover amidst the manmade terrain.
Metal Gear Solid 3 switched things up by trading the concrete jungle for a real one. There were far more natural settings in that game, dropping you off in the fictional Russian jungle of Tselinoyarsk. It created more unique opportunities for stealth; in particular, camouflaging your gear and face to match your surroundings. You could also the naturally unpredictable terrain and elements to your advantage.
That’s true of Metal Gear Solid Delta as well, as its version of Snake Eater doesn’t change the location up. From the reveal trailer, the swampy marshes where Snake is initially dropped in have been rendered gorgeously. Considering the story is the same, it’s unlikely that there will be any new areas to visit.
Until we get a gameplay trailer for sure, we won’t know if Delta will retain either the original version’s fixed camera system or include the updated camera system from later versions of Snake Eater. It’s also entirely possible that the camera has been reworked entirely. It might take the more modern system found in Metal Gear Solid V. We’ll just have to wait and see.
What a thrill
Cross that bridge when you get to it.
As a remake that’s meant to honor the original to the letter, we can assume a few things about the gameplay even without a trailer. The core fundamentals of tactical stealth action should all be implemented into Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, but newcomers will hopefully have little struggle adjusting.
MGS3 gave you ample opportunity to surprise your opponents with both artificial and natural traps. Or you can sneak around them and avoid fights altogether (except for mandatory boss fights). When the heat does come down on you, of course, you’ll have plenty of weapons at your disposal. That is, once you find them first.
The tactical side of Metal Gear comes from the limited resources you’ve got in the field. You’ll need to find weapons and ammo as well as survival resources like food and water. One of the most unique parts of MGS3 was patching up your own wounds in the middle of combat. It remains to be seen if this system carries over in the same way in Delta. Given its apparent faithfulness to the source material, we can expect it to remain.
When is Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater coming out?
Naked Snake’s anxiously awaiting the release of Metal Gear Solid Delta.
So far, Konami has not yet confirmed a release date for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. However, the original game hit store shelves in late 2024. It’s reasonable to expect that Konami might try to tie in with the game’s 20th anniversary and release it in Nov. 2024. However, this is pure speculation. Until we get more information from Konami, take this with a grain of salt.
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is developed by Konami Digital Entertainment with the help of Virtuos and published by Konami. It will be available for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
What are your thoughts on this Metal Gear Solid 3 remake? Let us know!
Good morning, and happy Monday, everyone! As we begin the new week, we have a hge slate of new releases to get excited for. Whether you want to explore the galaxy in Starfield or get lost in Chants of Sennaar, there’s a new game for you. So, without further adieu, here are all the new games coming out this week!
Chants of Sennaar (Sept. 5)
Starting things off this week, we have Chants of Sennaar. Developed by Rundisc and published by Focus Entertainment, this adventure game pulls deep f
Good morning, and happy Monday, everyone! As we begin the new week, we have a hge slate of new releases to get excited for. Whether you want to explore the galaxy in Starfield or get lost in Chants of Sennaar, there’s a new game for you. So, without further adieu, here are all the new games coming out this week!
Chants of Sennaar (Sept. 5)
Starting things off this week, we have Chants of Sennaar. Developed by Rundisc and published by Focus Entertainment, this adventure game pulls deep from historical roots. The game is based on the myth of Babel, in which a great tower was built in attempt to reach the gods.
In the game, you take on the role of a newcomer to the tower. As you progress, you must learn the ways of these now divided people to decipher their languages and bring them back together. You can venture into Chants of Sennaar tomorrow on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Rune Factory 3 Special (Sept. 5)
Journeying into your home next is Rune Factory 3 Special. Developed and published by Marvelous Games and XSEED Games, this JRPG puts you in the shoes of a young adventurer with a monstrous secret. The special edition of Rune Factory 3 also includes the Newlywed Mode and a “Hell” difficulty.
In addition, the remake features improved graphics and redesigned 3D character models. As you journey across two worlds, you’ll search for a way for humans and monsters to coexist. You can venture into Rune Factory 3 Special when it launches for Nintendo Switch and PC tomorrow.
Baldur’s Gate 3 (Sept. 6)
Then, Baldur’s Gate 3 makes its console debut. Developed and published by Larian Studios, this RPG sees you return to the Forgotten Realms in a tale of fellowship, betrayal, sacrifice and survival. After mysterious abilities awaken inside you, it’s up to you whether you resist and overcome the darkness or embrace the corruption to become the ultimate evil.
Throughout the game, you’ll get to choose from a wide selection of D&D races and classes and choose up to three other companions to accompany your adventure. As you journey on, you’ll adventure, loot, battle and romance across the Forgotten Realms and beyond. Though it already launched last month on PC, PlayStation 5 players can play Baldur’s Gate 3 this Wednesday.
Starfield (Sept. 6)
Starfieldis an intergaalctic RPG where you’ll embark on an epic journey to answer humanity’s greatest mystery. Developed and published by Bethesda, the game puts you in the year 2330, when humanity ventured beyond our solar system. Players join the Constellation, the last group of space explorers seeking rare artifacts throughout the galaxy.
The game’s most important story is the one you tell with your fully customized character. It’s up to you whether you want to be an experienced explorer, charming diplomat or stealthy cyber runner. You can start your adventure in Starfield when it launches for Xbox Series X/S and PC this Wednesday.
Rugby 24 (Sept. 7)
Rugby 24 is a sports simulator that takes you into the world of Rugby. Developed by Eko Software and published by Nacon, this game sees you play with the best clubs and top nations. Throughout the game, you’ll experience dynamic gameplay that stays faithful to the sport and experience the intensity of big matches.
You’ll also enter the most prestigious competitions in both single-player and multiplayer modes. In Career Mode, you can also create and manage your own team. You can make your way onto the field in Rugby 24 when it comes to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC this Thursday.
Fae Farm (Sept. 8)
Fae Farm is an action simulator that blends farming with spellcasting. Developed and published by Phoenix Labs, the game takes place in the magical realm of Azoria. Throughout the game, you’ll need to till the land to grow crops, gather resources and decorate your homesteads to restore the land to its former glory.
The game also features online multiplayer, where your friends can join you to help cultivate a beautiful farm. In addition, you’ll also explore various colorful environments, where you’ll find new resources to bring to your homestead. You can play Fae Farm when it launches on Friday for Nintendo Switch and PC.
NBA 2K24 (Sept. 8)
Closing out this week is NBA 2K24. Developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K, the next chapter in the NBA 2K series pays tribute to the legendary Kobe Bryant through two special editions that feature him as the cover athlete. In addition, the game will introduce innovative technological advancements such as bringing in cross-play multiplayer.
Throughout the game, you can also relive history with the Mamba Moments mode, which allows you to recreate some of Kobe’s most captivating performances in his career. The new game also introduces ProPLAY, which directly translates real NBA footage into gameplay. You can hit the court in NBA 2K24 when it comes to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC this Friday.
What upcoming games will you be playing this week?
Overall, this is a really exciting week for gamers. From Starfield to Chants of Sennaar, this week offers a lot of excitement. But what new game are you most excited to play? As always, let us know what you think in the comments!
Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog – the blue speedster who simply can’t sit still. Oh, no. Not when he’s got box office records to smash, Netflix binge watches to facilitate, and multi-million dollar games to sell. Over the years, he’s dashed through countless loops, collected more rings than you’ve had hot meals (I would hope), and faced an eccentric assortment of dastardly rogues.
Arguably, Sonic’s star shines brighter these days than ever before, buoyed by multimedia success upon success. To celebrat
Ah, Sonic the Hedgehog – the blue speedster who simply can’t sit still. Oh, no. Not when he’s got box office records to smash, Netflix binge watches to facilitate, and multi-million dollar games to sell. Over the years, he’s dashed through countless loops, collected more rings than you’ve had hot meals (I would hope), and faced an eccentric assortment of dastardly rogues.
Arguably, Sonic’s star shines brighter these days than ever before, buoyed by multimedia success upon success. To celebrate – and to shamelessly drum up some hype for our Sonic Superstars coverage – we’ve gathered some of the more notable games from his zippy career, ranked them, and added a dash of Mega Visions Snark (patent pending) for flavor. Hot takes and cold takes abound, so get comfy and prepare to disagree with us!
Honourable Mention: Sonic and the Black Knight
Kicking off our list, but just barely missing the actual ranking, is The One Where Sonic Has A Sword. Don’t lie, that’s how you remember it; because nothing says “gotta go fast” quite like a medieval fantasy makeover. Ah, those Lord of the Rings movies. Well known for their frenetic, high-speed, wisecracking action! While it’s indeed amusing to see Sonic dueling with a blade, this storybook game (a series consisting of a grand total of two games) strayed quite far from his roots, leaving most players feeling like they’d taken a wrong turn at Green Hill Zone.
Seeing Sonic’s band of mates cosplaying in armor mostly just feels that one medieval-themed party everyone’s been to at some stage – it seemed like a fun idea at the time, but in the end you just spend two hours standing around awkwardly. But hey, at least it’s got a killer soundtrack; and its story, which sees Sonic weighing the ramifications of mortality, was Jason Griffith’s finest hour.
10: Sonic Heroes
Even a legend needs backup sometimes. Next, we’ve got Sonic Heroes, which sees the ‘hog shack up with 12 other characters to take down a traitorous Metal Sonic. This “team” aspect injected some freshness into the series, but controlling three characters at once (each with a different ability, be it flying or punching) felt about as coordinated as a cat in a laser pointer factory. Or, to use a more series-appropriate analogy, it’s like trying to herd echidnas; and trust me, that’s no easy feat. I speak from experience.
What ultimately salvages the endeavor are some inspired level designs, which finally translate the whimsy of 2D Sonic into a three-dimensional space, and another requisite banging soundtrack. Crush 40 bring their A-game to the vocals too, and there’s no denying that in those moments where it all comes together, Heroes is a blast.
9: Sonic CD
Now we’re grooving with Sonic CD, a game that introduced time travel to Sonic’s already wild repertoire of skills. Because when you’ve explored every other creative avenue, that’s of course the well you go to. After Eggman chains up Little Planet, it’s up to the Blue Blur to recover the Time Stones, rescue newcomer Amy Rose, and try to avert a few paradoxes while he’s at it.
Again, the music is stellar, and the pixel art is some of the finest you’ll ever see. Sadly, CD is quite badly let down by its level design, which has an odd fixation with verticality and a general inability to get out of your way long enough to build speed (necessary to timewarp). Between hopping through the ages and hunting down those bloody robot generators, just to ensure a good ending, it all got to be a bit much. Simplicity is key, SEGA.
8: Sonic Lost World
Sonic Lost World decided it wanted a piece of the Mario platforming pie, and who could blame it? Nintendo and SEGA had become snugger than bugs in an especially warm rug in the 2010s, to the point where they signed an exclusivity deal together. This, of course, would lead to the fateful Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric – but its first-born, Lost World, was rather fun. Granted, controlling Sonic in a 2.5D platformer (when usually he’d either gone 3 or 2) was slightly off-kilter, but once you settle into the controls, things begin to click. It doesn’t help that the game refuses to clue you in on some of the core moves you can pull off, like the roll or vault, instead hiding the tutorials away on the Wii U GamePad.
And that’s without even mentioning the “parkour” mechanics – Sonic channels his inner Cirque du Soleil as you swing, climb and wall-run across suspiciously Italian plumber-esque worlds. The story isn’t great shakes, and neither are the Deadly Six, the conga line of stereotypes passing as villains. But if you can get into the right headspace, you’ll enjoy yourself. Plus, the Zelda DLC was rad.
7: Sonic Colors
Ah, Sonic Colors. What a conundrum you are. Everyone continually declares this one “the ultimate return to form” for 3D Sonic, but I’ve always just gone: huh? The game’s 90% 2D! Every 3D segment is just a corridor that lasts 30 seconds, and then it’s back to stiff, single-block platforming levels made from crates and other copy-pasted assets. Sure, the game did introduce inventive power-ups in the form of Wisps; but honestly, if I wanted to collect aliens, I’d just raid Area 51. Easy enough to do. I have connections.
That’s not to say I can’t dig the positives. The visuals are lovely, especially in the remastered version. The music, as ever, slaps. The Saturday morning feel to the script was novel at the time (though Pontac and Graff would eventually pummel this into the dirt), and the final boss was so good that SEGA just copied it repeatedly for the next decade. Overall, the Colors feel… alright.
6: Sonic Generations
Now, this is what I’m talking about. Sonic Generations is what I thought I was getting with Colors, based on the hype: a true step forward for the Boost formula that spent the majority of its time in the third dimension, and which, most importantly, was just sheer fun. Generations brought past and present versions of Sonic together, proving that even hedgehogs can suffer from identity crises given the right circumstances. The blend of classic and modern levels, and the ability to alternate between them at will, was like enjoying your grandma’s homemade cookies while flipping NFTs – a mix of old-school charm and high-speed modernity.
Classic Sonic had yet to outstay his welcome, and the jukebox of Sonic tunes you could unlock just added to the value. All told, it was a trip down memory lane, albeit one so fast-paced that we barely had time to pause and marvel at the history we were zooming through. An all-timer (heh), to be sure.
5: Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the game that launched a million memes. In this classic Genesis adventure (with state of the art lock-on tech!), Sonic teams up with a redeemed Knuckles, fresh off another naïve double-crossing, to thwart Robotnik’s schemes. Initially developed as one single game, deadlines and budget got in the way – and presumably execs realised two games means a 100% profit increase. Hence, the two halves were split asunder, and it’s only in digital re-releases that it’s available as the gargantuan package it was always meant to be.
Come on, you know these zones. Sky Sanctuary, Angel Island, Hydrocity. Almost every single one is iconic, and the soundtrack, provided at least in part by Michael Jackson, remains a highlight. Too bad most subsequent releases replace these tunes with subpar imitations due to legal woes. S3&K, all the same, represents the pinnacle of the Genesis Sonic formula.
4: Sonic Mania
Just below bronze is Sonic Mania, a love letter to a particular subset of fans who cherished the hedgehog’s early days, and who patiently (oh so patiently) awaited another day in the sun. And boy, did the sun come out. Spearheaded by indie dev Christian Whitehead, and developed mostly outside Sonic Team’s jurisdiction, it’s perhaps quite telling that it promptly became the highest-rated new series entry in yonks.
With pixel-perfect precision platforming and a sumptuous symphony of nostalgic sounds, Mania resurrected the classics in the respectful way that Generations did almost a decade prior to it (Christ, we’re getting old). It’s so good, such a warm, pixelated hug from your childhood, that you tell yourself it must be a fluke. Surely they couldn’t have pulled this off? But oh yes, they did. It ain’t perfect – sod the special stages and the final fights, specifically – but it’s very, very close. Dust off your copy and remember why you fell in love with this little blue bugger in the first place.
3: Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2
Now for a quick detour to the Adventure series, which I’m treating as a collective as they’re very rarely discussed individually – Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. These games were analogous to the teenage years of the franchise; experimental, rebellious, and with the occasional embarrassing stumble of one’s voice (“YOU’RE GONNA CRASH – AAAAAGH.”). Yet, they hold a special place in our hearts, reminding us of a simpler time when we were all obsessed with numbers and 3D platforming was the shiniest new thing on the block.
From the iconic City Escape skateboard run, to the multiple Chaos evolutions that were doing crappy Pokémon forms way ahead of the curve, these games blended the typical speedy action with character-driven stories for the first time. They showcased Sonic’s unique knack for keeping us on the edge of our seats, always in flux and delivering something new with the times. Let’s also not forget that 2 brought us Shadow, one of the most iconic antiheroes in gaming history. I raise a chili dog in tribute; now where’s that HD remaster?
2: Sonic Frontiers
Wait, what’s this? An open-world Sonic game? Jesus wept, finally! After decades of begging, someone at SEGA at last sat down, listened to the clamoring of fans and said “hey, maybe we ought to give this unholy speed demon some room to stretch those legs?” And so it was. And we saw that it was… pretty good. Sonic Frontiers is like an extended visit to a skate park for hedgehogs, with sprawling environments to explore and countless stage gimmicks strewn across the map to boing, bounce and ricochet the poor battered rodent through the air.
Watching our blue boy burst out of his confining side-scrolling shell and zip across breathtaking vistas is a sight to behold, as are the showstopping Titan fights and the surprisingly emotional narrative. No, you will NOT elicit tears from me, Mike Pollock. Stop right there.
1: Sonic Unleashed
Drum roll please… aw, who am I kidding? In the number one spot, we’ve got Sonic Unleashed – to the surprise of precisely nobody that follows my articles. I’m not going to wax lyrical about this, mainly because I spent some 4000 words doing so a year and a bit ago, but suffice to say I think Unleashed is very nearly a masterpiece. Certainly it’s the best 3D offering in the franchise to date. Sue me.
Yeah, yeah, the Werehog looks daft and probably doesn’t really belong in Sonic. Got that out of your system? Good, because you’re in for a treat. Unleashed is a game of two halves that complement one another marvellously. The day stages offer breakneck speeds that make Usain Bolt look arthritic, while the night stages will have you quite literally howling with delight as you mow down minion after minion with a cavalcade of absurd attacks. Toss in the best visuals in the franchise, a gripping narrative and the finest hubs Sonic Team ever mustered, and you’ve got a truly special concoction.
Sonic Superstars zooms in this October!
So, there you have it, brave readers – the ultimate countdown of the finest Sonic the Hedgehog games ever to grace our (small) screens. It’s one of those franchises where, if asked, I’d struggle to name its genre. This beast has dabbled in sword fights, team dynamics, time travel, open-world romps, RPGs, brawlers, and everything else besides. Indeed, Sonic’s journey has been as wild as his antics; and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Not to say that said journey is over. Far from it, as Sonic Superstars, an all-new nostalgia-tugging co-op adventure, lands this October 17 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Whether you’re a lifelong fan or just hopping onto the Sonic bandwagon (and whether we’ve royally cheesed you off or not with our order), there’s no stopping the Blue Blur when he’s revved up and ready to roll. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m popping off to Five Guys – all this ranking has me craving a taste of Sonic’s fuel of choice.
There’s really nothing quite like playing an Atari 2600 game, and The Atari 2600+ is coming to capitalize on that. The technological restraints of the 1970s forced the Atari 2600’s games to be simple and addicting. In so doing, the library would go on to become iconic, instantly recognizable, and timelessly fun. Somehow it even managed to hang on to some relevancy well beyond the NES era. Even today this library holds a special place in the hearts of gamers and technology buffs of all stripes.
There’s really nothing quite like playing an Atari 2600 game, and The Atari 2600+ is coming to capitalize on that. The technological restraints of the 1970s forced the Atari 2600’s games to be simple and addicting. In so doing, the library would go on to become iconic, instantly recognizable, and timelessly fun. Somehow it even managed to hang on to some relevancy well beyond the NES era. Even today this library holds a special place in the hearts of gamers and technology buffs of all stripes.
Atari is no stranger to revivals either, with countless collections of old games repackaged for modern systems being released over the decades. We’ve also seen plenty of console emulation boxes released under the Atari name with varying results. Most of these attempts were marred by limited functionality, poor emulation, or some combination of the two. Now, however, a new kind of revival is underway. The Atari 2600+ has emerged and seems to be hitting a lot the right notes. If handled correctly, this could very well be the ultimate revival for the undisputed golden era of gaming. Here’s what we know so far.
Identical form factor (80% scale)
Atari’s official mini/classic console launches on November 17th, 2023.
Wood grain, ridges, switches and all. The Atari 2600+ is not trying to modernize the design like the baffling VCS. This is a plain and simple miniaturization of the original machine, like the NES classic. Perhaps a bit more in line with Konami’s Turbografx-16 mini, as it won’t be that much smaller than the original. The original stylings of the switches are the most interesting part of this. That particular design language is so alien today, and will certainly stand out in modern living rooms.
Compatibility with original 2600 and 7800 games.
This is wonderful news, and instantly sets the 2600+ apart from nearly every Atari clone console before it. The majority of Atari clone consoles that have emerged only contain whatever AT Games felt like including. Also including the small-but-excellent 7800 library is a nice tough. How the 2600+ runs the games is a big question, though. Latency, compatibility and accuracy are big sticking points for much of the community. However, generally speaking, being able to pop in my own copy of Spider Fighter and play it on my TV from the sofa is alluring. That said, compatibility isn’t perfect, as Atari reveals on their website. More on that later.
Will Yars Ever Get His Revenge?
New Joystick and Paddles
Seemingly identical in form, and hopefully at least equal in build quality. These new controllers seem to be aiming to look, feel, and function just like the originals. However, weight could be an issue, as light controllers can feel cheap and unsatisfying to use. The paddles in particular need to be well-made, as most original paddles today are not working well. The Atari 2600+ only comes with one joystick, though, so others will come at an additional cost. This is a bit of a letdown considering the $129 price tag. Although given the connection type, you should be able to use your original controllers as well. Atari’s website does confirm that the new controllers will work on the original 2600. It’s fairly logical to assume the inverse is true as well.
10-games-in-one Cartridge Included
This cart includes Haunted House, Adventure, Dodge ‘Em, Combat, Missile Command, Maze Craze, Realsports Volleyball, Surround, Video Pinball, and Yars’ Revenge. Any compilation of Atari games will feel like it’s missing something, but overall these are great choices. The major genres of the era are represented here. Combat on its own has several modes and difficulties that can easily provide many hours of single or multiplayer mayhem. Compared to the 20+ games Nintendo, Sega, and Konami offers on their mini consoles, though, 10 is less than impressive.
A 10-games-in-one-cartridge is included. So only 10 games are included.
HDMI Output
This is essential in today’s world. Most of the clone consoles and emulation boxes released under the Atari name have been composite (red, white, and yellow cables) only. Having HDMI immediately puts the 2600+ in the upper-echelon of ways to play these games. Whether we’re going to get 1080p or 4K remains to be seen, but ultimately might not matter. Most modern displays still recognize 720p today. For the sake of future-proofing though, the higher resolution we can get, the better. Extra points are up for grabs if Atari can throw in some display options. Scanlines, screen curvatures, or other filters would be welcome. No word on anything like that yet, outside of the Black and White switch anyway.
Sold separately
The 2600+ is going to launch alongside some companion products. Mr. Run and Jump, a new game designed for the 2600. A so-called enhanced edition of Berzerk. An additional compilation cartridge focused on paddle games Breakout, Night Driver, Canyon Bomber, and Video Olympics. This appears to come with a new set of paddles as well, which is great. Most of the original paddles hanging around today are barely working – if at all. An additional joystick is also going to be available, and should be an easy upsell. The 2600+ only comes with one, after all.
Potential pitfalls
Pitfall will work on your 2600+, but not everything will.
Before throwing down your hard earned money, there are a couple byte-sized issues to consider.First, the $129 price tag itself. You could buy Atari 50 today for significantly less and play it on the modern console you already own. In so doing you would immediately have access to exponentially more games than the 10 included with the 2600+. $129 vs $30. 10 games vs 90 games. Also, the inclusion of only one controller almost certainly means you’ll need to buy another. This drives up the price even more. Do with this information what you will.
Secondly, hardcore enthusiasts might be left wanting with the 2600+. Atari confirms on their FAQ page that the 2600+ is using emulation to run the games. This isn’t inherently problematic, but it could spell trouble for rom hacks and homebrews. Also, the compatibility list on Atari’s website confirms several official games will fail to work. Super Cobra, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Real Sports Boxing are among them. Many more are listed as “untested” which is frankly bizarre. I know it’s no small task, but if Atari is serious about this, why not test all the games? This makes the “No Cartridge Left Behind” moniker on the webpage ring more than a little hollow. A potential saving grace here is the USB-C port. This will almost certainly be utilized by the community to improve compatibility. For now though, the incomplete compatibility is a notable red flag. I highly suggest all Atari enthusiasts take a look at the list before claiming a pre-order.
Flawed or exciting? Depends on the beholder
These issues aren’t huge ones, but they do muddle up the deal a bit. Casual players who want a quick nostalgia trip could understandably be put off by the price point. Conversely, hardcore enthusiasts may balk at the emulation and incomplete compatibility. The perception of a high floor and low ceiling could threaten the appeal of the 2600+. That said, there is certainly value here. Between the nostalgic form-factor, HDMI, and generally solid compatibility with games and controllers, the 2600+ makes a decent case. Hyperkin’s Retron 77 may have it beat with price, but there is something to be said for an official Atari product. The hassle of converting the video signal of an original 2600 is arguably worth paying $129 to side-step. Yet the phoniness of emulating Atari games on a computer undercuts the entire experience. You could certainly look at it either way.
The 2600+ may not be for the super fanatical or the super casual. This is a bit of a shame, as it comes quite close to being an ideal solution for everyone. Still, here are more comprehensive and cheaper solutions for those two extremes. Are there millions of people who would pay a premium to play the vast majority of their Atari games in a modern, yet authentic way, though? Absolutely. It’s just going to come down to whether or not Atari can get them to do it. If marketed well, and supported with some post-launch firmware updates, the 2600+ could easily soar to great heights.
Atari 2600+ releases this November
We won’t be waiting long to get our hands on this thing. The 2600+ launches right before Thanksgiving. This might just prove to be perfect timing. Whipping an Atari out after Thanksgiving dinner for a few rounds of drunken Missile Command with the family sounds like an excellent way to wrap up the Holiday. If nothing else, it could at least distract everyone from whatever arguments transpired during dinner.
Atari 2600+ releases on November 17. Do you plan to jump back into some retro favorites? Or do you prefer more old-school ways to enjoy old-school games? As always, let us know what you think down in the comments!
Steam store – Official website – Wikipedia entry
Some game genres are so rare, it’s a miracle when a new game releases in that style. I personally call this genre: stealth tactics. The actual genre is Real-Time Tactics, but I find that name doesn’t really cover this (sub)genre. If you have ever played games like: Commando’s, Desperados, Robin Hood – The Legend of Sherwood or Shadow Tactics… You know what sort of game I’m talking about. A game features a rag tag group of heroes. Each hero
Some game genres are so rare, it’s a miracle when a new game releases in that style. I personally call this genre: stealth tactics. The actual genre is Real-Time Tactics, but I find that name doesn’t really cover this (sub)genre. If you have ever played games like: Commando’s, Desperados, Robin Hood – The Legend of Sherwood or Shadow Tactics… You know what sort of game I’m talking about. A game features a rag tag group of heroes. Each hero has unique abilities. They must get through big groups of enemies. They do this one by one to progress the group’s goals. The game I want to talk about today is called Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew. This was the last game by the studio Mimimi. Is this game the swansong to close down this studio, or is it a game that’s better left forgotten? Before that, I invite you to leave a comment in the comment section down below. A comment with your thoughts and/or opinions on the game and/or the content of the article.
Promises of amazing treasure
In this game, you play as the crew of a special pirate ship named the Red Marley. Each main member of the crew has a black pearl in their chest, granting them unique supernatural abilities. These unique abilities come at a cost of being cursed to a sort of undead status.
The Red Marley’s captain fell in battle, and now the Inquisition is after the biggest treasure of the ship. Now, the Red Marley’s crew doesn’t want this to happen. So they do everything in their power to avoid this from happening.
The story in this game doesn’t take itself too seriously. The story is written like it’s a Saturday morning cartoon. A story arc can be contained in one or a handful of episodes, but always has an ending. While almost everything in the story ends well for the main cast, the story and writing never looses its charm. I felt like I was transported back into the time I woke up for the weekly Pokémon episode. I knew that the main problem of that week’s episode would resolve by the end. Still, I kept rooting for the heroes.
One of the biggest reasons I kept rooting for the main characters is because of the voice actors. Their performances are extremely well done. They bring a lot of personality and life to each character. They make the characters stand out like real, actual people. This script must have been immense, since the characters sometimes react on the actions you preform with other characters. There are 8 main characters, and more if you buy the DLC packs. If you start counting how many unique voice lines that bring to the table… And that’s the tip of the iceberg. The enemies for example, when they come together also have unique dialogue between them.
It’s possible to write an article by itself about the world building, story and voice acting in this game. I can also assure you that when I write this article, I’ll keep gushing about it all. A great example is how the save & load function fits into the story. It enhances the world of this game. Yes, you read that correctly. When you save, you store a memory in the Red Marley. When you load one of your saves, the Red Marley uses its powers to restore that memory. Your characters also respond to your saving and loading action and this brings even more charm to this game.
In these types of games, the replay value is quite high. Especially since you tackle all missions in various ways and each playthrough is going to be different. In this game, it’s taken even a step further. You can choose the order to revive your crew. You can also choose the order to finish the missions of that chapter. I can assure you that your playthrough will look nothing like mine.
The main quest is quite enjoyable to play through. I actually became really immersed in the world of this game. At the moment, I’m playing through the final missions of the game and the DLC missions. I’m having a blast. Thankfully, I can easily start a new playthrough of this game. Then I can experience it all of it over again and take a totally different route. And maybe I can do the little side quests and pirate tales as well. Since, that’s content, I haven’t gone into too much yet.
Your playthrough of this game will take you somewhere between 27 to 37 hours. That is, if you want to beat the main story and DLC’s. But, if you want to fully finish this game… Oh boy, then you’ll have a game that’s close to 80 hours on your hands. I already mentioned the crew tales. But there are also mini-challenges you can go for during the missions to earn badges. Let’s not forget the achievements you can earn. Well, most of the achievements are related to the main campaign.
Now, I have one complaint about the badges in this game. Earning some of these badges is extremely tricky. Sometimes, you don’t get all the information you expect to. For example, there is a badge on each map for using all the landing spots of that map. But guess what, there is no easy way to see if you already used a landing spot or not. It’s a shame that some badges work like that. Especially since some of these badges make you go out of your way to play in an unique way. A more challenging way to spice up your normal routine.
Apart from bragging trophies, these medals don’t really add up to much. But, I honestly don’t really mind that. Since, it’s fun to gather these medals and have some bonus challanges during my playthrough. It keeps me on my toes and it’s really enjoyable.
Mindblowing abilities
I’m still quite impressed at how balanced this game is. Each character has their own unique abilities. It’s best that you always have a character with an ability that can move guards from their position. If you don’t have that, the game will actually warn you. You are going to make it extremely challenging for yourself.
Personally, I’m playing through this game on the normal difficulty setting and your decisions actually matter. Before starting each mission, study the map well. Try to remember each map as well as you can. Since you are going to revisit each map at least once or twice. It’s extremely important to choose the correct landing position.
You would think that the game will be a bit boring if you always bring the same crew into missions. But, the game rewards you using different characters for missions. You gain more vigor if you play with certain crew members during certain missions. If you earned enough vigor, you can upgrade one of the unique abilities of your characters. This upgrade will give you more and better tools in your arsenal. Now, these upgrades can make the game much easier. You can always turn off the upgrades while on the Red Marley.
In the introduction paragraph of this article, I quickly explained how this game works. So, let me tell you the gist of it. In this game, you go from mission to mission, completing various goals in each one. These goals can range for example from rescuing an informant or stealing an artifact. In each mission, there are various enemies patrolling the area. Your goal is to find the weakspots in their patrols and dispose of the enemies without getting spotted.
Now, getting spotted isn’t the end of the world in this game. Depending on where you are spotted, it’s possible to escape and hide somewhere. You just have to avoid taking damage, since your health is limited, and you can’t heal during the mission. If you aren’t careful, it’s easy to get swamped or overwhelmed with guards. Especially when a guard with a bell spots you, the traces you leave behind or sees a dead body. When this happens, you have a limited amount of time to kill that guard before the bell is rung. When the bell is rung, more guards will emerge from nearby barracks and swarm to the location.
On top of that, there are also some unique enemy types outside your regular patrol goons. The first type I want to talk are the Kindred. These annoying buggers bring something quite unique to the table in this genre. Kindred are always connected with each other. If you don’t kill these all at the same time, they will revive each other. But, this is only the start of your troubles.
You also have Prognosticar. And let me tell you, these are even more challenging. To defeat these enemies, you need to have two units ready. One unit needs to be spotted or attack the Prognosticar. Since as soon as that happens, your unit gets trapped. This trap will go on and damage your unit until the unit either dies or is rescued. When the Prognosticar is using his trap, he can be attacked and killed. But do it quick. The trap is damaging your unit. You are also stuck in place. This situation is dangerous.
It also matters if the mission is taking place during day or night. The big difference is that in the daytime, the enemies have a bigger field of view. During the nighttime, some enemies will carry a torch on their patrol. This gives more light to other units. They can spot you sneaking by if you aren’t careful. There are also various torches dotted around the map, and you can put them out. The enemies can’t stand torches that are put out and will go out of their way to light them again.
It’s also important to know if an enemy stops in their patrol to talk to another enemy. Since if you kill one of them, the other enemy will start looking for them. They will start running around and if you weren’t careful, will find your tracks and spot you.
Learning those little mechanics is essential in this game. Never forget the tools you have in this game! This ranges from the abilities of each character to how for example view cones work. There is something called view cone surfing. If you want to dash to another place past some enemies… Understand that a full color in the view cone means they will spot you right away. Stripped sections of the view cone will cause you to be unseen if you crawl by. Also, it takes a few moments of you being spotted and the alarm being raised. You can run quickly enough past an enemy. Alternatively, you can run from view cone to view cone. It’s possible to get past unseen.
If you are afraid that you will get overwhelmed by all the information of all the little mechanics, don’t worry. The difficulty curve in this game is perfect. This game also has solid character tutorials. Each character tutorial guides you through 2–3 rooms, teaching you the abilities of each ability and their unique use cases. At the end of each character tutorial, you get a puzzle room. Putting to the test if you can use that character correctly. During the game, you can always open your logbook from the pause menu, where all tutorials can be watched again.
This brings me to the abilities of your characters in this game. If you have played similar games, you’ll recognize certain abilities and others will be quite new and unique. Now, some of these abilities will have a unique spin to it. For example, your sniper only has one shot. But, when you retrieve your sniper bolt… Your sniper can shoot again.
There are also extremely unique mechanics, like your Canoness has very fun abilities. She can pick up dead bodies in her canon to launch them at enemies to knock them out. But, you can also pick up allies. You can fling them over a group of enemies. This will give them a better hiding spot. Or your Ship Doctor, she can create one hiding spot out of thin air. Or your navigator, she can stop time for one enemy, allowing you to easy sneak by. And your ship cook can throw a special doll. This doll allows him to teleport to that location. He does this as soon as you click the button. Oh, and if you place that doll on an enemy, it sticks to that enemy.
You might be annoyed that I somewhat spoiled things in the above paragraph. But I have only told the tip of the iceberg here. I have left out several characters in that little summary and they have mindblowing abilities as well. Each map is created in such a way that it doesn’t really matter which characters you take into battle. Since you can finish it using any of your characters.
The Swansong of Mimimi
When Klamath and I started streaming Commandos, I wanted to play a similar game. One I haven’t played through. Since I first started playing through Desperados III again, and that was beaten in a few days. Since, I really enjoyed Desperados III, I bought the next game from the studio.
As somebody who enjoyed Desperados III quite a lot, I was happy to see things return in this game. I can’t tell you how much I love the speed up button. While I wish you can adjust the speed of it… The slow wait can be annoying. Sometimes, you have to get an enemy right where you want them. On top of that, you also have the showdown mode. With the press of a button, you can stop time and plan out your units their next move. Once you press the enter key, either still in showdown mode or not, the actions will be executed. It still feels amazing when you execute a well timed attack to take out difficult set of enemies.
Something that’s extremely useful is how you can rotate the camera in this game. Sometimes an enemy walks behind a building or some rocks… So, if you can’t rotate the camera, you wonder from where you are taking damage. Also, the ability of outlining the enemies, ladders and hiding spots help with that as well. As you can see from my screenshots, I always play with that feature enabled.
Sadly, there are a few ladders that don’t get an outline. Most likely since the developers forgot to put a certain tag on them. I remember one in Angler’s Grave, at the top right. It’s not too far from one of the mission objectives, the informant. Thankfully, these very minor oversights rarely happen. Overall, this game is extremely solid and blast to play through.
The controls are extremely solid. I had to get used to one thing. To execute certain actions, I had to hold the left mouse button instead of just clicking. This sometimes tripped me up but a quick reload fixed that problem. I only have one minor complaint about the controls. Depending on the camera angle, there were rare moments where your character refused to go to a location. I suspect it has to do with where you click. Your unit always wants to look for the shortest way to reach where you click. Sadly, this trips something up in the pathfinding and your unti refuses to go to their destination. Thankfully, a quick camera movement can fix these moments. And also, I’m glad that these moments are quite rare.
Something that’s even more rare are some minor visual bugs that can happen sometimes. Sometimes an UI-element refuses to dissapear. I had that happen twice, when I shot an enemy holding down an exit rift with the Canoness. The stars indicated that the enemy was dizzy. They hovered above the enemy’s head after the rift opened. Even after I killed the enemy, these stars remained visible. There are sometimes minor visual bugs happening like that. Thankfully, they are extremely rare and sometimes are quite funny. One time, one of my units was standing perpendicular on a ladder when I stopped it going up the ladder. The only annoying bug was that I couldn’t retrieve two bodies. They lay in a remote part of Angler’s Grave. It was almost impossible to get rid of two bodies. Maybe, it’s possible. I don’t know, I honestly gave up and earned the badge of hiding bodies on a later revist.
In such a big game it’s to be expected that sometimes things can go wrong. But it surprises me how little goes wrong and how polished the overall game is. Scrolling through the patch notes of this game, I noticed that the developers fixed many issues. They also added a lot of new content to the game. The last update to the game was even a modding tool for this game. These mods go from chaging your character models to adding new maps. I think I’ll play around with the mods after I have fully beaten the game. I’m extremely close, since I’m in the final missions of the game.
Now, earlier I talked about the UI. The UI is quite easy and helpful. There are several unique icons to inform you where certain things are. For example, where you left the paper doll when using the ship cook. There is only one thing in the UI I dislike. And that’s the list of save games. You get a little screenshot of the location of the save and a time stamp. And that’s it. You can’t give a special name or note to them. So if you are looking for a certain save… you either need to make notes OR just go through all them until you het it.
It’s the only real complaint I can give about this game. There is just a lot that this game does right. Like how you can scroll to zoom in or out. When you scroll again at the max zoom level, you see a live map. This map shows where all the enemies are. The only minor complaint I have about the map is that ammo chests aren’t marked on there. Also, quick note on the ammo chests… Almost every character has the same visual for their gun. Now, if another visual appears above the ammo chest, it doesn’t matter. The ammo chests are never character specific.
Visually, this game looks breathtaking. The attention to detail in this world gets a big thumbs up from me. The world really feels alive and somewhat real. The little animation details for example when an enemy stops at a prison cell to talk to inmates… This is just amazing. The immersion level is even higher with that.
The soundtrack is very catchy and a joy to listen to. It made certain moments in the game even more thrilling. The music has been created by Filippo Beck Peccoz, he also created the music for Desperados III. The soundtrack really fits the game like a glove. I’m so glad I bought the soundtrack DLC,. Now I can add the music to my music library to play while I’m at my dayjob.
This brings me to the sound design of this game. The sound design of this game is amazing. I’m playing this game with a good headset and I don’t think this game is playable without sound effects. A great example is, when you get spotted. You not only get a great visual hint of a yellow line turning red of the enemy spotting you… You also get some sound effects informing you that things are about to go down. On top of that, the sound effects add so much extra impact on taking down enemies. This makes it even more rewarding when you finally take down that one pesky enemy.
One thing I haven’t talked about yet is how flexible this game is. I have touched upon that by talking about how you can only choose three out of 8 characters per mission. And you are encouraged to experiment with different combinations. Now, when you open the options menu, you’ll be blown away. You can change almost everything. The controls like the shortcuts for abilities can be tweaked to your liking. You have quite a lot of control to tweak the volumes, the controls, the visuals… Even tweak certain game mechanics to your liking. Don’t like the save reminder? You can turn that off.
There is still another thing that boggles my mind that was added in this game. You can create a custom difficulty. The only complaint I have there is that the UI fails to explain the differences. I find it challenging to understand all the settings. You get a short explaination about the setting, and then you have a slider you can set. But, what’s the difference between 1 and 2 on the slider? That’s something the UI doesn’t really tell.
When I was writing this article, I kept looking at my notes and thought: “Oh, I forgot about that.”. There are just so many things in this game. The fact that in some missions, you must kill enemies in unique ways. In one mission, you have to lure enemies to a certain location. You need to do this 4 times. You do this instead of killing them. It’s a breath of fresh air. You’d think that having only a handful of maps would make this game boring and repetitive, but no. The maps are not only large but also used in extremely interesting ways. Revisits of a map make it easier to start, but each area is used in a mission. So, there is still a lot of challenge in the revisits.
Oh, there is one more thing. The question if you should buy the DLC’s or not. Let me just tell you this, I bought the game on sale with the DLC’s included. I’m so happy I did! Since the additional content in the DLC’s adds so much more to this game. They come highly recommended.
Now, I have left out a few things for you all to find while playing this game. This article is already getting quite long. I want to leave some things as a surprise for people interested in playing this game. I think it’s high time to wrap up this review and give my conclusion and final thoughts on this game.
Conclusion of this treasure hunt
The negatives:
-Unable to add notes to quick saves. -Some minor (visual) glitches can happen. Thankfully, they are rare and rarely/never gamebreaking. -The UI of custom difficulty could have been executed better.
The positives:
+ A masterclass in it’s genre in terms of gameplay. + Extremely flexible with options. + A modding tool. + A love-able cartoony story. + Amazing voice over work. + Superb soundtrack. + …
Final thoughts:
When I started playing Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew, I had extremely high expectations. Mimimi blew me away with the amazing Desperados III. With this swansong of a game, they not only met my expectations, they blew them out of the water. This game showcases the achievements of passionate people. These individuals are dedicated to creating the game they love.
It didn’t take long before I fell in love with the cast of this game. The charm drew me into the world of this game. Apart from some minor things, it’s hard to find things to critique about this game. The only thing I can critique are small bugs that barely impact the gameplay of this game. This game really feels like a finished product and it’s a thrill ride from start to finish.
If you really want to find things this game does wrong… You’ll either need to be extremely nitpicky or just have the game not clicking with you. If you find this game too easy or too difficult, just tweak the setttings to your playstyle and voila.
If you enjoy games like Commandos or Desperados… You’d do yourself a disservice to not check out this game. Give the demo of this game a try, and see what you think. I wouldn’t be surprised that this game sinks it’s hook into you like it did with me.
It’s a shame to see that this game studio closes. Thank you to everybody who worked on this amazing title and I hope to meet your work in other games. This final game you all created together is a real piece of art. It’s a masterclass in game development and shows how well you know the community for games like this. I’m so happy that this game exists. Since it wouldn’t surprise me that I’ll play through this game several times now.
Before I ramble on and on about this game, I think it’s high time I wrap up this article. Otherwise, I’ll keep praising this game to high heavens and back. So, with that said, I have said close to everything I wanted to say about this game. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then… Have a great rest of your day and take care!
Everybody has several games that mean quite a lot to them. For me, one of these games is Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. I not only grew up with this game, but I also have a lot of memories of this game. Outside of that, I also met some amazing friends through the community behind this game. I even did several speedruns of this game, and I’m an active member of the community. Now, color me surprised that 25 years after the release of this game, we got new fan-made content for this ga
Everybody has several games that mean quite a lot to them. For me, one of these games is Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. I not only grew up with this game, but I also have a lot of memories of this game. Outside of that, I also met some amazing friends through the community behind this game. I even did several speedruns of this game, and I’m an active member of the community. Now, color me surprised that 25 years after the release of this game, we got new fan-made content for this game. Not just fan made content in the style of fan patches to solve bugs with the game, a whole new level and promises of a level editor to create even more new custom content. This blew me off my socks and in today’s article I want to talk about it. So strap in andlet’s get ready to play new content for one of the best Indiana Jones games ever made.
The new level – SED
There is a speedrunning discord server for this game. Well, it was a speedrunning discord server but for a few years now, this server has grown into a server of people who appreciate this game. If you want to join this discord, here is an invite link. When the server started to grow, several modders joined our server. One of these modders is going under the name of Urgon (currently) and what we didn’t know is that he was decompiling the whole game. Not only that, he was creating a level editor based upon an existing level editor.
This existing level editor is for Star Wars Jedi Knight & Mysteries of the Sith. Those games used an engine that formed the basis for the Jones3D engine. While he was developing that editor, he tested his skills by creating a new level. So, basically, parts of this new level are tests of the new level editor and what you can do with it.
Now, information about this new level and the download link can be found at this GitHub repository. If you want to download the actual level, you have to go to this page and click the green button named “Code”. In that dropdown, you can choose “download zip”. You’ll need that later if you want to install/play this custom level. Now, if you read the pre-mod or the installation instructions for this level, you might feel overwhelmed if you aren’t very technically inclined. That’s why two community members wrote two special tools to aid you in preparing your game.
You might ask yourself, like Klamath did in at the end of our stream of this custom level, why are there two tools for basically the same? Well, let me tell you the history about it. When I wanted to play the custom level, I had a bit of trouble myself while figuring out the tutorial. I also found that the required steps were quite a lot to do. So, I decided to start writing a PowerShell script that did all the steps. I announced that in the Indy3D discord that I was writing this. When I almost completed my tool, the_Kovic dropped his version of the tool.
Personally, I didn’t want to throw my work out the window and continued finishing my GUI version. When I finished, I didn’t convert my tool to an EXE and left it just as a script file you could run using a command line or a code editor. The next day, Kovic released a GUI version of his tool and I gave some feedback on his tool. In the days after that, I created an EXE version of my tool and we both kept adding features in our tool. He wrote his tool in C#, which is a bit friendlier to create an EXE. If I didn’t release my first version as a script only and converted it to an EXE, I think it might have been less overwhelming for people.
That said, Kovic thanked me for creating my tool since like he said on our stream: “It put my butt into gear to create a tool and write a GUI, which I normally don’t write“. On top of that, our tools aren’t meant to compete with each other. I can’t write C# and Kovic can’t write PowerShell. And it would be a shame to just delete work because somebody else was quicker or made their tool more user-friendly first. The result now is that we both have two very strong tools with a very similar, maybe even completely the same, feature set.
Outside a different choice of coding language, the biggest differences between both our tools are under the hood. In Kovic’s tool, you get more files than in my tool when you download the tool. And that’s because to prepare your game for custom levels, you need to extract several files in the resource folder. The tool used for extraction has a bug where instead of extracting the folders of the archive into the resource folder, it extracts them into separate folders, like if you would extract a zip file. Kovic packs a modified version of this extraction tool so that part of the process goes a bit faster. In my version, the tool just downloads the latest official versions of the tool and prepare the game that way.
In the end, both our tools give you the same end result. They prepare your game to install custom levels and play them. If you want to try out the_kovic’s tool, you can find the latest version on this releases page. If you want to try our my tool, you can find it on this releases page. Feedback to our tools is always welcome! If you find an issue or if you have an idea, feel free to hit us up, and we will look into it.
Earlier I talked about a stream of the level we did. Klamath, the_Kovic and me did a live stream where we played through this level. Now, I have to emphasize that release of this level is an impressive technical achievement. Creating a level for a 3D game isn’t easy and requires a lot of work. It’s even more impressive when you know that not everything is documented about the engine, and you have to decompile a lot of it. In the next part of this article, I’m going to talk about the level itself and critique it.
If you don’t want spoilers, I’d advise you to skip that section for now and come back later. Now, I want to say that I start reviewing the level in a moment, but this feedback is mostly meant for people who want to make new custom content. What did this new level do right and wrong if you look at it as a player who doesn’t know the technical background of this level? This isn’t meant to break down the amazing work the modders did to make this work.
Reviewing the new level
Editorial note: this review will spoil quite a lot. If you don’t want to get spoiled, you have to skip this section of the article. This isn’t a walkthrough of the level either. Some sections are skipped, I’m only going to talk about the sections I want to talk about.
The new level takes place 25 years after the ending of the original game. Indy returns to his Canyonlands dig site. You are set loose at the tent where Sophia picked Indy up with a helicopter to start the Infernal Machine adventure.
In terms of new content, there isn’t a lot new to see. Some ladders are missing and some parts of the level are blocked off. Also, all treasures are missing that you would usually find in the level.
Before I continue, I want to mention that some parts of this level are made quite difficult on purpose. The developer wanted to give us the feeling we were young kids again, playing this game for the first time, and have us figure out the new puzzles by ourselves. Yet, finding a correct balance between difficulty and unfair is a very fine line to thread. Personally, I think that in some sections, the developer crossed the line into unfair level design.
When running on the top section, you notice that there are some new voice lines. These voice lines are made possible with a voice cloning AI tool that was trained on lines from Doug Lee, the original voice actor for this game. The new voice lines sound amazing, and if you didn’t know better, you’d think that Doug Lee came back to record the new lines. In most cases, these voice lines really fit Indy’s personality and fit right into the game.
We come to our first snag when we want to go to the new content. I can understand not seeing the shovel and being confused, since it’s hanging at the jeep on top. And you know what’s even more confusing, the other side of the jeep model has a shovel in its texture! Anyhow, when you pick up the shovel and dig up the Infernal Machine part, it’s clear that you need to break a wall. Here comes one of the worst parts of this level. The location of this cracked wall is insanely well hidden. It’s in one of the last places you’d look, and several of the first players ran around for hours upon hours in Canyonlands before it was found. And when it was found, it made us annoyed.
It’s a clear example of how players who are used to the level, overlooking the obvious. The wall you need to break has an actual cracked wall texture, but it’s behind something you can’t see through. I think it would have been fine if the location, where it is at, had a bigger ledge so you’d notice it somewhat instead of just having to go on a wild goose chase.
Now, we enter the new area. We come to a big open space where the next set of puzzles are. The first puzzle is actually a jumping puzzle. Now, I highly advise you to not play this level if you haven’t played through most of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. Not that there are spoilers, but because some of the jumps in this level are straight up difficult and not what you really expect from this game. Kovic calls it “Kaizo Jones” for a good reason.
There are some small platforms and not having the look key working is going to be a pain in this section. Since, there are some moments where you need to be able to free look and not being able to see beneath or above you will make things a lot more tricky. After you finished these jumps, you might start to notice that the developer of this custom level added some details. Like, the rope bridges are gently moving in the wind. This is something that isn’t present in the original game. It’s a new “COG” script that makes that possible.
These cog scripts are a blessing for custom content. Since, this game isn’t hardcoded at all, so if you learn how to write these cog scripts, you can basically write new mechanics as well. It’s insane what possibilities there are going to be in the future for this game. I hope there is going to be good documentation so that custom level creaters know what’s possible and what’s impossible with the level editor.
While you are exploring this area, you notice that it’s huge. This also explains why it takes quite a while to load this level. Currently, modders are looking into why it’s running so slow. Since, we don’t really know if it’s the level size or something else slowing down the loading of this level.
So, after jumping around the central column, you’ll arive at the shed. Here you notice you can actually enter the shed from the top. Kovic explains it quite well during the stream. If you want to hear some technical explanations on how this level works, I’d advice you to watch our stream. Since there is a lot of interesting development talk in there. Later, Kovic and myself had a contest in trying to quote voice lines from the main game. We got close to 200. Kovic won that because I said a line he already said.
After you picked up everything from this shed and climbed outside, you experience another new mechanic of this game. It’s a mechanic that gets backported from Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb. The fact you can use your whip to go over a zipline.
After you returned and struggled with getting across the other bridge, you will encounter other parts of this level. Here you’ll encounter two voice lines that straight up lie to you. The first voice line is that you need more force, explosives to break a rock that’s blocking your way forwards. Here is the issue with that, you get an explosive barrel later. You need to find an extremely hidden swim tunnel in the water. It’s not the only hidden thing in the water, so investigate behind and underneath rocks quite well. Since, these puzzles in this water border in the unfair territory. What makes that explosive voice line even more evil is that there is a box of TNT in the shed earlier. But what’s the second voice line that lies to you?
Well, that is after you made your way past said boulder. You find a minecart and interacting with it, Indy says that it will run with gasoline. And there is still gasoline left in the shed. Sadly, you can’t pick it up anymore. Now, this is a red haring, you don’t need this minecart at all.
By now, you have learned that this level likes to break the rules of how the main game is designed. You’ll have to think outside of the box sometimes to beat this level. But, for some jumps, you need to use your knowledge of what’s possible and impossible to progress. This makes it quite tricky sometimes to progress. And this brings me to a conclusion we also said on stream. I think that the issue is that people expected a more tame level than what we actually got and that might turn some people off. But, I’m so glad that the quick save system exists in this game. So, abuse the quick save system and make multiple saves since you’ll need them if you aren’t a veteran player of this game.
Anyhow, let’s get back into the flow of the level. After we completed the lever puzzle, we go back towards to the huge open area and take the lift to a new location. What follows is a totally new area where it’s a good thing if you saved up on health packs and you have a great sense of direction.
So, the short minecart ridge comes to an end. It doesn’t take long before you find yourself into a watermaze. This watermaze is unfair in my honest opinion. Klamath had a tricky time solving it and he had to use almost every health pack to get through it. Without Kovic pointing out the right tunnel, I think it would have made the stream quite a bit longer. There was supposed to be a minecart section instead of this swimming maze, but the developer had a hard time making the minecart section to work and he gave up and made this swimming maze.
Now, I’m all fine with this swimming maze, but the map glitches out at certain parts. I have a mediocre sense of direction and I wanted to rely on the map. The map doesn’t always render the tunnels correctly. You sometimes swim off the map or “in nothingness”. Sadly, I have to draw my own map. I wish I still had it, since it would make for a nice screenshot here… But I threw it out but me and my clumsiness… I knocked over my waterbottle over it.
After the swimming maze, we get a new section of “Kaizo Jones”. Where we get some extremely tricky platforming. Here is where you need to use the look key again and be sure you are playing in 4:3. If you are playing in another resolution like 16:9 or 16:10, this will also be one of the moments where you don’t see all the information.
The block puzzle that follows, feels right out of Tomb Raider. The initial reviews of this game called out this game as a Tomb Raider clone. While, this game does the formula a whole lot differently. We even talked about that during the stream. In terms of theming, Infernal Machine is a lot better. Tomb Raider feels like obstacle courses. But that’s thanks to a different engine and control style. If you want to hear the whole discussion, you can watch the stream from this point. Excuse Kovic’s internet being spotty while he was replying.
After the block puzzle, a new path opens in the swim maze. Then, some platforming comes. Something I love is how there is even a troll hidden inside the platforming. It caught me off guard and made me smile. This platforming section was also love to do. It felt like a real test on how well I know the game. This platforming section feels a lot better put together and feel less cryptic on where you need to go next. You really start to notice that the developer was getting more used to the level editor and made better puzzles. The moment of having to use the whip to swing over the gap while the platform underneath you was breaking was amazing.
After that, we get into the finale of this level. We jump into a portal and we land in a playable area which is shown at the end of Shambala, the 4th level in the original game. That area that’s shown to you after you have beaten the Ice Guardian. The path that takes you to Palawan Lagoon. It was possible to explore that using cheats and modified saves, but now it’s in a level for real. Exploring the little house at the end brings us to something you totally don’t expect this custom level to do. You’ll find a parchment inside with a riddle and at the end you notice something in red saying: “MAT -> ZIP”.
There is some meta gaming now going on. You’ll need to make a hard save and exit your game. You’ll need to go to your resource folder & then open the MAT folder. In there you’ll need to rename “SED.MAT” to “SED.ZIP”. You’ll also need to enter the password for the zip, since you get a new cog script to continue the level, which you need to place in your cog folder. In there, there is another surprise. But, that’s something I’m not going to spoil. But, be sure that Kovic is playing with that surprise and maybe I’m going to dig into it. PS, the next paragraph is in white with the right spelling of the password:
Marcus
The way the level ends is bittersweet. If you solve the final puzzle, something special happens and you can beat the level. You could argue that the ending of this level is “lazy” or “creative”… But, it’s an amazing way to wrap up the story in one level with a nice bow.
At the start of the custom level, I felt that it was quite rough around the edges and it had some moments that felt badly designed. In terms of game design that is. If you look at it visually and level flow wise, I personally think that this level would fit right into the original game as a final challenge. But, the further you go into the level, the more you start to notice that the developer of this level is getting used to the tools and the editor and more polished puzzles and area’s are coming through. You notice the journey of the developer and see it becoming better and better.
I want to give a big congrats to everybody who was involved in releasing this custom level. It’s a blast to play and I can’t wait to see more custom levels. The stream I did with this level was one of the best streams ever and it was also quite a lot of fun to write the tool to help people play this custom level. I’m curious what you think about this custom level and/or the content of this article. Feel free to drop something in the comment section down below.
And with that, I have said everything I wanted to say about this for now. I want to thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to welcome you back in another article but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.
Nintendo.com microsite – Official website – Wikipedia page
When you purchase games on the Nintendo eShop, you earn store credit. I usually save up a lot of my credit and purchase a smaller title with it. One of these titles I purchased a few months ago is named Little Noah – Scion of Paradise. After playing it for a bit, I was surprised that it was the perfect game to play on my commute to and from work. I played it on a few train rides, and I think I’m ready to share my opinion on this g
When you purchase games on the Nintendo eShop, you earn store credit. I usually save up a lot of my credit and purchase a smaller title with it. One of these titles I purchased a few months ago is named Little Noah – Scion of Paradise. After playing it for a bit, I was surprised that it was the perfect game to play on my commute to and from work. I played it on a few train rides, and I think I’m ready to share my opinion on this game. This game is something unique and now that I have beaten it once, I really want to talk about it. Wait, beaten it once? What do I actually mean? Let’s talk about it in this article, while I invite you to leave a comment with your thoughts and/or opinions on this game and/or the content of this article in the comment section down below.
Zipping Kitty Attempts
In this game, we play as an alchemist called Little Noah. She is in a long journey to reunite with her father. While she is looking for her father, her airship gets caught in a storm, and she crashes near a mysterious ruin.
In that ruin, she meets an amnesiac cat named Zipper. Well, she names it Zipper. Together, they start to explore this ruin because they encountered a dark wizard named Greigh, who wants to enable a powerful machine which is dormant in the ruin.
Now, if you are looking for a deep story… I’m going to have to disappoint you. The story of this game isn’t the main focus of this game. The story in this game is fine for what it is and does its job, but there is nothing more to it. Personally, I don’t think it’s a negative for this game. Because the story takes a backseat, the gameplay loop is a lot more polished. Also, I don’t think it was the intention to have a very in depth story.
The voice actors in this game did an amazing job and brought the characters and the world of this game to live. The amount of personality they brought to their characters is really well done and really fits the atmosphere of this game like a glove. The amazing voice acting is one of the main reasons why I didn’t mind the “To be continued” at the end of the game at all. This small title really feels like the developers are testing the water if people who be interested in a larger game set in the world of Little Noah.
So, what do I mean by “small title”? Well, this game can be beaten in an afternoon. Now, the game has quite a lot of replay value in my opinion. The gameplay loop of this game is quite enjoyable. It has quite the potential to grow into something unique that I don’t often see in these rouge lite games. But, I’ll talk more about the gameplay later.
According to various sources online, this game has been worked on by a small team of 30 people. Even by some industry legends like Yukio Futatsugi, who had his hand on another title I played in the past called World’s End Club. The amount of love and care put into this title is quite impressive and gets a thumbs up from me. I know that this game is based upon an earlier mobile game from the same developers called Battle Champs. Yet, I think it’s great to see the developers repurpose the assets after the shutdown of that game and make something new about it.
If you have ever played a game like Rouge Legacy, you’ll feel right at home in this game. In this game, you have to explore a dungeon and fight bosses. During your exploration run, you gain various special items that give you all sorts of buffs.
In terms of difficulty, this game is very balanced. While you can get lucky and get amazing items and buffs to make it quite far in the game, with enough skill and understanding of the game… you can even outplay the game if you get bad items and not good buffs. Now, I’m reading mixed things about the hard difficulty online, but I have been playing through this game on normal difficulty and I found it pretty fair and balanced. So, let’s do one more dive to explain how this game works.
One More Dive
I want to talk about the unique mechanic in this game. The combat system in this game is something I wanted to play for a long while. In this game, you are accompanied by Lilliputs. These are special creatures who attack for you. You start each run with three basic Lilliputs. During your run, you can find other Lilliputs and make yourself stronger.
Each Lilliput is very different in terms of strength, element, attack, and unique attack. You can only have five Lilliputs for your main attacks, and you have two special attack slots where you can place one Lilliput in each. So, you really need to balance your Lilliputs well. The order is also quite important, you don’t want a whole row of slow attacking Lilliputs in an area with a lot of range attacking enemies. Also, you don’t want to use a weak element compared to the enemies you are facing. If you are focusing on wind, you will have trouble with fire enemies.
It’s extremely important to understand your Lilliputs. Since, once you started an attack, you are somewhat locked into that attack. You can’t start another attack while an attack is in progress, excluding the special attacks that is. So, if the enemy moves to the other side of your attack, though luck. This game is a whole balancing and time act, and it’s a lot of fun. The randomness in this whole game makes each run unique, and you can never predict how far you’ll be able to go.
Now, dying in this game isn’t the worst thing. All your items and Lilliputs get converted into mana, which you can use to repair your airship. The more you repair your airship, the more advantages and buffs you can unlock to make even better runs. You can also use special treasure chests you can pick up in your run to either increase the strength of your unlocked Lilliputs or give to Zipper for a special bonus for your next run.
So, how does a run go? Well, allow me to compare it to a crusade in Cult of the Lamb to a degree. In that game, you go into a dungeon, and you have to go from room to room, defeating every enemy in that room before you can progress to the next room. Unlike Cult of the Lamb, some rooms give you a special challenge. These challenges are reaching a certain amount of chained damage or hits, not being hit or defeating all the enemies in a limited amount of time. When you complete this challenge, you receive an additional bonus when you defeat the room.
There are also special rooms that can spawn. A shop where you can spend the gold you earn during a run, platform challenges with a strong treasure chest at the end, (combat) challenge rooms and rooms where you can get special buffs from a crystal and a room where you can get Lilliputs or a buff item. All of these special rooms have a special icon on the map. The map also shows little icons when there is still something you can pick up in the room.
Complete exploration of a dungeon is a very risk/reward thing. You do risk your health to go into an additional room to get additional buffs, or do you want to save your health for the next (mid)boss level? In order to beat this game, you have to beat three worlds. Each world works like this: level – level – midboss – level – boss. Be warned, you can only replenish your health potions at the start of a level. During (mid)boss fights, you can’t replenish your health potions, so keep that in mind when you are deciding if it’s worth the risk to go into that challenge platforming room.
Overall, the gameplay in the dungeon is quite addictive and the fast-paced decision-making you have to make is something that got me hooked. I don’t spend a lot of time on my airship, outside repairing it and setting up the right buffs for my next run. I always want to do one more dive and try and beat the game again. Now, the airship itself is build quite well. You can also re-read the tutorial boxes in case you want to refresh your memory on certain mechanics.
Repetition of Diving
Something that really impressed me is how smooth this game actually runs. The optimization of this game is incredible. I didn’t have any frame rate issues or slowdowns at all. Even when I’m preforming my ultimate attack, which causes a lot of visual flair and effects on the screen.
The controls are extremely responsive as well. Very rarely I felt like I wasn’t in control, and I think some of these moments might even have been a false positive where I was trying to blame my mistake on the game. In terms of the controls, there are only a few nitpicks I can give. The first is the decision to place “R” as the interaction button. This feels quite unnatural and took me some getting used to. Also, I think a left-handed mode would have been welcome since I think left-handed people who appreciate the “L” button then for interactions.
Why am I placing so much attention on this? Well, because you don’t pick up items or Lilliputs automatically. You have to stand next to them and interact with their medal or crystal. But items like health drops or burst gauges are picked up automatically.
The other nitpick I have is that when you start your dive, you get a fixed amount of mana from the first dungeon. Why can’t we skip this little cutscene that plays every time? It breaks the flow of the start of a run. Since you are stopped in your tracks every time.
Another nitpick I have with the controls is how the Lilliput attack order can be decided. The problem comes when I just want to swap two Lilliputs of their place. This is something you can’t do. Unless you swap them from your inventory to the main line OR from the main line to a special attack slot and vice versa. Swapping two Lilliputs in the main line is somewhat clunky to do and feels unpolished.
Visually, this game is extremely colorful and charming. While this is a side view game, like a 2D Mario game, the backgrounds are also incredible. The team that worked on the visual presentation of this game did an amazing job. I only have one nitpick about it and that’s somewhat shared with a nitpick I have with the audio design.
I feel like the frozen status isn’t communicated clearly enough to the player. Several times I was unable to move Noah and I couldn’t figure out why. It took me sometime to realize that she was frozen and that’s the reason why I couldn’t preform an action. Either a more exaggerated visual of a frozen Noah could solve this or more sound effects when you try to do something while frozen.
Apart from that, I don’t have any complaints about the visuals. The animation feels amazing, and you feel the impact of the attacks of your Lilliputs and it feels so rewarding, adding more immersion to the gameplay loop. This game is something where I felt: “One more dive” after each time I died and returned to the airship. Each time I wanted to go and explore the amazing caverns. While I was afraid that this game would suffer from long play sessions, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t the case for me. At the end of a long play session, I have to admit that the game felt a bit repetitive… But I don’t mind repetitive gameplay too much when the core gameplay loop and level design is fun.
The only negative I have about the level design is that you very quickly see all the possible room lay-outs there are in this game. While the dungeon is randomized each run, it doesn’t take long before you see similar rooms. A couple of times, I even had the same room back-to-back. This isn’t a huge problem perse, but I felt that the developers could mask this a bit better with different decorations or minor changes like one of the platforms having a possibility of crumbling or not.
The music and sound effects in this game are really catchy. I would love to add it to my playlist. Sadly, I can’t really find a way to listen to the soundtrack or even buy it. The tracks in this game are charming when they need to be but are also quite action-packed during fight scenes. The sound effects and visuals inform you quite well when an enemy is going to attack.
Now, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I think it’s high time for my conclusion of this game. Let’s dive into the summary and my final thoughts of this game.
Summary
The bad:
– Some minor nitpicks with the controls. – Story is fine, but lacks some depth and is predictable.
The good:
+ Very addictive gameplay loop with high replay value. + Amazing voice acting. + Breath taking visuals. + Extremely optimized gameplay. + …
Final thoughts:
This game is a small indie title created from the remains of an old gotcha game. It’s only 15€ on the Nintendo eShop and it’s totally worth it’s price in gold. While the game lacks some depth and is quite short, the replay value this game has is something that’ll make you replay this game just one more time.
While playing this game, I felt that this game was an experiment. The developers were testing the waters if the gameplay would work or not. This game feels like a prequel to a much larger game and if I’m right, I can’t wait to see what the full game or the sequel is going to be like.
Even when this game is going to be a standalone game, I don’t really mind if that’s the case. This game is a game I can highly recommend if you enjoy games like Rouge Legacy or Cult of the Lamb. While it doesn’t have a lot of, if any, base building… It’s another amazing title in the genre.
While outside of the combat mechanics, it doesn’t do a lot of things you haven’t seen (a lot) before in other similar games. But, that isn’t a bad thing. Since, sometimes a game where all the good ideas from other games come together into one title can be a lot of fun as well.
I’d love to see another game in this universe where there are a bit more stakes in using your Lilliputs. What if certain Lilliputs get weaker when you pick up items of their opposite element? Or Lilliputs that can do a special attack with another Lilliput present…
There is so much more you can do with this combat system and I think that if the developers expanded on the core mechanics, this game sequel could reach quite far. Since, the game we already got placed an amazing foundation for an amazing series. I love this game to bits and I’m so glad I gave this game a chance, since it was an amazing pleasant surprise to playthrough. It comes highly recommend from me. After I finished the game once, I let me hunger for more. I wanted to play it even more. And the fact that I barely have any complaints about this game apart from a weak story and some nitpicks… This game just has a lot of care and lot put in by the developers and everything works and fits together so well.
With that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. I want to thank you for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.
Wonder Boy, Bust a Move, New Zealand Story today⊟Hey y'all, it’s been a while, as evidenced by my trying to spell “Tumblr” with an O while logging in. Tomblr. Tumblor. Toumblro.Anyway I’m back with more old games on Switch. It’s becoming my brand and I’m ok with that. Today’s Nintendo Download includes a whole entire Wonder Boy Collection (also on PS4/PS5), with multiple versions of each game including Master System, Game Gear, arcade, and Genesis (not all for every game of course!) and multiple
Hey y'all, it’s been a while, as evidenced by my trying to spell “Tumblr” with an O while logging in. Tomblr. Tumblor. Toumblro.
Anyway I’m back with more old games on Switch. It’s becoming my brand and I’m ok with that. Today’s Nintendo Download includes a whole entire Wonder Boy Collection (also on PS4/PS5), with multiple versions of each game including Master System, Game Gear, arcade, and Genesis (not all for every game of course!) and multiple regional versions. I don’t know developer Bliss Brain, and I didn’t play their previous game, the Princess Maker remake. So I can’t speak to the quality of the ports. But as long as they’re not totally busted that’s such a cool collection!
Also on eShop today: Puzzle Bobble™2X/BUST-A-MOVE™2 Arcade Edition & Puzzle Bobble™3/BUST-A-MOVE™3 S-Tribute, a collection of Saturn ports. More importantly, it’s just a king’s ransom of moves to bust and puzzles to bobble. “Enjoy ports of the arcade games Puzzle Bobble 2X and Puzzle Bobble 3, as well as four home console versions released in Japan and abroad, with added original modes.”
Finally, there’s an Arcade Archives port of another Taito classic, The New Zealand Story. I might be doing some shopping as long as my house continues to have electricity!
Keep it locked for infrequent updates about ports of old games onto Switch. I’m… I’m doing my best you guys.
EVE Echoes — please remember that this still exists — offered up some balance and market adjustments along with a preview of some new corporation tech that will allow players to drill into moons. And this is just the beginning of the rest of the news! Read on for a roundup of other smaller MMO news stories […]
EVE Echoes — please remember that this still exists — offered up some balance and market adjustments along with a preview of some new corporation tech that will allow players to drill into moons. And this is just the beginning of the rest of the news! Read on for a roundup of other smaller MMO news stories […]
When I was a kid, I briefly had a friend who built the first computer I ever saw. I long ago forgot the friend's name, but I remember the name he gave the computer: Laurie (after Laurie Partridge, natch). It had one simple Star Trek game that somehow involved acquiring and shooting photon torpedoes. — Read the rest
The post 10 PRINT "NOSTALGIA", 20 GOTO 10 – Wired reminisces about BASIC appeared first on Boing Boing.
When I was a kid, I briefly had a friend who built the first computer I ever saw. I long ago forgot the friend's name, but I remember the name he gave the computer: Laurie (after Laurie Partridge, natch). It had one simple Star Trek game that somehow involved acquiring and shooting photon torpedoes. — Read the rest
Five Years Ago
This week in 2019, the New York Times stood up for Section 230 and called out the politicians who were lying about it, like Rep. Gosar who had previously been sued for blocking constituents on social media, while we tried to put an end to the myth that big tech was censoring conservatives (and that platforms legally had to be neutral) and looked closer at Josh Hawley’s latest bill that would make him product manager for the internet. And, as expected, Nick Sandmann’s lawsuit again
The UMPC is making a comeback, and it’s mostly thanks to the GPD Win. UMPCPortal is making a comeback too. Over the last year I’ve been working hard to salvage the site and bring it back to the standards that you expect. More on that, the problems this site had, and the outlook for UMPCs in 2019, follows. In the last year on UMPCPortal there were just three posts. In the last 2 years, just 7 posts. UMPCPortal wasn’t just on ice, it was getting a bad reputation for being […]
The UMPC is making a comeback, and it’s mostly thanks to the GPD Win. UMPCPortal is making a comeback too. Over the last year I’ve been working hard to salvage the site and bring it back to the standards that you expect. More on that, the problems this site had, and the outlook for UMPCs in 2019, follows. In the last year on UMPCPortal there were just three posts. In the last 2 years, just 7 posts. UMPCPortal wasn’t just on ice, it was getting a bad reputation for being […]
UMPCPortal, the site that I started as Carrypad.com in Feb 2006, survives! It’s full of mobile computing history that needs to be preserved. Maybe in another 10 years we’ll be able to look back at the equipment and wonder how we ever survived. Here’s 2007, for example. Crazy! You’ll notice that most ads and plugins and bells and whistles are now gone so the site is faster and hopefully more stable. You might also notice that the sites Ultrabooknews and Chromebookworld are gone. They were out of
UMPCPortal, the site that I started as Carrypad.com in Feb 2006, survives! It’s full of mobile computing history that needs to be preserved. Maybe in another 10 years we’ll be able to look back at the equipment and wonder how we ever survived. Here’s 2007, for example. Crazy! You’ll notice that most ads and plugins and bells and whistles are now gone so the site is faster and hopefully more stable. You might also notice that the sites Ultrabooknews and Chromebookworld are gone. They were out of date and needed […]
8/5/1974: Shortly after the Supreme Court decided United States v. Nixon, President Nixon released the "smoking gun" tape recorded in the Oval office. President Richard NixonThe post Today in Supreme Court History: August 5, 1974 appeared first on Reason.com.
8/4/1961: President Barack Obama's birthday. He would appoint two Justices to the Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. President Obama's appointees to the Supreme CourtThe post Today in Supreme Court History: August 4, 1961 appeared first on Reason.com.
Five Years Ago
This week in 2019, the New York Times stood up for Section 230 and called out the politicians who were lying about it, like Rep. Gosar who had previously been sued for blocking constituents on social media, while we tried to put an end to the myth that big tech was censoring conservatives (and that platforms legally had to be neutral) and looked closer at Josh Hawley’s latest bill that would make him product manager for the internet. And, as expected, Nick Sandmann’s lawsuit again
8/3/1994: Justice Stephen Breyer takes oath. Justice Stephen Breyer The post Today in Supreme Court History: August 3, 1994 appeared first on Reason.com.
8/2/1923: President Calvin Coolidge's Inauguration. He would appoint Justice Harlan Fiske Stone to the Supreme Court. President Calvin Coolidge The post Today in Supreme Court History: August 2, 1923 appeared first on Reason.com.
Percival Everett has breathed fierce life into one of American literature's iconic characters in James, a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the runaway slave. James' conceit is that Jim is secretly literate and can speak with perfect diction. Twain's "painstakingly" studied "Missouri negro" dialect is a put-on that Jim and other slaves use to deflect white anger and suspicion. Everett is a sly writer, and he loves to empl
Percival Everett has breathed fierce life into one of American literature's iconic characters in James, a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, the runaway slave.
James' conceit is that Jim is secretly literate and can speak with perfect diction. Twain's "painstakingly" studied "Missouri negro" dialect is a put-on that Jim and other slaves use to deflect white anger and suspicion. Everett is a sly writer, and he loves to employ this code-switching and the fictions of race for subversive comic effect.
But language is all-powerful in James. Early in Jim's journey, a slave steals a pencil for him—a hangable offense—so that Jim can "write himself into being."
"I can tell you that I am a man who is cognizant of his world," James, as he renames himself, writes, "a man who has a family, who loves a family, who has been torn from his family, a man who can read and write, a man who will not let his story be self-related, but self-written."
James' revolt against a society that defines him as property extends to the metaphysical. In his fever dreams he debates Voltaire and John Locke. He in fact writes himself out of Huckleberry Finn's unserious final act to pursue an ending that better fits his outrage and newfound agency.
Finn's key moment is when Huck declares he'll help Jim even if it means going to hell, but Everett reminds us that Jim is already there. James tells another man he was "born in hell. Sold before my mother could hold me." James is not a gauzy moral fable or boy's adventure, but a man's flight through the inferno of America's racial past that is by turns darkly funny and terrifying.
8/1/1942: Military commissions conclude for eight nazi saboteurs. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of these trials in Ex Parte Quirin. The Stone Court (1942)The post Today in Supreme Court History: August 1, 1942 appeared first on Reason.com.
Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of Standards, and his reinstatement after more than 400 scientists threatened to resign. Who knew a little box of salt could stir up such drama?What was AD-X2?It all started in 1947 when a bulldozer operator with a 6th grade education, Jess M. Ritchie, teamed up with UC Berkeley chemistry professor Merle Randall to promote AD-X2, an additive to extend the life of lead-acid batteries. The problem of these r
Senate hearings, a post office ban, the resignation of the director of the National Bureau of Standards, and his reinstatement after more than 400 scientists threatened to resign. Who knew a little box of salt could stir up such drama?
What was AD-X2?
It all started in 1947 when a bulldozer operator with a 6th grade education, Jess M. Ritchie, teamed up with UC Berkeley chemistry professor Merle Randall to promote AD-X2, an additive to extend the life of lead-acid batteries. The problem of these rechargeable batteries’ dwindling capacity was well known. If AD-X2 worked as advertised, millions of car owners would save money.
Jess M. Ritchie demonstrates his AD-X2 battery additive before the Senate Select Committee on Small Business.National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Collections
A basic lead-acid battery has two electrodes, one of lead and the other of lead dioxide, immersed in dilute sulfuric acid. When power is drawn from the battery, the chemical reaction splits the acid molecules, and lead sulfate is deposited in the solution. When the battery is charged, the chemical process reverses, returning the electrodes to their original state—almost. Each time the cell is discharged, the lead sulfate “hardens” and less of it can dissolve in the sulfuric acid. Over time, it flakes off, and the battery loses capacity until it’s dead.
By the 1930s, so many companies had come up with battery additives that the U.S. National Bureau of Standards stepped in. Its lab tests revealed that most were variations of salt mixtures, such as sodium and magnesium sulfates. Although the additives might help the battery charge faster, they didn’t extend battery life. In May 1931, NBS (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST) summarized its findings in Letter Circular No. 302: “No case has been found in which this fundamental reaction is materially altered by the use of these battery compounds and solutions.”
Of course, innovation never stops. Entrepreneurs kept bringing new battery additives to market, and the NBS kept testing them and finding them ineffective.
Do battery additives work?
After World War II, the National Better Business Bureau decided to update its own publication on battery additives, “Battery Compounds and Solutions.” The publication included a March 1949 letter from NBS director Edward Condon, reiterating the NBS position on additives. Prior to heading NBS, Condon, a physicist, had been associate director of research at Westinghouse Electric in Pittsburgh and a consultant to the National Defense Research Committee. He helped set up MIT’s Radiation Laboratory, and he was also briefly part of the Manhattan Project. Needless to say, Condon was familiar with standard practices for research and testing.
Meanwhile, Ritchie claimed that AD-X2’s secret formula set it apart from the hundreds of other additives on the market. He convinced his senator, William Knowland, a Republican from Oakland, Calif., to write to NBS and request that AD-X2 be tested. NBS declined, not out of any prejudice or ill will, but because it tested products only at the request of other government agencies. The bureau also had a longstanding policy of not naming the brands it tested and not allowing its findings to be used in advertisements.
AD-X2 consisted mainly of Epsom salt and Glauber’s salt.National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Collections
Ritchie cried foul, claiming that NBS was keeping new businesses from entering the marketplace. Merle Randall launched an aggressive correspondence with Condon and George W. Vinal, chief of NBS’s electrochemistry section, extolling AD-X2 and the testimonials of many users. In its responses, NBS patiently pointed out the difference between anecdotal evidence and rigorous lab testing.
Enter the Federal Trade Commission. The FTC had received a complaint from the National Better Business Bureau, which suspected that Pioneers, Inc.—Randall and Ritchie’s distribution company—was making false advertising claims. On 22 March 1950, the FTC formally asked NBS to test AD-X2.
By then, NBS had already extensively tested the additive. A chemical analysis revealed that it was 46.6 percent magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) and 49.2 percent sodium sulfate (Glauber’s salt, a horse laxative) with the remainder being water of hydration (water that’s been chemically treated to form a hydrate). That is, AD-X2 was similar in composition to every other additive on the market. But, because of its policy of not disclosing which brands it tests, NBS didn’t immediately announce what it had learned.
The David and Goliath of battery additives
NBS then did something unusual: It agreed to ignore its own policy and let the National Better Business Bureau include the results of its AD-X2 tests in a public statement, which was published in August 1950. The NBBB allowed Pioneers to include a dissenting comment: “These tests were not run in accordance with our specification and therefore did not indicate the value to be derived from our product.”
Far from being cowed by the NBBB’s statement, Ritchie was energized, and his story was taken up by the mainstream media. Newsweek’s coverage pitted an up-from-your-bootstraps David against an overreaching governmental Goliath. Trade publications, such as Western Construction News and Batteryman, also published flattering stories about Pioneers. AD-X2 sales soared.
Then, in January 1951, NBS released its updated pamphlet on battery additives, Circular 504. Once again, tests by the NBS found no difference in performance between batteries treated with additives and the untreated control group. The Government Printing Office sold the circular for 15 cents, and it was one of NBS’s most popular publications. AD-X2 sales plummeted.
Ritchie needed a new arena in which to challenge NBS. He turned to politics. He called on all of his distributors to write to their senators. Between July and December 1951, 28 U.S. senators and one U.S. representative wrote to NBS on behalf of Pioneers.
Condon was losing his ability to effectively represent the Bureau. Although the Senate had confirmed Condon’s nomination as director without opposition in 1945, he was under investigation by the House Committee on Un-American Activities for several years. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover suspected Condon to be a Soviet spy. (To be fair, Hoover suspected the same of many people.) Condon was repeatedly cleared and had the public backing of many prominent scientists.
But Condon felt the investigations were becoming too much of a distraction, and so he resigned on 10 August 1951. Allen V. Astin became acting director, and then permanent director the following year. And he inherited the AD-X2 mess.
Astin had been with NBS since 1930. Originally working in the electronics division, he developed radio telemetry techniques, and he designed instruments to study dielectric materials and measurements. During World War II, he shifted to military R&D, most notably development of the proximity fuse, which detonates an explosive device as it approaches a target. I don’t think that work prepared him for the political bombs that Ritchie and his supporters kept lobbing at him.
Mr. Ritchie almost goes to Washington
On 6 September 1951, another government agency entered the fray. C.C. Garner, chief inspector of the U.S. Post Office Department, wrote to Astin requesting yet another test of AD-X2. NBS dutifully submitted a report that the additive had “no beneficial effects on the performance of lead acid batteries.” The post office then charged Pioneers with mail fraud, and Ritchie was ordered to appear at a hearing in Washington, D.C., on 6 April 1952. More tests were ordered, and the hearing was delayed for months.
Back in March 1950, Ritchie had lost his biggest champion when Merle Randall died. In preparation for the hearing, Ritchie hired another scientist: Keith J. Laidler, an assistant professor of chemistry at the Catholic University of America. Laidler wrote a critique of Circular 504, questioning NBS’s objectivity and testing protocols.
Ritchie also got Harold Weber, a professor of chemical engineering at MIT, to agree to test AD-X2 and to work as an unpaid consultant to the Senate Select Committee on Small Business.
Life was about to get more complicated for Astin and NBS.
Why did the NBS Director resign?
Trying to put an end to the Pioneers affair, Astin agreed in the spring of 1952 that NBS would conduct a public test of AD-X2 according to terms set by Ritchie. Once again, the bureau concluded that the battery additive had no beneficial effect.
However, NBS deviated slightly from the agreed-upon parameters for the test. Although the bureau had a good scientific reason for the minor change, Ritchie had a predictably overblown reaction—NBS cheated!
Then, on 18 December 1952, the Senate Select Committee on Small Business—for which Ritchie’s ally Harold Weber was consulting—issued a press release summarizing the results from the MIT tests: AD-X2 worked! The results “demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that this material is in fact valuable, and give complete support to the claims of the manufacturer.” NBS was “simply psychologically incapable of giving Battery AD-X2 a fair trial.”
The National Bureau of Standards’ regular tests of battery additives found that the products did not work as claimed.National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Collections
But the press release distorted the MIT results.The MIT tests had focused on diluted solutions and slow charging rates, not the normal use conditions for automobiles, and even then AD-X2’s impact was marginal. Once NBS scientists got their hands on the report, they identified the flaws in the testing.
How did the AD-X2 controversy end?
The post office finally got around to holding its mail fraud hearing in the fall of 1952. Ritchie failed to attend in person and didn’t realize his reports would not be read into the record without him, which meant the hearing was decidedly one-sided in favor of NBS. On 27 February 1953, the Post Office Department issued a mail fraud alert. All of Pioneers’ mail would be stopped and returned to sender stamped “fraudulent.” If this charge stuck, Ritchie’s business would crumble.
But something else happened during the fall of 1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower, running on a pro-business platform, was elected U.S. president in a landslide.
Ritchie found a sympathetic ear in Eisenhower’s newly appointed Secretary of Commerce Sinclair Weeks, who acted decisively. The mail fraud alert had been issued on a Friday. Over the weekend, Weeks had a letter hand-delivered to Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield, another Eisenhower appointee. By Monday, the fraud alert had been suspended.
What’s more, Weeks found that Astin was “not sufficiently objective” and lacked a “business point of view,” and so he asked for Astin’s resignation on 24 March 1953. Astin complied. Perhaps Weeks thought this would be a mundane dismissal, just one of the thousands of political appointments that change hands with every new administration. That was not the case.
More than 400 NBS scientists—over 10 percent of the bureau’s technical staff— threatened to resign in protest. The American Academy for the Advancement of Science also backed Astin and NBS. In an editorial published in Science, the AAAS called the battery additive controversy itself “minor.” “The important issue is the fact that the independence of the scientist in his findings has been challenged, that a gross injustice has been done, and that scientific work in the government has been placed in jeopardy,” the editorial stated.
National Bureau of Standards director Edward Condon [left] resigned in 1951 because investigations into his political beliefs were impeding his ability to represent the bureau. Incoming director Allen V. Astin [right] inherited the AD-X2 controversy, which eventually led to Astin’s dismissal and then his reinstatement after a large-scale protest by NBS researchers and others. National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Collections
Clearly, AD-X2’s effectiveness was no longer the central issue. The controversy was a stand-in for a larger debate concerning the role of government in supporting small business, the use of science in making policy decisions, and the independence of researchers. Over the previous few years, highly respected scientists, including Edward Condon and J. Robert Oppenheimer, had been repeatedly investigated for their political beliefs. The request for Astin’s resignation was yet another government incursion into scientific freedom.
Weeks, realizing his mistake, temporarily reinstated Astin on 17 April 1953, the day the resignation was supposed to take effect. He also asked the National Academy of Sciences to test AD-X2 in both the lab and the field. By the time the academy’s report came out in October 1953, Weeks had permanently reinstated Astin. The report, unsurprisingly, concluded that NBS was correct: AD-X2 had no merit. Science had won.
NIST makes a movie
On 9 December 2023, NIST released the 20-minute docudrama The AD-X2 Controversy. The film won the Best True Story Narrative and Best of Festival at the 2023 NewsFest Film Festival. I recommend taking the time to watch it.
Many of the actors are NIST staff and scientists, and they really get into their roles. Much of the dialogue comes verbatim from primary sources, including congressional hearings and contemporary newspaper accounts.
Despite being an in-house production, NIST’s film has a Hollywood connection. The film features brief interviews with actors John and Sean Astin (of Lord of The Rings and Stranger Things fame)—NBS director Astin’s son and grandson.
The AD-X2 controversy is just as relevant today as it was 70 years ago. Scientific research, business interests, and politics remain deeply entangled. If the public is to have faith in science, it must have faith in the integrity of scientists and the scientific method. I have no objection to science being challenged—that’s how science moves forward—but we have to make sure that neither profit nor politics is tipping the scales.
Part of a continuing serieslooking at historical artifacts that embrace the boundless potential of technology.
An abridged version of this article appears in the August 2024 print issue as “The AD-X2 Affair.”
References
I first heard about AD-X2 after my IEEE Spectrum editor sent me a notice about NIST’s short docudrama The AD-X2 Controversy, which you can, and should, stream online. NIST held a colloquium on 31 July 2018 with John Astin and his brother Alexander (Sandy), where they recalled what it was like to be college students when their father’s reputation was on the line. The agency has also compiled a wonderful list of resources, including many of the primary source government documents.
The AD-X2 controversy played out in the popular media, and I read dozens of articles following the almost daily twists and turns in the case in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Science.
You're correct about how developers getting promoted or moving to other studios can affect things, but it goes further than that. Honestly, it is because whole teams and individual team members change over time. People age and grow, life priorities shift and move. Becoming a parent, for example, radically shifts a person's priorities. Any of the game's major decision-makers becoming a parent can drastically alter the direction of the game. The longer a game or franchise runs, the more difficult
You're correct about how developers getting promoted or moving to other studios can affect things, but it goes further than that. Honestly, it is because whole teams and individual team members change over time. People age and grow, life priorities shift and move. Becoming a parent, for example, radically shifts a person's priorities. Any of the game's major decision-makers becoming a parent can drastically alter the direction of the game. The longer a game or franchise runs, the more difficult it becomes to maintain the singularity of vision.
If we hire somebody completely new to take over, we lose that singularity of vision because the new leader will bring a new perspective. Even if we hire longtime fans of the game to work on it, the ascended fans' decisions will emphasize what they liked about the game and de-emphasize what they didn't. This can take a game in a direction that portions of the playerbase dislike - the players who don't share the same likes as the ascended fan. Think of what would happen to the Dark Souls franchise if the new leader was only a fan of the difficult boss fight aspect and chose not to spend those resources on the ambience and world building aspect of the game.
To some extent, yes - developers and influential stakeholders will move around as part of their careers or lives. Developers will grow and change over time, they'll take new jobs, retire, have kids, and their lives and priorities will change. New decisionmakers will join the team and will have different visions for the franchise than their predecessors. Beyond this, even player tastes will grow, change, and evolve over time as well. The old stuff that was super popular before won't cut it again if there isn't anything new to offer. If the directional changes meet the collective players' (both new and returning) tastes, the franchise will continue to see success. If they don't satisfy, the franchise will struggle.
Recently, Katsuhiro Harada of Tekken fame posted a [lengthy tweet] where he talked about what happened to the Soul Calibur franchise, the team, and the less-visible effects of companies growth and change over time. Harada is a good guy and I very much appreciate his candor and willingness to talk to the public. His English tweets can be a little difficult to parse though, so I thought I would offer my interpretation of what he said, based on my own understanding of game dev, the industry overall
Recently, Katsuhiro Harada of Tekken fame posted a [lengthy tweet] where he talked about what happened to the Soul Calibur franchise, the team, and the less-visible effects of companies growth and change over time. Harada is a good guy and I very much appreciate his candor and willingness to talk to the public. His English tweets can be a little difficult to parse though, so I thought I would offer my interpretation of what he said, based on my own understanding of game dev, the industry overall, corporate politics, and economic trends.
The [initial comment] Harada responded to was “Soul Calibur needs a director as loyal as Harada. You can see this via the game mechanics that came and went in the Soul Calibur games”. Harada responded by pointing out that there are many games with great mechanics that didn’t survive the test of time. Game mechanics aren’t really what make or break a franchise like Soul Calibur or Tekken. A lot of great games and franchises were unable to make the transition from earning their keep one coin at a time in arcades to providing sufficient value to players to buy a high-priced game for home use.
Soul Calibur did not have this problem - Harada saw firsthand that they made a strong transition from arcade revenue to home consoles. Soul Calibur had a strong leader named Yotoriyama (who also worked before with Harada on Tekken, and Harada on Soul Calibur). The Soul and Tekken teams established a strong rivalry in the early days of the polygon game era. While the Tekken team were known as an argumentative bunch of renegades, the Soul team was highly regarded as elite, the best of the best at the time.
In Harada’s opinion, it is actually strong leadership and clarity of vision that maintain a franchise. Many franchises have died because key leaders have left for whatever reason. Yotoriyama was exactly the kind of director that the original tweet was talking about - the team was focused, driven, and producing great results. Tekken was the top earner in the arcades, but the Soul Calibur was outperforming Tekken on the home consoles. Unfortunately, the corporate landscape changed as the company grew and is what eventually and inadvertently killed Soul Calibur.
As companies grow, the focus of the top leadership shifts from “make great games” to “manage the organization efficiently”. This basically means that endgame game developer career paths eventually evolve away from “making great game content and features” into organization management positions. Greater emphasis was placed at the corporate level on broadening one’s skillset instead of mastery in a particular field. This also meant staying on a particular franchise for a long time was bad for each individual’s career. As member after member of the Project Soul team either left to broaden their skillset or was promoted out of developer roles into management, the core vision and direction of Project Soul weakened. Harada faced a similar situation with the Tekken team - he was promoted to being head of the Global Business Department, but it had little to do with game development. All of his reports were marketing people and not game devs.
Harada decided to go against orders and lead the Tekken team anyway, despite the orders from above, in large part because he believes that the fans of any game can only depend on a dev team that has the necessary drive and vision to deliver. Harada’s decision to go rogue was only really possible because the Tekken team was already full of renegades who weren’t willing to listen to the corporate management. This was the largest difference between the Soul and the Tekken teams. The Tekken team remained driven and focused on their core vision because they were unwilling to take orders from the corporate level, while the Soul team slowly had their drive and vision whittled away one team member at a time. Harada ended by saying he believes that there are still some who have the will to resurrect Project Soul, but they need uniting in order to make it happen.
Five Years Ago
This week in 2019, we reiterated the all-important point that there is no legal distinction between a “platform” and a “publisher”, and explained why the freedom to decide what content to facilitate is essential to Section 230, while the Supreme Court signaled its recognition that social media sites don’t have to allow all speech. Genius picked a dumb fight with Google over song lyrics, which quickly got even dumber. And Congress was stirring up a moral panic about deepfakes, whil
The UMPC is making a comeback, and it’s mostly thanks to the GPD Win. UMPCPortal is making a comeback too. Over the last year I’ve been working hard to salvage the site and bring it back to the standards that you expect. More on that, the problems this site had, and the outlook for UMPCs in 2019, follows. In the last year on UMPCPortal there were just three posts. In the last 2 years, just 7 posts. UMPCPortal wasn’t just on ice, it was getting a bad reputation for being […]
The UMPC is making a comeback, and it’s mostly thanks to the GPD Win. UMPCPortal is making a comeback too. Over the last year I’ve been working hard to salvage the site and bring it back to the standards that you expect. More on that, the problems this site had, and the outlook for UMPCs in 2019, follows. In the last year on UMPCPortal there were just three posts. In the last 2 years, just 7 posts. UMPCPortal wasn’t just on ice, it was getting a bad reputation for being […]
UMPCPortal, the site that I started as Carrypad.com in Feb 2006, survives! It’s full of mobile computing history that needs to be preserved. Maybe in another 10 years we’ll be able to look back at the equipment and wonder how we ever survived. Here’s 2007, for example. Crazy! You’ll notice that most ads and plugins and bells and whistles are now gone so the site is faster and hopefully more stable. You might also notice that the sites Ultrabooknews and Chromebookworld are gone. They were out of
UMPCPortal, the site that I started as Carrypad.com in Feb 2006, survives! It’s full of mobile computing history that needs to be preserved. Maybe in another 10 years we’ll be able to look back at the equipment and wonder how we ever survived. Here’s 2007, for example. Crazy! You’ll notice that most ads and plugins and bells and whistles are now gone so the site is faster and hopefully more stable. You might also notice that the sites Ultrabooknews and Chromebookworld are gone. They were out of date and needed […]
Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, by Kliph Nesteroff, Abrams, 312 pages, $30 The first paragraph of the book jacket lays it out: "There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past. Modern pundits would have us believe that Americans of a previous generation had tougher skin and seldom complaine
The first paragraph of the book jacket lays it out: "There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past. Modern pundits would have us believe that Americans of a previous generation had tougher skin and seldom complained. But does this argument hold up to scrutiny?"
There's a good point underneath the hyperbole. People tend to believe—and pundits, politicians, and activists tend to claim—that whatever issues trouble them are worse than ever. Why? Because these things are happening now. To us. Problems in the past weren't as urgent or significant because they happened to others, and anyway things turned out OK (or if they didn't, at least those problems are over).
So Kliph Nesteroff's Outrageous has a decent premise. Alas, it also has significant flaws.
The book's subtitle is A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars, and Nesteroff has some expertise—at least regarding the former. He previously wrote The Comedians, a lively and informative work that, admittedly, bit off more than it could chew, trying to cram the history of American comedy into a few hundred pages.
A history of public opposition to American entertainment is a more manageable subject, though still a big one. While Nesteroff starts with complaints about blackface and minstrel shows in the 1800s, most of the book deals with post–World War II controversies. And he has some fascinating stories to tell about the many attempts to cancel movies, music, TV shows, and just about anything that was new and different.
Some of these stories may be familiar. Many people know about the resistance All in the Family faced when it first aired in the 1970s, with its vulgarity and ethnic slurs; CBS stuck by it, and the sitcom went on to become one of the biggest TV shows ever. But how many people remember Bridget Loves Bernie, a sitcom that followed All in the Family for one season? Vaguely based on the 1920s Broadway blockbuster Abie's Irish Rose, it was a show about a marriage between a Jewish man and a Catholic woman. It received so much pushback—including bomb threats—that CBS canceled it, despite its high ratings.
Interesting though these tales are, the book's overall narrative is shaky. It tends to move from one anecdote to the next without sufficient transition. Outrageous often comes across as less a history of a phenomenon than a chronological data dump.
There are some lapses in the research too. For instance, Nesteroff claims Cole Porter wrote "Do It Again" (I assume he's referring to the George Gershwin tune) while attributing Porter's song "Love For Sale" to Irving Berlin. And he mistakenly asserts that David Letterman wrote an episode of the sitcom Good Times. (The episode in question features Jay Leno in a small role. Perhaps that's where the confusion arose.)
But the biggest problem is that Nesteroff has an ax to grind—one so large it ends up taking over the book and turning it into a screed.
It's true that any conservatives who claim that censorship today is worse than ever lack historical perspective. Still, that doesn't mean there's nothing worth complaining about, or that we should simply dismiss what they say. Nesteroff writes as though we should.
Nesteroff notes how the John Birch Society saw Communist conspiracies everywhere in the 1960s. Far from disappearing, he argues, their discredited philosophy has been rebranded; recent culture wars, funded by partisan foundations, have used fear tactics to fool people into supporting otherwise unpopular policies. (Funny, my Republican friends say the same thing about the left.)
According to Nesteroff (and the partisan experts he quotes), right-wing think tanks tell their talking heads in the media what to say, often gaining consensus through payment of large sums. (It's not clear what he believes the left is doing in the meantime. I guess they're just telling the truth and being ignored.) Further, under the guise of supporting free speech, right-wing plotters send "provocateurs to speak on college campuses for the purpose of incitement. When protests erupt, such objection is used as proof that the campus is opposed to free speech. Demonized in the body politic, funding is threatened—and legal action undertaken—until the campus is made hospitable to think tank interests."
Wow. A conspiracy theory almost worthy of the Birchers.
Let me suggest a different narrative. Nesteroff seems to believe the right has, if anything, gotten worse in recent decades. Worse or not, it's true that it has changed. But hasn't the left changed as well?
A few decades ago, many would say, the movement for greater civil liberties was spearheaded by the left. (Some of the most famous student protests of the '60s were centered around Berkeley's Free Speech Movement.) Courts responded with interpretations of the First Amendment guaranteeing greater freedom to express oneself. Outside the legal realm, much of the country—and much of the left—adopted a cultural ethos that it's a good thing people are allowed to say what's on their mind, even if some find it offensive or dangerous.
But over time, much of the left reversed its position, becoming suspicious of such freedom—at least for groups it opposes. Thus, the "provocateurs" Nesteroff warns of aren't just protested at colleges: They're disinvited, or shouted down, or physically attacked. Meanwhile, students are disciplined and professors fired for expressing views that, while not outside the larger social mainstream, are considered objectionable on campus.
What's more, this culture has spread into the world off campus. Newspaper editors are fired for running editorials that trouble their staff. Workers in large corporations fear that expressing unorthodox political opinions can get them cashiered. People are deplatformed on social media for questionable reasons. And, of course, there are the showbiz culture wars—the putative subject of Outrageous—where people feel they have to make public expressions of regret for something they said or did in the past, or risk not working again.
This isn't just based on anecdotes. A number of polls—for example, a recent College Pulse/Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression survey of undergraduates—show that today's young liberals are more willing than previous generations to shut down speech they find offensive. According to the American College Student Freedom, Progress and Flourishing Survey, conducted annually by researchers at North Dakota State University, about four out of five liberal or liberal-leaning students think it appropriate to snitch on a professor for stating fairly common (but "wrong") opinions on hot-button issues. It's one thing to debate or protest ideas you don't like. It's quite another to try to stop anyone from even hearing them.
When you don't listen to the other side…well, it's hard to put it better than John Stuart Mill: "He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that." Unfortunately, today's left seems to lean more toward Oscar Wilde's Lady Bracknell: "I dislike arguments of any kind. They are always vulgar, and often convincing."
So yes, there's good reason to be concerned about the cancellations and related issues that upset the right, even if repression was sometimes worse in the past. And if you wish to engage in serious debate, it's not enough to be satisfied with your own arguments. You've got to refute the other side, not brush them off as dishonest or evil or brainwashed.
Outrageous starts with a "Note to the Reader": "Please be aware that some of the material quoted within this book includes archaic terminology that might be considered wildly offensive by modern standards." I would hope that anyone reading this book, or any book dealing with history, already knows that people thought and spoke differently in the past. A better warning would state that Nesteroff's work may claim to be an objective look at cultural history but that lurking inside is a polemic.
Too bad. There's a lot of good material in Outrageous. With a slightly different presentation, it could have been a more useful addition to today's debate.
Five Years Ago
This week in 2019, the FCC was remaining in denial about the lack of broadband competition, while we asked why all the antitrust attention was focused on Big Tech but not Big Telecom. Officials in Germany were pushing for encryption backdoors while Facebook was considering going ahead and undermining its own encryption regardless, and the EU Court of Justice was suggesting that maybe the entire internet should be censored and filtered. The targets of Devin Nunes’s cow lawsuits wer
It’s not every day that you wake up to find a company with a legacy like anime studio Gainax is shutting its doors. The prolific studio behind works like FLCL, Gurren Lagann, and the legendary Neon Genesis Evangelion has been struggling financially for several years. On June 7, the company announced it’s filing for…Read more...
It’s not every day that you wake up to find a company with a legacy like anime studio Gainax is shutting its doors. The prolific studio behind works like FLCL, Gurren Lagann, and the legendary Neon Genesis Evangelion has been struggling financially for several years. On June 7, the company announced it’s filing for…
6/10/1916: Justice Charles Evans Hughes resigns. Chief Justice Charles Evans HughesThe post Today in Supreme Court History: June 10, 1916 appeared first on Reason.com.
Donald Trump was not the first celebrity presidential candidate who could reasonably be accused of insurrection against the United States. Many decades before Trump, another best-selling author and charismatic leader in a rowdy movement to upend dominant American political mores aimed for the U.S. presidency—Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panthers' minister of information and the author of Soul on Ice. Unlike Trump, who this year overcame challenges
Donald Trump was not the first celebrity presidential candidate who could reasonably be accused of insurrection against the United States. Many decades before Trump, another best-selling author and charismatic leader in a rowdy movement to upend dominant American political mores aimed for the U.S. presidency—Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panthers' minister of information and the author of Soul on Ice.
Unlike Trump, who this year overcame challenges from Colorado, Maine, and Illinois about his eligibility due to the Constitution's Insurrection Clause, Cleaver couldn't be caught up by the 14th Amendment, Section 3, since that explicitly only bars insurrectionists who had already been government officials. But Cleaver faced his own eligibility hurdles.
In 1968, as the first presidential nominee of the Peace and Freedom Party (PFP), formed mostly by antiwar radicals disenchanted with Lyndon Johnson's Democratic Party, Cleaver was below the constitutionally mandated age of 35 and would have been so still on Inauguration Day in 1969. At least three states did eliminate his name, if not his party, from the ballot for this reason.
Many states, however, allowed someone absolutely constitutionally disqualified to remain on their ballot; in Iowa, as reported in the Davenport Times-Democrat, the secretary of state "ruled that he must accept the certification in the absence of positive proof that Cleaver is not of eligible age."
While the various charges haunting Trump during his current campaign involve less violent crimes, Cleaver, four months before receiving the PFP nomination with 74 percent of the delegates' votes, engaged in a firefight with Oakland police that resulted in another Panther's death. He was thus campaigning while out on bail, pending trial for three counts of assault and attempted murder.
As the PFP's candidate, Cleaver certainly sounded like an insurrectionist, not that there was anything (constitutionally) wrong with that. In a campaign speech, as printed in a 1968 issue of the North American Review, Cleaver said: "What we need is a revolution in the white mother country and national liberation for the black colony. To achieve these ends we believe that political and military machinery that does not exist now and has never existed must be created."
The PFP, aligning with the Panthers, pushed Cleaver as its presidential hopeful with a dual agenda, as expressed by member Richard Yanowitz in an online memoir of PFP history: "immediate withdrawal from Vietnam and support for black liberation and self-determination."
During the PFP's inaugural California convention, Cleaver said that he regarded black members of the PFP as "misguided political freaks," but he eventually embraced the alliance and accepted the PFP's national nomination, saying on the campaign trail that "we believe that all black colonial subjects should be members of the Black Panther Party, and that all American citizens should be members of the Peace and Freedom Party." The Panthers' intention, he said, was to "use our papier-mâché right to vote to help strengthen the Peace and Freedom Party and to help it attain its objectives within the framework of political realities in the mother country."
The leftist political tumult out of which the PFP arose in 1968 had many elements that echo modern-day political dynamics. Debates raged about whether black activists should have influence above their numbers and whether the movement should explicitly oppose Zionism. The same sorts of petition barricades to getting a new party on the ballot existed then, though the PFP's campaign in California in particular was a huge success, with 105,000 signatures gathered when only 66,000 were needed.
But rumors persisted about how clearly petitioners informed signers that they were officially registering with the party. PFPers insisted they let signers know they could change their registration back after the PFP got ballot access and before the election. And indeed, the PFP got over 70 percent fewer votes for the presidential race in California than it did petition signatures.
Despite his patent ineligibility and being knocked off the ballot in a few states, Cleaver's PFP campaign garnered over 36,000 votes nationwide. In late September, he polled at 2 percent in California but received far fewer votes on Election Day—a common fate for third-party candidates. Shortly after his electoral defeat, Cleaver fled the U.S. rather than face trial for the Oakland incident, not returning until 1975, after which he served less than a year in jail along with lots of probation and community service.
The cases of Trump and Cleaver illustrate a persistent American theme. Whether because they are mad at the perverted communists dominating the Democratic Party (as per MAGA) or the colonialist and imperialist white power structure (as per the PFP), a segment of American voters want insurrectionist candidates. Who are election officials to deny them?
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