Category Archives: Video Games
Some Fancy New Video Games Are On The Way
This weekend was apparently some kind of fancy video game convention. I’m too lazy this Monday morning to look up the exact name, so forgive me, but I just wanted to share some trailers for the games I’m excited about. I’m not too lazy for that!
First up is State of Decay 3, which is my favorite zombie franchise! There are a bajillion zombie game franchises out there, but State of Decay is my favorite.
State of Decay is a GTA-esque open world sandbox game is that all about scrambling for resources and maintaining a community. Despite what the trailer shows you, action and gunfire aren’t a big part of the game. At least they weren’t big parts of the first two games. It’s about having a big, open world and an established camp, and then taking a vehicle and what few weapons you’ve found and heading out into the world to raid warehouses and broken down grocery stores to find the supplies you need to get your camp and people through another day.
It’s also one of those games where you control everybody in camp. You don’t just have one singular protagonist, you can switch between everybody! And then there’s perma-death! So it’s real nifty.
Glad to see it’s coming for Playstation, my current gaming device of choice. And it’s coming next year. Sounds good!
Next up, here’s a new look at the Fable reboot.
This one has been moved to next year to avoid GTA6, which is fine by me. Between Wolverine in September and GTA6 in November, I was planning to skip Fable at launch. Everything I’ve seen so far has me excited for a big, spacious, interactive open world — just gotta wait and confirm they’ve got all the kinks worked out.
Fable is coming in February.
There’s a new Gears of War, this one called E-Day for Emergence Day. Not sure why they’ve decided to go backwards in the timeline, but it’s not a big deal and I’m sure it doesn’t matter. I don’t need strict continuity in my GoW games.
Will probably play. The last time I had a core gaming group of friends was back in some of the early GoW games. We had a blast playing matches and getting through the story. Those were good times. So yeah, I’ll probably play this one, though probably not with my old crew. I think I’ve played every GoW so far.
Gears of War: E-Day comes out…oh! Oct 6! And not for Playstation, just for X-Box and PC. I’ll figure it out.
Lastly is Star Wars: Zero Company, which is Star Wars dipping its toes into X-Com.
The X-Com games were super fun! They’re tactile, squad-based game maps. I’m going to love adding Star Wars to that mix, with at least one Jedi on the playing field. That should be a hoot. I definitely recommend the X-Com games to anyone looking for a neat challenge. I’m sure they’re very on sale these days.
Very excited for Zero Company. And it comes out on Aug. 27! So perhaps I’ll play that in between Crimson Desert and Wolverine.
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Behold, the Wolverine Video Game!
Yesterday, we got the biggest look to date of the upcoming Wolverine video game — for which I’ve secured an entire week off from work to play. Can’t wait! It was a Playstation State of Play exhibit and we got a long gameplay video/trailer. See for yourself.
I think it looks great! I think it looks very on-rails, but it’s going to be that type of video game. This isn’t an open sandbox game, like Crimson Desert. This seems more like The Last of Us with Wolverine. And I’m fine with that. A game is gonna be what it is. I like the level of violence. I like the visible healing, even if it means his suit ‘heals’ as well. That’s just something we need to set aside in our minds. I like the use of cameos. Saw Leech and a bunch of others. It all looks great to me!
Apparently in this new continuity, the X-Men don’t exist and instead we’ve got Team X, which includes Wolverine and Jean Grey. Interesting. I’m more than willing to see where they go with that story idea. I am totally fine with Insomniac creating their own universe continuity. It means familiar faces can show up in weird places! Of course, that might also again mean that my favorite mutant — Multiple Man — might end up being henchmen fodder…but I can probably live with that if it means Multiple Man gets to even appear.
Game looks good to me! Can’t wait to play! Wolverine comes to Playstation on Sept. 15.
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This New Street Fighter Trailer Has Me Smiling
I have no memory permanence that a live action Street Fighter trailer is coming out later this year. But a new, full trailer dropped today, and holy cow, this might be one of my most anticipated movies of the year now. This trailer is just a big, fun, silly love letter to the games, and I am here for it!
That was just so much fun! It embraces the silly nature of the characters and franchise, while establishing a groundswell of actual serious storytelling underneath. That’s perfect! We focus on the fighting tournament, on some character growth, and by the end they have to come together to stop fascism!
Mortal Kombat wishes it had a movie like that coming out this year.
Street Fighter looks to be a blast and is coming to theaters on Oct. 16.
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So The Super Mario Galaxy Movie…
My memory is pretty bad these days, but I don’t think I cared for the first animated Mario movie. I don’t remember why, particularly. Of course, the film wasn’t for me. It’s for kids, and they loved it, and now it’s got a sequel coming out. And I’ll definitely see it, maybe even in theaters. I haven’t decided.
It looks fine…but it also just looks like the first movie. The animation hasn’t changed. It’s still colorful and energetic and super fun. And we recently found out that Donald Glover will be voicing Yoshi. I am very interested to see how that’s going to work. Is he going to do a Vin Diesel as Groot thing? Will Yoshi actually talk like Donald Glover?! I’m dying to find out. I still don’t like Chris Pratt as Mario.
We’ll see in a few weeks! The Super Mario Galaxy Movie comes out on April 1!
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Pokemon Winds and Waves Revealed!
We all knew this day would come. There’s a new mainline Pokemon game on the way! I think today is Pokemon Day, and the Pokemon Company made a ton of announcements this morning. I’m really only interested in the mainline games…though maybe not this one. I’ll explain in a bit. Let’s just enjoy the reveal trailer and the starters for now!
Looks great! Looks detailed and full of life and exactly what we all want from these new open world Pokemon games. I know I’ve been waiting my whole adult childhood for these bigger, more expansive Pokemon games. I enjoyed the last couple.
And here are there starters: Browt, Pombon and Gecqua.
On initial glance, I don’t have an immediate favorite. Maybe Gecqua. But it really all depends on their final evolutions. I pick a starter based on vibes and looks. And mainly the look of the final evolution, because that’s the one I’ll be spending the most time with in the game. It doesn’t take long for your starter to evolve in these modern games.
Anyway, it all looks great…but, uh…I’m probably not buying a Switch 2 anytime soon. I’m pretty broke these days, and am getting by nicely with my new gaming PC and Playstation 5. I bought the Switch during COVID, and that was my first ever Nintendo console (if we don’t count Game Boys). I played all the games I wanted on it, including the last mainline Pokemon game, and then I never touched the thing again. I’m no Nintendo guy.
So even though I’ve gone out and bought Nintendo handhelds specifically to play new Pokemon games…I just don’t see myself buying the Switch 2 anytime soon. Granted, I’ve got until Winds and Waves comes out in 2027…but I dunno, you guys. The base console costs $450, plus then like $60 or more for this new game. Do I want to spend $500 just to play the new Pokemon game? I can’t justify that. Not in this economy, with the world crashing down around us.
This might just be the end of the line for me and Pokemon…
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Henchman-4-Hire 