A Self-Proclaimed Dreamer

      Hey friends! Did you see the Mario Kart direct last week? I did, and I felt like I learned almost nothing about it that hadn't already been revealed save for two or three different tidbits here and there. Today, I'm going to talk about how companies can sometimes botch game reveals, or at least the hype around them can be affected in some way. There's something to the concept of "Leave them wanting more," but this is a bit different, it was a strange presentation, and then I'll talk a little bit about the announcement of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered which was just announced as of the morning of me writing this (April 22). I don't have a ton to cover about this, so let's just get into it. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition.     For those of you who aren't aware (which I completely understand, this isn't everyone's cup of tea), the Switch 2 had its full Nintendo Direct a few weeks ago where they finally released all of the info...

      Today I find myself in the strange position that happens every now and then when the video game news cycle slows down a bit, and I haven't played enough of any games or watched anything enough to truly give my two cents on them. I'm forced to sit a little while with myself and think on some of the important things that are going on in my life, and in the lives of so many. I've recently made my decision to join the church that I'm active in, and getting baptized on top of that. I'm now 30, and many are baptized in the Baptist tradition when they're in their teens if not before. I've been thinking a lot about this decision for a long time, and I'm not sure why right now is the right time, but I'm glad that I'm doing it. I hope that I'll be able to state my intent here and my reasoning in a meaningful and concise way. If you've read my stuff before, you'll know that keeping things concise is something of a challenge for me, but we...

      Friends, we've finally gotten a full look at the Switch 2. The first direct was an hour long, and full of exciting reveals and details... but with one major caveat. Along with the direct on Wednesday, there were Nintendo Treehouse Live presentations on Thursday and Friday, which were four hours, and three hours respectively. I'll do my best to cover it all, but I'm very excited for the new console coming in just a few months! Switch and All Its Friends     The Switch 2 presentation began with Mario Kart World 's full reveal trailer, after being teased back in February. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'm the world's biggest Mario Kart fan. I think they're a lot of fun, but if you're going to offer me the choice between a new Mario Kart game or a new Mario 3D Platformer, I would pick the platformer every time. I have to say though, this new game looks great! The biggest feature about this game is the ability to do free roaming in the la...

      Hey friends! Very rarely will we get tons of information out of Nintendo at once, so this two week span is pretty out of the ordinary! Last week, we got what will probably be the final Nintendo Direct presentation solely focusing on the Nintendo Switch before the release of the Switch 2, and this Wednesday, we're getting the first presentation specifically for the new console. Today I'll do my best to succinctly talk about at least one of these two directs, since the one on Wednesday was just announced to also have two Nintendo Treehouse Live presentations at the end of the week. I hope you're as excited as I am, and let's get into the meat of the announcements. Switch's Last Direct Had Some Fun Surprises!     The direct that took place on March 27 had a lot of stuff in it, as essentially the last for this now 8 year old console. With that in mind, I'm not going to cover all of the information, but I'll do my best to cover what I'm most interested ...

     At the beginning of this year, I set a goal for myself that I really wasn't sure if I'd be able to complete. I really wanted to take down a good Soulslike game, since I've never been able to do that. Before I go any farther, I guess I should explain the term "Soulslike," which basically means that it follows the conventions of Dark Souls and other very challenging games like that. The main guideposts in this RPG sub-genre are that you lose all of your currency when you die, and once you get to save points, all of the enemies will respawn. I'm happy to report that I've already been able to achieve my goal, thanks to a game that came out a few years ago, Lies of P. This game does a pretty awesome job of taking a classic fairytale story and twisting it slightly to create the world of a creepy Bloodborne-esque steampunk setting, and one that was pretty difficult, though maybe not as rough around the edges as most of them are. This a really cool game, and ...

 Hey friends, I'm a little behind the times when it comes to TV shows a lot of the time, and today I'd like to talk a little bit about a show that I started a long time ago, but also one that I've not finished until recently. "Ted Lasso" follows an American College Football coach (with a love for barbecue sauce) across the pond when he's called to be the new head coach of a Soccer team in England, despite the fact that he knows nothing about the sport. This won't be a full review of the show, but I do have a lot of thoughts about these characters and the way that the story of this series works out. It's a fantastic show, though due to all of the bad language and let's say, "adult issues," this is not for younger kids. It says that in the warnings before an episode plays on Apple TV+, but I'm always worried that people won't follow the advisory ratings. With all that out of the way, let's talk a bit about this series. Good thin...

     A few years ago, an unexpected game won the coveted Game of the Year award at the Game Awards. It that didn't come from a major developer, but from a fairly small studio, Hazelight, and published under the EA Originals banner. This game was It Takes Two, and while it went up against some pretty tough competition, such as Psychonauts 2 , Metroid Dread , and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart , it took home the big trophy of the night. That game had so much creativity, it didn't know what to do with it all. The game is full of sequences that completely change the gameplay style, add some crazy new mechanics, and then quickly move along to the next idea. It was something really special that we hadn't seen before. Sure, some of the mechanics had been seen, but very few games would jump from one to another in such crazy ways. I'm talking about this a bit today, because as of March 6, Hazelight Studios has put out their latest game. Split Fiction is another experience ...