Over the past couple of weeks, you have undoubtedly heard people talk about a new IP from Blizzard called Overwatch. Blizzard usually has a pretty good track record (World of Warcraft, Starcraft, and The Lost Vikings, to name just a few) so a handful of my friends and I decided to check this game out during the beta. What we did not know at the time was that this weird mash up of Valve's hat simulator, Team Fortress 2, and the snorefest of the MOBA genre would take over our lives so completely.
Overwatch is a typical team based objective-centric FPS with a twist. All of the characters have different abilities that are on cooldowns, similar to a MOBA or like some RPGs. This cooldown helps to balance some of the more powerful abilities, and allows for vastly different play styles between characters. Instead of worrying about a loadout, like so many FPS games have been so fond of, each character has their own weapon and set of abilities, and you only have to customize a few tidbits of cosmetics, like pallet swaps and some extra dialogue choices, which are all earned through "loot boxes" (pronounced "crack"). Loot Boxes are packs of 4 cosmetic items that are dropped for a player at every level up, and during a few other instances. You can also buy them (YAY MICROTRANSACTIONS!!), but since they are cosmetic only, they really have no effect on the game.
Since the bulk of what makes Overwatch great is its roster, I thought I'd take you through each of the main characters and give a few brief thoughts from what I have played so far:
It's been quite a while since I gave any love to my actual collection, either in real life or on RF Generation. In fact, after recently moving my entire collection for the second time in just under a year, I noted it to be quite burdensome, and I found myself wondering: "Why?" However, in organizing, setting up, and alphabetizing everything after the move, I realized I truly still love the hobby. Holding items in my hands, which I forgot I even had, renewed the sense that I am in fact curating a library of games and items that reflects my personal tastes and curiosities. The room I'm using in our new place is actually smaller than any I've put my games in before, but I actually think this is the best iteration of my game room yet for exactly that reason. The cozy, intimate setting takes me back to huddling around a garbage-picked CRT dinosaur in my parents' basement playing Super Nintendo with my friends and siblings. Let's be honest, the reason we collect is largely to chase that feeling.
As much as we try to organize, there are always odds and ends that fail classification and confound even the most obsessive collectors. Sure enough, after the move I discovered and took a second look at some of the eccentricities in my game library. I imagine we all have odds and ends like this, and they should be celebrated. They make our collections unique. Here's what I have.
Yellowed plastic. Pretty much all game collectors know what I'm talking about, and often blame gets thrown in different directions; from smoking, to sunlight, to just plain dirt and grim. But how do we deal with it? Cleaning doesn't seem to work, and many of us have learned the hard way that some cleaners can even score and damage plastics. So what do we do? We try to remove the yellow, of course. But how? That, my friend, is the interesting part. As odd as this may sound, I'm taking my Commodore 64 to the salon supply store.
[img width=700 height=393]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_nAI-Hv20jI/maxresdefault.jpg[/img] Really? You can say no to this man?
I want to talk about E3, but not about specific games. I want to bring up other events of that week, but not get into an argument. And I want to make a very important plea.
But first. Ever see Tomorrowland?
If not, I think you should. I found it to be a fantastic movie, though I am partial to Brad Bird's work. But anyway, without delving too much into spoilers, the main theme of the movie boils down to a choice for the future; hope or despair. Optimism or pessimism. Fighting for light versus accepting the dark.
Sure, a great deal of media concerns this dichotomy. It is a near-universal theme. And while Tomorrowland isn't the first or best representation of this struggle, I watched it directly after this year's E3 so it is the freshest in my mind. And it does a great job of encapsulating the roller-coaster ride of the few days around E3.
If you've been following my game store blogs since around this time last year, you may remember me writing about a local fan convention that we held in my city, the first we'd ever done. This year I got to play a bigger role in our second annual Northern Fan Convention. I thought I'd break my discussion of the event into two parts, since I got to participate as both a vendor/organizer and as a patron. For this entry, I'm going to talk about the business side of the event and then follow up with a discussion of the con as an attendee in my next blog.
When the new DOOM was revealed at E3 last year, I was not remotely interested in playing it. It looked like just another first-person shooter that seemed to be gory for no good reason. I had limited experience with the original games - I'm more of the Wolfenstein girl - so the nostalgia factor wasn't even there. Pass.
However...
Once the game released and rave reviews started coming out, I thought maybe it would be worth a look. Boy, am I glad I gave it a chance. DOOM is some of the most fun I've had with a game in a long time. The pace is relentless, the combat is satisfying, and the level design is fantastic! By going back to basics and skipping mechanics like cover, regenerating health, and having to reload your gun, id Software produced a game that feels fresh.
I was really excited to make this review and found myself writing it in my head as I played the game. Give it a watch if you want to hear some more about DOOM.
[img width=284 height=400]http://www.brothersthegame.com/images/pack-shots/PS4/3D/3D_PS4_Brothers_USA.png[/img] Image shamelessly linked from the official Brothers website. This game is available digitally on PS3 and Xbox 360, as well as on Steam, Android, and IOS. Retail versions are only on either the PS4 or Xbox One.
Once in a while, you play a video game that affects you emotionally. People my age usually cite Role Playing Games like Final Fantasy VII and the death of an important character, Earthbound, with its weighty "coming of age" story, or perhaps Lunar: Silver Star Story (from my own experience) when Luna gets captured, or worse, when she becomes the Dark Goddess. Others point to the rise of the survival horror genre, with games like Resident Evil or Dino Crisis, where the chills, thrills, and spills evoke reactions of fear and horror that we may not have previously experienced, save for perhaps with Doom. These moments helped many of us realize that games could be about more than pointlessly gunning down baddies or butt-stomping walking mushrooms. These games tapped into a place that early games weren't capable of doing, due to hardware limitations, and forever altered the landscape of what games could communicate with the audience.
At the start of the year, I made a decision to organize my collection. I have stacks of carts in moving boxes, shoe boxes, and every type of box in between. I needed to create a system that would make it easy to find the game I was looking for and provide a uniform look on a shelf. Ideally, I would buy the original boxes for all of my games, but the prices boxes go for these days make this a fiscal impossibility. So what options are out there for casing a collection? I started off looking at the way other collectors organize and case their games and found three popular methods:
One of the most interesting and recent evolutions of the adventure game genre is what many have dubbed the "walking simulator." In a similar way to visual novel games like 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors and Danganronpa, their minimalist approach to gameplay and action allow the story to become the primary focus. Despite claims from some that these are not "games" in the traditional sense, the fact that we've benefitted from some excellent story telling from this space in recent years can't be denied.
Three of the best walking simulators in the past few years are Gone Home, Life is Strange, and the debut game from Campo Santo, Firewatch. I've just come off playing the latter two in fairly close succession, and boy have I been having a lot of thoughts about them lately. I had high hopes going into Firewatch, as the developers have some serious pedigree both in games media and production. Unfortunately, right from the start I found myself struggling to connect with the characters and had trouble reconciling the story it seemed to want to tell, the choices I was being given, and where I expected things to go. This continued throughout the game, and I was ultimately unsatisfied and conflicted.
**Be warned: there be spoilers ahead! But if you're interested in this game, it's only about five hours long so it won't be hard to play it through and come back**
This month we are joined by our friend Eric as we get to your questions and discuss the Limited Run Games phenomena. Eric gives us some info about the German collecting scene, and his visit to the US.
I bought a video game at Best Buy a few weeks ago and something interesting happened on the walk back to my car that got me thinking about a type of gamer that will never go away: the fanboy. We all know the term, some embrace it, some refute it, but there is no denying they are here to stay. Let me tell you what happened.
[img width=700 height=344]https://wayforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/wf_thumbnail_22.jpg[/img] Image courtesy of WayForward's website.
Just under a month ago, the group from Humble Bundle brought us the second bundle for the Wii U and 3DS games with the "Humble Friends of Nintendo Bundle." Naturally, I bought it. There was a solid lineup of games from the start and for $13, I ended up with quite a selection of games for each of my consoles. One of those games being Shantae and the Pirate's Curse.
Now, I've seen the Shantae games in screenshots and honestly hadn't had a lot of experience with WayForward games aside from Mighty Switch Force. As a result, I had already sort of dismissed the game as being oriented toward girls. After playing the game, I couldn't be more pleased to have been so wrong.
This series will focus on visits to barcades, game stores, conventions, etc. and our first stop is Tokens & Tankards. Nestled within downtown Mount Prospect, Illinois (18 W. Busse Ave) in what used to be an old pizza parlor, Tokens & Tankards provides a spin on the classic barcade as they offer up classic British and Belgian pub plates paired with local craft beers.
The baseball season is in full swing and after a few years of my baseball fandom fading away, I've begun following the MLB and my beloved New York Yankees again for the 2016 season. The Yankees stink, but I'm also fortunate enough to live close to one of the nicest minor league parks in the country, that being the Dell Diamond of the Texas Rangers' farm club, the Round Rock Express. So as I rekindle my love for America's pastime, I've decided to take a look at some of the baseball games in my collection throughout the generations. Though I typically don't collect sports games, my game library is peppered with some of the better baseball titles from the past. I am by no means contending these to be the best baseball games from each generation, they are simply the ones I own because I happen to enjoy them quite a bit. Let's play ball!
[img width=600 height=450]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/bombatomba77/newy_strider_zpsykljdce7.jpg[/img] Original image from modthesims2.com
Once upon a time, the most desired trait of any home console gamer was to play arcade ports. In this fashion, one could say that arcades ruled the jungles of electronic video game entertainment. While complete faithfulness to the arcade original was the holy grail, it was certainly not a requirement, though individual interpretation on the quality of the port was certainly in place, especially in the playgrounds and hallways of schools.
Once upon a time, I was among those that desired the "perfect" arcade port, having been a child in the jungle of electronic entertainment. Yet, as I grew in years, complete faithfulness to the arcade original was only a concern, then less of a concern, then finally of little to no concern. Don't get me wrong, I still love original arcade games, it just so happens that in my mind, certain games have been usurped by certain console ports, so that when someone says, "Remember how awesome xxxxxx game was back in the day?" and I say, "Yes," my mind isn't even remotely in the vicinity of the arcade original. Curiosity piqued yet?
We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
