The Epic Games Store on PC is giving away 15 free PC games this year to help ring in the new year. So far I've netted well over 50 PC games free from Epic including Grand Theft Auto V, FTL and the entire Batman Arkham series. I'm not sure what other games Epic has hidden under the tree but we'll find out as they release one free game per day starting on December 17th!

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/news/the-holiday-sale-returns-on-december-17-plus-15-free-games

My 4 year old son Finley got a Pokeball with 3 packs of Pokemon cards as a Thanksgiving present from his Grandma. Since he's still quite young we don't really play the Pokemon card game as much as pretend to bring out cards and attack each other. It's quite silly and he wins a lot because, magically, the made up rules always seem to favor him. One thing I noticed in these new Pokemon card packs he got for Thanksgiving was that they contained a lot more cards than the ones we've picked up at the dollar store and also they come with a digital code to redeem a pack on the Pokemon digital card game. I've haven't played the Pokemon digital card game yet so I decided to give it a shot. One thing to keep in mind that you can play the Pokemon digital card game on Windows, Mac, iPad or an Android tablet for free.

When the Pokemon card game came out 1996 it was huge and I remember playing it with friends. It wasn't quite as challenging to pick up as Magic the Gathering and it was accessible enough for kids. After playing it for a year I decided to walk away from it and after trying my hand at the digital collectable card game I have to say I really enjoy the simplicity of it still. I also think it's cool that each card pack and pre-made deck you buy in real life you can redeem in the digital game. This is something Magic doesn't quite do you and really should consider as it gives more value to the physical & digital game.

So far I'm just playing the training missions starting out but am looking at buying some dueling decks to pick up and play against friends when we can get to that sort of thing.

If you love all things Wololo then you need to watch this LGR Ages of Empires retrospective. Age of Empires is one of the more historically impactful RTS games of all time and as such has received quite a few modern remakes. Age of Empires III was the last game to get a definitive edition and at this point it's all up to Microsoft to launch the brand new Age of Empires IV. I hope Age of Empires IV can take us to some kind of high tech space Age but at this point we don't know a lot about what it will be yet.

Each Thanksgiving Mystery Science Theater 3000 hosts the annual Turkey Day marathon. This year is going ALL DAY and not only that but they’ve secure the rights to two episodes from the Jonah season 11 in Carnival Magic and Cry Wilderness. Full list of episodes below:

9am ET – I Accuse My Parents
11am ET – Hobgoblins
1pm ET – Pod People (TURKEY DAY TOURNAMENT WINNER!)
3pm ET – Carnival Magic
5pm ET – Final Justice
7pm ET – The Day the Earth Froze
9pm ET – Night of the Blood Beast (Wildcard Entry!)
11pm ET – Cry Wilderness

MST has also recorded a ton of new segments featuring the live show crew as well as cast members from seasons 11 and 12. Since Netflix cancelled MST3K the future of the show isn’t known and I’m wondering if they plan on dropping more news about a season 13? The word on the street is that season 13 will be crowd funded but no official word on that has hit yet.

https://mst3k.org/2020/11/26/turkey-day-is-upon-us-heres-the-list-of-episodes-plus-some-big-surprises/

Doom historically has been ported to everything from the Super Nintendo to pregnancy tests and now the new Nintendo Game & Watch. The new Game & Watch isn't very powerful and it looks like quite a bit was required to get it to run at all. The system isn't as easy to hack as the NES or SNES classic but if you have some time on your hands it looks like Doom will run but doesn't play very well as of yet.

The Game & Watch is also quite limited in terms of storage (1.1 Mb) so even if you do hack it doesn't seem like it would be able to store an entire NES ROM set.

The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special is out on Disney+ and after watching it with my family I can say that it's quite fun. It improves on the original Star Wars Holiday Special in nearly every way which... isn't too hard to do.

If you are curious where this fits into the Star Wars cannon it appears to take place directly after Rise of Skywalker and I imagine isn't directly considered canonical as it alters the Star Wars timeline considerably due to a fun plotline involving time travel. If you enjoy watching holiday films this time of year and have Disney+ and dig Star Wars this is for you.

Mega Man on DOS is a unique game in the Mega Man series that seems entirely disavowed by Capcom. It's a Mega Man game with a very interesting story and the Gaming Historian recently brought that story to his channel. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Mega Man for DOS even though I could honestly never get past the intro part with the dogs.

If you are looking for more Mega Man on DOS fun check out this incredible speedrun by Lizstar at AGDQ 2019. Not only does it feature the infamous Mega Man on DOS but Lizstar crushes the run at a blistering 10:50 minutes and doesn't get killed by the dog right away!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbs6PEgXEJg

Mikey Neumann is a popular YouTuber and video game writer on such hits as Brothers in Arms, Borderlands & Co-writer on Borderlands 2. His YouTube channel Movies with Mikey typically covers films yet at times he takes a peek at games and in his latest video goes deep on the history of Mario. Have Mario retrospectives been done before? Yep, but if you want something a bit more personal and more light hearted this is a must watch.

"Time to throw some turtle shells and turn up—This MARIOS with Mikey episode gives you the origin story of one of the most iconic characters in all pop culture, from Italian plumber to international icon."

LGR is a fun YouTube channel focusing on retro PC hardware and esoterica and from time to time reviews classic games such as this recent review of Doom 3. LGR focuses on the Doom 3 original retail release, which is my personal favorite too(flashlight mechanics >).

One thing LGR highlights if you are looking into jumping back in to Doom 3 PC retail on Steam or using your original install discs is the Dewm 3 source port that takes the iD Software Doom 3 source and adds updated resolutions for modern displays. The original Doom 3 release is stuck in 4x3 aspect ratios and this source port / mod really gives the original Doom 3 retail the love that the BFG brought while keeping the original release prime.

https://dhewm3.org/

I watched this short recently on Saturday Night Live and I laughed so much I literally cried. I'm not sure if you find this information fun or disturbing but I'm sure you will let me know in the comments.