jdodson1

Joined 01/23/2012

I'm an Engineer and built the video game community Cheerful Ghost and text based mini-MMO Tale of the White Wyvern.

2741 Posts

Looks like the biggest update to Broforce is coming in 2023 and while there aren't a lot of details surrounding the announcement, I'm still quite excited. Yeah, the game came out almost 8 years ago but it's still incredible and plays well on everything it's on (I've got it on Switch).

"The Biggest Update to Broforce Yet: New Bros, New Missions, New Freedoms - Coming Early 2023"

New freedoms, hell yeah, now let's high five an Eagle while we wait for 2023.


Marvel Snap launched last month to quite a bit of press and accolades and I'm here to say it's fantastic. Yeah, yeah it's free to play going heavy on cosmetics but none of that is annoying, in fact I think it nails the free to play curve.

Second Dinner is the development shop that created Marvel Snap and it formed up a few years ago from former Blizzard employees that made Hearthstone great. Hearthstone at launch was one of the most refreshing digital card games that later went so heavy into free to pay to play that caused me to go from a long time player to a former player. Marvel Snap changes the digital card game format by making the matches faster and removes nearly all the pay for power aspects. Some cards you can unlock FASTER by paying for the season pass but if you want to wait, you can unlock them normally through the card upgrade mechanics later.

The basic game premise is fairly simple, there are three lanes and you focus on winning 2 out of the 3 lanes to win the match. Each lane has a Marvel effect that changes how you can win it such as doubling the strength of your cards or lanes you can't play cards in at all. How you approach these random lanes can really mix up the matches and they keep adding new lanes all the time really changing how the game works.

If you want to you can buy gold to unlock new cosmetic cards (essentially card skins) or power to unlock other cards faster, but there is a daily limit to the amount of cards you can upgrade this way. So even if you unleashed your credit card to buy everything, you'd still need to play daily matches to unlock all the cards quickly.

With a quick yet fun base game and progression system that doesn't, to me, feel excessively grindy, Marvel Snap is the game I now play daily. I don't think I'd ever NOT buy anything in game, but at this point, I'm not sure what the point would be. I'm content playing free to play games like Fortnite without buying cosmetics and Marvel Snap seems like a perfect game for that. In fact, you can earn enough gold in game to buy cosmetics and I've just been hording mine for the perfect card skin or ... something else.

If you are interested in playing Marvel Snap, as I said, it's entirely free and available on Android, iPhones, tablets and PC on Steam. When I tried the Steam port it had a phone aspect ratio but at some point the developers will add proper widescreen making the PC version better.


According to some, Super Mario World is one of the best platformers of all time. For me and my family, this game sold us the Super Nintendo. My parents were really impressed by the 16bit graphics and I think that convinced them to buy us one that Christmas.

If you love Super Mario World or have yet to play it, the Gaming Historian has a great video all about the game and it’s historic creation.


Wanted to wish everyone a very Happy and safe Halloween this year. Also wanted to share the latest Angry Video Game Nerd episode covering all the classic Doom ports. We’ve covered the basic Doom port history before but the Nerds review is fun and worth watching.


DF Retro interviewed Randy Linden, the programmer behind the Super Nintendo Doom port. The interesting part about that console Doom port is that it was created to run on the Super FX 2 chip and was one of the better Doom console ports. It's still a bit framey, but was one of the best non PC ways to play Doom for quite some time. The DF Retro interview is incredible and Randy talks about how he miraculously ported the game to the Super Nintendo.


Did You Know Gaming create a video recently (not that recently) that briefly covers the history of the Super Nintendo and how Nintendo responded to the Sega Genesis. Lots of this information is available elsewhere but why not experience it all over again?

"In this episode we take a look at some facts, secrets, and history of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The SNES is a gaming device developed by Nintendo. In its native country of Japan, the console is named the Super Famicom. The system is Nintendo's second home console, following the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short. It had similar success to its predecessor, and became the best-selling console of the 16-bit era globally. This was partly thanks to Nintendo's all-star franchises such as Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong."


When the original Sims came to PC in 2000 I was hooked. It was such a refreshingly fun game and with each expansion things got even more fun. The Sims has received quite a few sequels over the years, but for whatever reason I never played any of the follow ups to the original. Seems like that might change now that EA is going to release The Sims 4 for free on basically all platforms.

"We’re excited to continue to welcome in more players than ever to create new stories, and explore without boundaries. The Sims has always been about celebrating new ways to play and offers so many possibilities to discover. Beginning on October 18, 2022, The Sims 4 base game will be available to all new players to download for free on PC via EA app or Origin, Mac via Origin, Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One systems."

I imagine EA will make up for having the game go free to play through the sale of Sims 4 DLC considering there is a whole lot of it. Still, I wonder if this means The Sims 4 will be ending soon or if they plan on having a solid base be free and charging for everything else and continuing with that model? EA says it will spill the beans on the new way forward with the game on October 18th so I'll be curious what they have to say about the game then.

All that to say, I'm very excited The Sims 4 is going free to play and I hope that the base game is as fun as I remember the original being.

https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/news/play-the-sims-4-for-free-beginning-october-18


When GoldenEye 007 came to Nintedo 64 it was, for many, the first multiplayer shooter experience they had. It was also a great game for the time and I have many fond memories of multiplayer parties at friends houses (no one was allowed to pick Oddjob). Well, Microsoft is giving GoldenEye 007 the re-release treatment and bringing it to XBox and Switch.

"Since its original release in 1997, GoldenEye 007 has remained a beloved classic in the hearts and minds of millions of fans worldwide. Today, we’re excited to announce that a new generation of players will soon get to experience the genre-defining stealth shooter gameplay for themselves, faithfully recreated to preserve the action and excitement of the original while adding new features for the modern age of gaming.

Players will guide James Bond on a global espionage mission to prevent the devastating power of the GoldenEye satellite from being unleashed upon the world. The classic campaign mode, transformative difficulty levels and havoc-inducing cheats will all make their return – as will the iconic split-screen local multiplayer mode, allowing up to four players to take to the couch in a battle of wits and skill.

The original experience has been updated with improved control options (including dual analogue stick support), native 16:9 resolution up to 4K Ultra HD (where supported), a consistent refresh rate and a full complement of achievements to unlock.
"

The GoldenEye remake is coming to XBox Games Pass as well as a free download for folks that have the Rare Collection digitally!

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/09/13/james-bond-returns-goldeneye-007-on-game-pass/


Physical media is on a downward slope to oblivion because streaming is good enough for nearly everyone. I'm not lamenting this, I'm just noting it because I love collecting some kinds of physical media (games, films, music) and when I write about it I'm always thinking about how this pastime is for Dinosaurs and folks that love wasting money. Or at least that's what I think sometimes even though I love it. People say you can't take anything with you when you die and pass into the next whatever life but some cultures believed you could. I imagine it's possible to stack up a pile of Blu-ray and Limited Run Games and take them with you to Valhalla or wherever. Or at least I want to try it out and I'll let you know how it goes.

In keeping in the spirit of adding to the limitless collection of physical trash no one cares about I submit something I found incredibly exciting, all the original Star Trek Films are in 4K with more special features than a tribble in heat.

Now you can get each film separately and some of those films come in incredible packaging but the whole 4K collection of the original run films seems the hottest to me.

"All six original STAR TREK big-screen adventures come to 4K UHD in one must-have collection. Starring the original series cast, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, and James Doohan, all have been remastered with HDR-10 and Dolby Vision for optimum picture quality from their original film elements. This new collection includes STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE—THE DIRECTOR’S EDITION, in addition to the original theatrical cut, as well as the Director’s Cut of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN and STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. Packed with hours of special features, it is an essential STAR TREK collection for fans and beyond!"

Yesterday I watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture - The Director's Edition and really enjoyed it. Was surprised how well the new sound popped in Dolby.

"Watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture Directors Cut. Still a great film and lovely to see a few extra minutes here and there. Flows better and ultimately it’s still a slower film. Love the starfield music intro. More films should do that. ❤️"

https://twitter.com/jdodson/status/1562479766447349761 (Quoting my own Tweets, so shameless)

The 15-disc collection packs in the following:

· NEW! Star Trek: The Motion Picture —The Director’s Edition (4K + Blu-Ray)
· NEW! Star Trek: The Motion Picture — The Director’s Edition Bonus Content (BR)
· Star Trek: The Motion Picture Theatrical Cut (4K + BR)
· Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Theatrical & Directors Cut (4K + BR)
· Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (4K + BR)
· Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (4K + BR)
· NEW! Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (4K + BR)
· NEW! Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Theatrical & Directors Cut (4K + BR)

I've never seen Khan or The Undiscovered Country Directors cuts before and I'm excited to check those out the most. The only film version not included is the Star Trek: The Motion Picture Special Longer Edition that is included if you buy the special Motion Picture 4K individually. Yeah, yeah, I get why, but ... *sigh* you know put it all on the collection. Regardless this 4K all in one pack is incredibly dense and seems to be the version to get.

In a world were everyone is trying to do a threaded universe of films Star Trek did a great job knitting the storylines of Wrath of Khan through Search for Spock and landing on The Voyage Home. Things cap off with The Undiscovered Country and that ending may well be my favorite in the series. I'm not sure watching the films in ultra hd makes them better but with all the included extras this collection seems to be something worth exploring.

https://blog.trekcore.com/2022/07/star-trek-original-films-motion-picture-directors-edition-4k-releases/


We live in an incredible time where fantastic new games are coming out at a frantic pace and on top of that we are getting many remakes and modern ports of classic games. Nintendo smashed the scene a handful of years back with the Nintendo and Super Nintendo Classic and Sega wasn't too far behind with the Genesis mini. Apparently that wasn't good enough because they are back with 50+ games packing the Genesis Mini 2 featuring a handful of Sega CD games such as Night Trap, Sewer Shark and Sonic CD! I never had a Sega when I was younger so this coupled with the original Genesis Mini should tide us all over...

Until they release the Genesis Mini 3 that is.

Let me know if you plan to pick this one up. Oh and here is the full list of Genesis Mini 2 games:

After Burner II
Alien Soldier
Atomic Runner
Bonanza Bros.
ClayFighter
Crusader of Centy
Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
Earthworm Jim 2
Elemental Master
Fatal Fury 2
Gain Ground
Golden Axe II
Granada
Hellfire
Herzog Zwei
Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar
Midnight Resistance
OutRun
OutRunners
Phantasy Star II
Populous
RAINBOW ISLANDS -EXTRA-
Ranger-X
Ristar
ROLLING THUNDER 2
Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi
Shining Force II
Shining in the Darkness
Sonic 3D Blast
SPLATTERHOUSE 2
Streets of Rage 3
Super Hang-On
SUPER STREET FIGHTER II THE NEW CHALLENGERS
The Ooze
The Revenge of Shinobi
ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
Truxton
VectorMan 2
Viewpoint
Virtua Racing
Warsong
Ecco the Dolphin (Sega CD)
Ecco: The Tides of Time (Sega CD)
Final Fight CD (Sega CD)
Mansion of Hidden Souls (Sega CD)
NIGHT STRIKER (Sega CD)
Night Trap (Sega CD)
Robo Aleste (Sega CD)
Sewer Shark (Sega CD)
Shining Force CD (Sega CD)
SILPHEED (Sega CD)
Sonic CD (Sega CD)
THE NINJA WARRIORS (Sega CD)
Devi & Pii (Special Content)
Fantasy Zone (Special Content)
Space Harrier II + Space Harrier (Special Content)
Spatter (Special Content)
Star Mobile (Special Content)
Super Locomotive (Special Content)
VS Puyo Puyo Sun (Special Content)

https://sega.jp/genesismini2/