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Bro, More Broforce Forever Bro!

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 is Fantastic!

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... Read All 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.

The Story of Super Mario World

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.

Happy Halloween!

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.

Minecraft 1.20 the "unnamed" update

I just watched xisumavoid’s video (embedded) about the new 1.20 updated for Minecraft, as I did not watch Minecraft Live. I don’t think it’s incredibly exciting, but it still is interesting and I like what I saw. I really like xisumavoid’s channel (he has a second one, too) for Minecraft news. I strongly recommend xisumavoid's channel or channels.

The “Sniffer” won the mob vote. According to an article I found via Google, https://www.windowscentral.com/news/live/minecraft-live-2022 , “[t]he Sniffer is an ancient, long-extinct, which players can revive by finding underwater eggs and nurturing them. If the Sniffer is returned to the Overworld, players can use its amazing... Read All I just watched xisumavoid’s video (embedded) about the new 1.20 updated for Minecraft, as I did not watch Minecraft Live. I don’t think it’s incredibly exciting, but it still is interesting and I like what I saw. I really like xisumavoid’s channel (he has a second one, too) for Minecraft news. I strongly recommend xisumavoid's channel or channels.

The “Sniffer” won the mob vote. According to an article I found via Google, https://www.windowscentral.com/news/live/minecraft-live-2022 , “[t]he Sniffer is an ancient, long-extinct, which players can revive by finding underwater eggs and nurturing them. If the Sniffer is returned to the Overworld, players can use its amazing sense of smell to dig up seeds to long-lost ancient plants.“ This description doesn’t really mean anything for me, but I’m interested in seeing more about it. I didn’t have a preference, but I’m glad we got the Allay (which I still haven’t checked out yet).

Fireflies were announced for the previous Minecraft update and were shown, but didn’t make it into the game. This and some other similar examples lead Mojang to decide to only announce features that were far enough along in their development and thus most likely to be available. I think this is smart, I’m still unhappy that we haven’t gotten those little bags, I need that inventory help! I’m disappointed, too, that fireflies didn’t make it in, they would have been great for ambiance.

One of the things I think that’s cool about this update is that bamboo is becoming a wood type and I think it looks good. The jungle has always been a favorite biome of mine, but that's because that's where we used to get cats (now parrots). Bamboo wood has some of it’s own style, too, including it’s boat, which is a raft.

Camels are being added Desert Villages and I think this is great, too! I’m not fond of the desert biome and I think this certainly adds to it, making it better. Two players can ride them, which can help traversing easier, particularly since one player can shoot mobs. Camels will be bred with cactus, giving it a use finally.

There will be hanging signs, too, which I think helps make signs look better. This is in part due to this update being about self-expression and it’s really cool to see new Minecraft character models included, which feature a good amount of diversity and choice for players, not just Alex and Steve.

Bookshelves will be able to hold actual books, too, and this includes spell books. You can interact with them. I think this will be a great way to store spell books. The Librarian is my MVP when it comes to Villagers and bookshelves are extremely important in the game, IMO, so I’m looking forward to this, too. I’m always on the hunt for Mending ASAP (and I've discovered how to get it easily)!

There will be more about this update coming in a matter of days and beta/preview builds will also become available very soon. The update is expected to come out sometime next year, though.

I think there’s news about other Minecraft games, but my interest in them is minimal, so I’ll let you explore that on your own. Feel free to share what you find here.

Let me know what you think about this update! Are you excited?

The Making of Doom on the Super Nintendo

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.

Super Nintendo History -w Did You Know Gaming

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... Read All

The Sims 4 Will Be Available for Free on October 18th!

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... Read All

The Legendary Classic GoldenEye 007 Is Coming Back!

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... Read All

Gotham Knights Coming 10/21/22

I recently watched a “Before You Buy” video by GamingBolt for Gotham Knights (embedded). I’ve shared other videos of this series, so it’s definitely a channel I strongly recommend. The video is great, because it goes into some non-spoilery details about the plot and game play. If you enjoyed the Batman Arkham games, you’ll probably enjoy this, too (as I expect to).

I’ve known about Goth Knights for a while now. It’s coming to consoles and PC on 10/21/22. There’s also a Suicide Squad game coming out that looks quite similar. I’m looking forward to both of these games and will probably write something later for the Suicide Squad one.

The premise is that Batman and... Read All

AzureAzule Super Member Post Author wrote on 10/22/2022 at 10:09am

I just found an awesome video by GamingBolt about Gotham Knight's performance and visual fidelity on PC: https://youtu.be/g6H4zjURQ_k

I'm really excited about this game, but I still have games to finish. This game will be best for my new PC build ("Azura Azula"), which you can see here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V83Fxs It's a bit of a work in progress I hope to complete in a few months or so. There are details that could change, but I think that's essentially what I'm looking into building (one for me and one for Vinny).

My current build that I built 3 years ago (remember "Azure Azule?") can be seen here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/V83Fxs I started off w/ an EVGA 1660 Ti XC Gaming 6G (https://www.evga.com/products/Specs/GPU.aspx?pn=97cb4b02-fe8d-48b2-bddf-7241a213849a) Last month, I replaced it with an EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 12GB XC GAMING (https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=12G-P4-2263-KR) I'm extremely impressed with this upgrade, but I still want a 3070 (I think). It's hard to believe it runs on air and is as cool in gaming as my AIO-cooled CPU (https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Liquid-Cooling/Single-Radiator-Liquid-Coolers/Hydro-Series%E2%84%A2-H80i-v2-High-Performance-Liquid-CPU-Cooler/p/CW-9060024-WW). This is the coolest running card I've had in probably decades.

I'm working on a new build because my i7-8700 (not-K) isn't compatible w/ Windows 11 and I want it to get some kind of understanding of how this HDR tech on my monitor and GPU is supposed to look or do. It's my understanding that it has a great auto-HDR feature, while the implementation in Windows 10 is horrible. I'm still learning about HDR and don't understand it well enough, but I suspect Windows 11 will open my eyes.

Vinny wants a gaming PC, too, so I want to use this same build for his. His budget may be bigger, so it's more likely he'll get an RTX 30-series. I can wait. What's great is that this build will only cost me about $800. Vinny needs a monitor, though. I bought a MSI OPTIX MAG274QRF (https://www.msi.com/Monitor/Optix-MAG274QRF-QD) in December, but MSI upgraded it to a QD for an RMA. Now I'm waiting on another RMA for it.

Let me know what you think about the game and PC building. Do you build your own? Why or why not? How do you get your PCs? How much is in your PC budget? Have you played PC Building Simulator? Are you aware that PC Building Simulator 2 is out now?

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Bro, More Broforce Forever Bro!

Marvel Snap is Fantastic!

The Story of Super Mario World

Happy Halloween!

Minecraft 1.20 the "unnamed" update

The Making of Doom on the Super Nintendo

Super Nintendo History -w Did You Know Gaming

The Sims 4 Will Be Available for Free on October 18th!

The Legendary Classic GoldenEye 007 Is Coming Back!

Gotham Knights Coming 10/21/22

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Marvel Snap is Fantastic!