Very cool! A friend was just saying "Man, I should have picked this up during the Steam sale..."

Nice! I tried to play the ME demo before the Steam Winter sale, but the EA servers were down, constantly. I have the demo, but you still have to connect to their servers to play, apparently (like Diablo 3).

Travis, I was talking about the Mass Effect demo.

I'm looking forward to it! I tried to figure out when this patch would be available and from what I read, it seems like it will be out, well technically today since it's already the 4th over here on the East Coast. If not "today" then it should be here this week! I'm not sure when the Necromancer is coming, but I think they said "some time in January." I also saw a video that stated that it's going to be a part of a paid DLC. If that's true, I'll buy it. I also saw that Blizzard recommends taking a new character through the new retro Diablo area. That means I have to decide on a gender, class, and name, too many choices!

So, I finished this about 24 hours ago. It took a few hours to complete, longer than I anticipated, which was good. It's basically a dungeon with 16 (I think?) levels. It looks different, but doesn't feel too different (I think that was the point). I started a new character as Blizzard suggested in something I read. I created a new Barbarian and almost made it to level 40. I modified the difficulty a few times. By the end, nothing was really hurting me on Hard, Expert, or Master, I can't recall what I finally stayed with. It did seem more difficult than the base D3 game. The problem though is if you leave the game to increase the difficulty, you have to make your way again to Old Tristram via the Old Tristram Road to the north west of Tristram to find the portal near the cathedral and start the dungeon again on the first level. It was hard at first, especially for a new character, but it eventually got easier with better gear and higher character levels. I definitely do recommend Diablo fans to check this out. I haven't spent any time with the first two Diablo games, but I do still enjoy D3. I believe this event is for a limited time only in January and from what I read it seems it may also be an annual event, which is cool. There are some cool things you get when you kill Diablo and something special you see, but I won't spoil that.

A few hours, maybe around 4, with a new character.

Thanks for that, Travis. I pretty much knew all of that. Since I've never played the first Diablo game, I wasn't disappointed at all. I thought it was great! The only thing is that it makes me think that the first game is just a dungeon of the same size. I don't know whether or not this is true, of course, but I'll probably get to playing the first game, eventually.

At first I thought it was a remake inside D3, but I think that misconception faded quickly and easily. I might recall that realization being a minor disappointment that didn't last very long. When I found out it was only 16 levels, I thought it would be much smaller than it actually is. Not every level has the same look, although it mostly looks the same. Most of the dungeon is pretty much the cathedral of D3. However, the last few levels are like the jail cells and torture chambers you see elsewhere in D3. There also seems to be places where new areas can show up randomly. Just as D3 does, where at one play through you'll see a place you can access, but another time around you won't see it. It did seem more difficult than D3 and that's why I often changed the difficulty. Pretty much, I increased the difficulty when I wasn't taking any damage at all. So, I ended up on Torment I or II just to get to the portal. But, by the time I got inside, I had to lower the difficulty to Hard, Expert, or Master. Thinking more on it now, I should probably go through it again with every other class, so that I end up with at least one reward for each.

I have at least one in each of the categories. DoTA2 is only there because when I turned on my beastly PC for the first time and launched Steam, it appeared in my library. I don't know why Steam says TF2 is in my library, because I haven't played it (nor do I intend to, though Vinny plays it).

Anyway, I have no idea what to expect for the top 100 selling games of 2017, with only one or two exceptions. The only new game I can think of that will hopefully make it to this list is Terraria: Otherworld. I hope and expect that it will be released this year and I'm looking forward to it. The devs have gone silent on it for a while now, but if you look at the announcement and follow ups to Terraria 1.3, then this could be a really good sign.

I'd also like to add that Ark: Survival Evolved is expected to graduate from Early Access this year (in the Spring). Since I've been following its development since the beginning, I have a lot of faith that this is actually coming to fruition. They're getting close to the end of content they've stated they're going to add. Almost all of the slated creatures have been added and they're even beginning to add more than usual each month. The January update, for example, is adding 7 creatures! Before it was about 2-4 every month (once the frequency of updates slowed). The last update added 5. So, I imagine Ark may be on this list for next year as well.

First, you didn't mention the fact that the New 3DS does not come with a charger, which for some is a drawback, especially for you since you had to buy one. Second, you should look at a New 3DSXL after playing with your New 3DS for a while. You'll probably think, "wow it's huge!" :) Third, I'm glad you've found some fun games to play and are enjoying them. Demos are a fantastic idea. I also have had a pleasant experience with their eStore. While you enjoy physical copies of games, that means you'll have more free space on your SD card. The drawback, though, is that physical copies are more easily lost or damaged. If you have digital copies of games and want to switch to another system, all you have to do is log into your Nintendo account and download them again onto your new system. You don't have to buy them twice.

Lastly, I'd like to see what you think about the 3D feature. I'm not sure many people are a fan of it, really I don't know how many are or are not. Personally, it's something I could do without.

I have complete faith that the Switch will be more powerful than the New 3DS, even while undocked. I'm also sure it will be more powerful than the Wii U, hopefully also while undocked, but from what I'm seen I'm unsure. I don't think it will be more powerful than a PC, XBox One, or PS4, but I think it will still be pretty damn good. I think Nintendo made a beautiful leap into HD with the Wii U. We'll see in the coming months more information about the Switch and then we'll see it's release and how well it goes. As of right now, I intend to wait until the new Zelda game is released and then decided whether I'm going to get it for the Wii U (which I own) or if I'm going to buy a Switch to play it on.

Oh, Pokemon! I think Pokemon games are great. I started out on the GBA versions, then tried a GBC (color) version, and have since played the DS versions. I have not yet played Sun and Moon (especially for reasons I've already explained to you privately). I'd like to give them a try, although graphically they don't seem to be incredibly impressive. So, when you do actually get to Sun and Moon (assuming you go there), I'm interested in knowing your thoughts about them as well. :)

> I also found him trying to eat my iPhone, which was disturbing as I wouldn't suggest putting any part of anyones phone in your mouth.

Well, it is an Apple.....lol bud dum chi

Thanks for the replies, @Will_Ball and @Jon!

@Will_Ball, I've already gone through babypocalypse and toddlerpocalpse. I have now been upgraded to pre-teenapocalypse. I bought Pokemon Sun and Moon for the 3DS. My son was going to play Sun and I was going to play Moon. I thought about buying a New 3DSXL for him or one for each of us. But, he lost his 3DSXL, then he lost mine, then he lost Pokemon Sun and Terraria. His friend's dog chewed on Pokemon Moon. Now that I have a smartphone, I can play Pokemon Go and I realized that my son probably could, too (I think he has a smart phone). The problem is that he also lost his phone. So, now he wants to use my phone to play Pokemon Go. I won't let him take it out, been there, done that. Kids...!!

@Jon, knowing how much you love the Legend of Zelda, you should check out Hyrule Warriors Legends. I heard and read it plays much better on the New 3DS than the old one, better FPS, etc. I don't know if they have a demo for it, but if they do, I recommend giving it a try. Hyrule Warriors is absolutely my favorite game on the Wii U, or at least the one I enjoyed and played the crap out of. If I had a New 3DS (or New 3DSXL), that would be something I would seriously consider buying for it. :)

I only picked winners! :) And yes, I agree that's a great graphic by scrypt!

I voted for Pokemon Go because I finally have an Android smartphone, which means I can finally play it! :)

I'd like to offer some observations. As for our small beloved group, I think NMS is our game of the year. Remember when many of us were blowing up the event's comments section and we had to switch to two forum posts? I think we talked more about NMS in 2016 than any other game and there were many of us involved in that. I am glad that we did not succumb to, promote, or expand the negativity it received from what seems to be a lot of other gamers. I'm not saying we called it a perfect game, but we still enjoyed it (and still do).

I also am thinking about the games that I saw most played by my Steam friends. There are very few of them (friends and games). Many of my friends (I'd say about 4 of them) played a lot of Ark, as I did, too. I also saw one or two playing Rocket League often. One of my friends also played Overwatch a bit, which isn't a Steam game, but you know we can add non-Steam games to our Steam library.

Anyway, I just thought I'd give those observations. I would invite anyone else to give their observations as well.

I think the thing is that I didn't know anything about NMS until it came out. Then I realized we had an event going on about it and I read what was posted there and looked at some of the links that were posted as well. Then I decided to jump on the NMS bandwagon and join the event. I think many other people had heard about the game much earlier than I did and were actively following the news of it. So, their expectation of it was much higher than mine. Therefore, I was not as disappointed as they were. Granted, I still have in mind that one quote I read some that it was "as big as an ocean, but as deep as a puddle." I thought that analogy was fitting, until the Foundation update was released. Then, that "ocean" got much "deeper" and the game got much better. I still have things to do with it. I only stopped playing recently to get into Ark's holiday event. Since Ark has updated, I have more to do with it. Then, I might go back to NMS and continue what I was doing. The game can still get a bit dull after awhile, especially if you decide to try to locate all the creatures on a planet to get that discovery bonus. That part is still sometimes difficult. I'd like to see something, perhaps a scanner upgrade, that helps you locate the various creatures more easily.

It's nice to see NMS win something somewhere ;)

I agree with Travis, only one of my picks in the Steam awards won and that was Doom. Even if my own picks don't win, I feel like we have a much better selection!

> Too bad we don't have any "I voted" stickers.

Yeah, because at least here we can be proud of it and know that our vote actually counted or stood for something.

I couldn't help myself... http://i.imgur.com/16hT0Tl.png