I have this on Steam, and I was really interested to play, but I was having issues with performance. I did recently upgrade RAM, though, so maybe now is a good time to give it another go. Thanks for the reminder!

Yeah, still not playable for me. It's weird. The "detected" settings put me at Ultra, and I more than meet the recommended specs for the game. The frame rate is just unbearably slow, no matter what I put my settings at. Trying to look around for solutions...

Well, I guess I'll have to wait until I upgrade parts of my system? I don't know. I was a Kickstarter backer, but by the time I got around to playing the game, it was month's after release and I just got frustrated with trying to make it work. Maybe I'll pick it up on PS4 when it goes on deep sale someday? Really would like to play :)

Cool. Thanks for the heads up :).

Have you tried Rogue Legacy, Adam? It's a rogulike platformer. Might be right up your alley :).

It's actually really good, and the music is snappy .

I like that you mentioned Duck Tales. I remember playing it when I was about 12. I enjoyed it. I haven't looked at the remastered version, but (since you remind me) I may. I enjoyed Mega Man back then, too. I do have the Legacy Collection on Steam, which at least looks so much better, but I've hardly played it. I was a big TMNT fan back then, too, and had that Gameboy game. I also enjoyed Super Mario, but the first SMB game on Gameboy was difficult, at least that's what I remember of it. My gaming was somewhat limited to a Commodore 128D and a Gameboy. My cousin, however, had a Gameboy, NES, and Sega Genesis. So, I always enjoyed visiting him and playing a variety of games with him. In fact, I strongly believe those moments are what I cherish most of my childhood memories.

At present, however, I'm really not interested in platform games. In recent years I've found Mario games to be much more frustrating than fun. I haven't tried Super Mario Maker, but my son has played it.

These days I think I'm more interested in games that feature an open world, exploration, RPG elements, crafting, and surviving. I am looking forward to the new Zelda game which seems to contain many of those elements.

Risk of Rain! Definitely Risk of Rain!

I second Risk of Rain. :)

Initial reaction: Free?! Wow well I guess there's no real need to question whether or not I should get into it. Honestly, I haven't been interested, but we'll see how that changes after I check it out. Part of that lack of interest stems from the fact that I don't have a smartphone. But, since it's now on PC and free, I suppose I can give it a look.

Thanks for letting us know it was available and basically how to get it. I expected it on Steam. I don't really mind having to install a Bethesda launcher for it because I really like Bethesda. I wonder what else they could possibly have on there that isn't on Steam.

So, it's a free game, but you can pay for it if you want more out of it? From what I've seen, it seems to be very popular and was also very successful as a mobile app, so again it seems as there's little reason to question whether or not it's a good game. I'll check it out and look forward to seeing what others have to say about it, too.

Oh and if you check out this site, you can find the link to download the launcher at the bottom: https://bethesda.net/#en/events/game/fallout-shelter-quests-and-pc-version-announced/2016/06/12/143

Sorry, I edited my comment before I saw your reply (which meant I deleted my comment to add the link I found and reposted).

Can you still get that stuff without paying?

Ok, I'm downloading the game. It seems the only other part of the launcher includes the Creation Kit for Fallout 4, which lets you create mods for that game. I don't see a friends list either, so right now it seems like a simple game launcher. I imagine they'll expand upon it later. Maybe the game will be available on Steam eventually.

Another launcher?! Ugh. I was interested, until you mentioned that. I'm also of the "this is getting ridiculous" camp. I've got all of the ones you listed, Travis, plus a couple of indie game portals (one for Itch.io, and another that I can't remember the name of, and am too lazy to boot my PC to check).

I get it. Everyone wants to control their content and revenue stream. That's more than fair. I just wish there was a better way.

Game Jolt. That's the other one.

So far, I like it. I haven't spent a whole lot of time playing it, but I think I'm enjoying it. Right now I'm waiting for one of my dwellers to give birth. I have what I think is a Legendary dweller, Harkness. That's all on my second vault. I started out with a different one and had a lot more going on. Eventually, I realized that you can merge rooms, so I decided to build a new vault and instead build using that game mechanic. So I have merged water rooms together on one level while my merged food rooms are on another. I have two power rooms merged together, but the third didn't merge because I upgraded the first two. So, hopefully when I upgrade the third room it will then merge.

It's kind of a slow, mostly relaxing game. It might be cool if you had some control of how fast time passes. I had an objective to send a dweller out, but it took me a while before I learned how to check on her (without and Overseer's office). When I did figure it out (the vault icon), she was dead, but luckily I got to revive her and now I'm waiting on her to get back to the vault. It kind of seems like time passes even when I have saved and closed the game. Often I find that when I return I have resources to collect.

This is a great video, not just for the comparison between the non-Mega Man games and their spiritual predecessor, but also in showing some of the troublesome nuances with Kickstarter projects and games that are Early Access. While Mighty No. 9 seems to have elements of bait-and-switch (and suffering from it), 20XX is snowballing in a more positive direction. Jack's perspective of what Kickstarter is, and how supporting projects on that platform should be approached, is spot on. It doesn't excuse tricking people into giving you money, but I get the impression that too many people (i.e. backers) view Kickstarter as a sales portal, rather than an investment portal. Contrasting that, with Early Access games, especially on Steam, there are significant warnings about what you are getting, and how it will undoubtedly change over the course of development. During that time, though, you have a thing to play, and test, and submit feedback on. You're paying the devs to beta, or alpha, test their game.

I'm not a huge fan of Mega Man. I forgot which ones I played (probably the first two), though I remember enjoying them well enough. The idea of 20XX, with it's procedural levels and roguelike play, sounds more appealing than Mighty No. 9, but I'll wait until 20XX is more polished, or finished for that matter.

...expecting the return to be the thing you put money into supporting.

That thing that you are supporting, though, could change drastically, or not get delivered (*9% of successful Kickstarter projects fail to deliver rewards) . That's the difference.

"We want everyone to understand exactly how Kickstarter works — that it’s not a store, and that amid creativity and innovation there is risk and failure." * https://www.kickstarter.com/fulfillment

I don't know. I don't see Kickstarter as a marketing tool, per se. In fact, it seems that projects that succeed have the bulk of their audience before coming to Kickstarter. Maybe it's the summation of a marketing push, but not the start of it. I'm sure you could use Kickstarter however you want, and people do, as you've said, but they are the outliers. The primary motivator for initiating a Kickstarter project is to get funds. That's the core of the service. If your main reason for being there is to build an audience, I think you might be using it wrong. There are probably more practical (and efficient) ways to do that than with a fundraiser (Facebook, mailing lists, etc.). Otherwise, you're kinda putting the cart before the horse.

The methods you mention work when you have people, but how do you go get them in the first place?

This might be subjective, but all the research I've done (I'm interested in potentially using Kickstarter for my own project) points to building awareness first through social media hubs, personal email campaigns (mailing lists), basic advertising, and so on. Campaign for your project first, then go to crowdfunding. You want people to know what you're about before asking them for money. Building toward a Kickstarter campaign months in advance gives your fans something to look forward to, and that anticipation can perpetuate interest in your project, so that, when the time comes, they have allocated funds and are prepared to invest. Exposing an audience to your project for the first time through Kickstarter, on the other hand, gives them a deadline to invest (While this was initially successful for Comcept with Mighty No. 9, it ultimately lead to buyers remorse with a lot of backers). They may stumble upon it half-way, at which point they only have 15 days or so to decide whether or not they want to support you. Then they start looking through other projects on Kickstarter to see if their money might be better invested on another project (one that is a little more polished, is closer to funding, etc). They have no preexisting interest in your thing, so they face little resistance when clicking over to another page. That's not to say that people won't find you and support you during the fundraising, but I think building steam to that end will yield a much more successful campaign.

That's a really interesting article, Wick. Thanks for sharing.

It's certainly nice to be able to read cautionary tales, without having to go through the process. I appreciate the input :).

Wow, Jon, I just saw this news and thought about reporting it here. You're good, man!

I don't know if I'll bite on this, but it does look interesting. There are some games listed that I'm interested in playing again, especially Dr. Mario and the Super Mario Bros. games. As for the Zelda games, I have those for the Gamecube, they came on a pre-order bonus disc I got for Zelda: Wind Waker. I haven't tried playing any of these games on the Virtual Console. Still, it seems interesting. I guess I'll just wait and see. I don't like the idea that these are the only games that the system will play, but I do like the idea that it will connect to your TV with an HDMI cable.

Here's the article I found:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendos-nes-returning-with-mini-version-includes/1100-6441801/

Such a great lineup of games, too. With HDMI connectivity built in, this is very appealing. I love that it's priced the same as a standard new game. You could get the new Call of Duty, or a nice collection of gaming history!

Here are some extra details if you're interested, including that it has no Internet connectivity, no external storage, no additional games (other than the ones listed), and the drive bay does not open. It also begs the question of whether or not we'll see a similar product for the SNES and N64.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-nes-mini-cant-connect-to-internet-wont-ge/1100-6441840/

A pocket SNES with 30+ games on it, similar to this device?! Yes, please!