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Dune: Spice Wars in Steam Early Access

I just found out about Dune: Spice wars and thought I'd share the video. It's in Early Access on Steam and expected to be released this year according to it's store page. It's described as a 4X RTS. It looks to me like a a cross between Civilization and Command & Conquer. The first C&C came out after Dune 2 and I loved both games. Dune 2 also got a remake with Dune 2000, though I haven't really played it much. Spice Wars looks interesting to me. I'm curious about how it all comes together.

Let me know what you think about this. Are you interested? Do you know the history of Dune and C&C games?

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Gets a New Trailer and Release Date of May 6

There's a hot new trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and it's awesome! The movie comes out on May 6th. There's a lot in it and I don't want to spoil it, but there is a significant cameo. You only get to hear is voice, but I can't wait to see him! It seems a certain Marvel group will be shown. There's another Marvel character, I can point her out later who she might be.

It looks like this movie is going to tie to WandaVision and What If. I'm not looking forward to one part of it (I can explain later again). The overall look seems to be from what I think is one of the most dramatic episodes. This one should be more obvious.

What are your thoughts? Let... Read All

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 02/16/2022 at 02:26am

I am super hyped for this one! Can't wait to see all the twists and turns that will likely happen throughout!

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 02/17/2022 at 05:51am

Looks great. Rumor has it that even an iron man variant shows up. The variant may be played by a certain megastar that was originally going to be iron man, way back when.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/18/2022 at 12:20am

Yup! Captain Britain, Kang or a variant, or Reed Richards could possibly be there, too. Deadpool could show up, too.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/24/2022 at 08:32pm

The author of the Dark Hold and the one who gave Wanda her original powers (pre-Mind stone), Cthon, is on the high-res poster of the movie. https://youtu.be/Ovpivz2TQTE

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/23/2022 at 08:40am

This is on Disney+ now. As much as I've enjoyed watching the MCU movies in theater lately (starting with Shang-Chi), this is for some odd reason the only one I want to see again, at least right now. I'm not into horror and I don't like some of the horror elements of this (especially the bloodiness and neck snap), but I really enjoyed it. I was thinking of Doctor Strange as my current favorite MCU character, but Ms. Marvel is taking that title these days.

Let me know if you've watched it or are going to and what you think about it!

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 06/25/2022 at 04:31am

I just watched it again, and do really enjoy it! It's a fun change-up from typical Marvel movies and has great rewatchability 😀

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 06/25/2022 at 04:42am

I'm not sure why I said it's the only one I wanted to re-watch. After watching it, I began to think, "no, I wanted to re-watch this as much as the others, which isn't much." They were all great, but I gues it's just too soon. Still, I enjoyed re-watching this, especially because I was able to watch the iMax version at 2K. It was so beautiful and crisp! (4Kx2K@60 is the highest non-native res. my new monitor I got in Dec. is able to do. My native res. is 1440p.)

Also, it took a while, but I remembered that I saw it (and Jurassic World Dominion) in 3D and really enjoyed it (some how keep going at the wrong time for the 2D shows, need to verify times).

Being a parent makes Wanda so much more relatable. I'm relating to villains too much lately. (I even decided what my Sith name is.)

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Splinter Coming To Ninja Turtles Shredders Revenge

Splinter is coming as a playable character to Ninja Turtles Shredders Revenge with the original Turtle Team and April O'Neil! I hope they announce more characters you can play, personally I'd love to play as Casey Jones. That said, I imagine they might release more characters later on as DLC depending on how the games does but it would be nice to get a hefty roster at launch too.

What characters would you like to see join up?

Hotline Miami Creators Break Down its Design & Legacy

Hotline Miami is one of the best indie games to come out in the last 10 years and if you wanted to know more about it's development NoClip has released a documentary about it. The retrospective covers both games in the series along with the critiques of Hotline Miami 2.

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition Arrives April 7th

I just wanted to share a bit of news real quick. The sequel to Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross (from the PS1 days) is getting remastered as Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition. It's coming to consoles (all three current gen) and Steam on April 7th. Steam has it listed for $20, which I think is great.

I'm pretty much looking forward to this. I played Chrono Cross about two decades ago. It's a Square-Enix (or Squaresoft originally) JRPG with a lot of playable characters. I can't think of much else to say about it, but I did enjoy it.

Check out this link for more info: ... Read All

The Latest Nintendo Direct: A New Portal Collection, You Monster!

The latest Nintendo direct brought some great news for Switch fans. One new game collection to be announced was quite a welcomed surprise in the Portal: Companion Collection. Basically it's just as it sounds, Valve is releasing the Portal & Portal 2 Companion Collection on Nintendo Switch. My hope is this has a physical release, because if it doesn't i'll pick it up. I still play Portal and Portal 2 with my 5 year old son on the Series X backwards compatibility and getting a new fresh port on Switch would be awesome. My hope is Valve releases this collection on the other consoles in 4K but if this is simply a Switch port, that seems fine too. It's an interesting... Read All The latest Nintendo direct brought some great news for Switch fans. One new game collection to be announced was quite a welcomed surprise in the Portal: Companion Collection. Basically it's just as it sounds, Valve is releasing the Portal & Portal 2 Companion Collection on Nintendo Switch. My hope is this has a physical release, because if it doesn't i'll pick it up. I still play Portal and Portal 2 with my 5 year old son on the Series X backwards compatibility and getting a new fresh port on Switch would be awesome. My hope is Valve releases this collection on the other consoles in 4K but if this is simply a Switch port, that seems fine too. It's an interesting choice considering Valve is launching it's Steam Deck handheld broadly very soon.

The next news drop I found interesting was the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass DLC. Mario Kart 8 was originally released in 2014 for the Wii U with it's own DLC. That later was packaged up for the Switch as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and the game is still so popular with fans Nintendo is releasing a 48 course DLC track pass that will drop 8 new tracks at a time throughout 2022. For $25 this seems like quite the deal and Nintendo has also included it as a bonus for the upgraded Nintendo Online subscription. Interesting to see how Nintendo is adding value to Nintendo Online through normally paid DLC being included for subscribers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uZDbDoDAq4

Nintendo Switch Sports looks to be the sequel to Wii Sports I always wanted. Recently my son played Wii bowling at he was hooked. Nintendo Switch Sports looks to bring all the Wii classic sports games to the table along with some of the best games from Wii Sports Resort (the Sword Fighting game). Switch Sports drops 4/29 and it's a day one purchase for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ16-1YIRAc

Finally, Earthbound Beginnings on NES and Earthbound for SNES are coming to Nintendo online, which should bring these classic games to a larger audience. While a bit late, it's nice to see these come to the system even if I'm letting my Nintendo Online subscription lapse.

Majora’s Mask Plays Africa

Travis Admin wrote on 02/02/2022 at 07:07pm

I love seeing music recorded in unconventional ways, and I love covers of Africa, so this is just right.

Gotta share my favorite Africa cover: https://youtu.be/MH9FyLsfDzw

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/03/2022 at 12:25am

Awesome! It seems I didn't hit "post" on the comment I made earlier. You both shared awesome videos! It reminds me of the hard or floppy drive version of the Imperial Death March.

Azurephile Super Member wrote on 02/04/2022 at 05:12am

Maybe this bit of news deserves it's own post, but it looks like Hollywood is finally about to have something in common with Majora's Mask: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/new-moonfall-trailer-features-the-moon-coming-for-all-of-us/1100-6499426/

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 02/04/2022 at 05:16pm

That Metal Africa cover is quite good. Thabks for sharing it. 🤘

jaelte wrote on 02/05/2022 at 12:13am

Something tells me we're not in Kansas anymore.

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Star Wars Squadrons: Today’s X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter

Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale

This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.

I remember seeing the box I had of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter long ago around ‘95-’96. That’s what I remember most. What I don’t remember is actually playing it. I think I did, but not for long. In those days I was more into Star Trek and Star Wars wasn’t something I had gotten into yet. However, it’s my understanding that the game is very popular, which is great news for those fans who want to play something just like it with modern graphics.

If you’re unfamiliar, both of these games are star ship shooters. Basically, you fly around in a ship and shoot down others. There are missions, of course, in which you take out certain targets, some easier than others.

Squadrons is... Read All I remember seeing the box I had of X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter long ago around ‘95-’96. That’s what I remember most. What I don’t remember is actually playing it. I think I did, but not for long. In those days I was more into Star Trek and Star Wars wasn’t something I had gotten into yet. However, it’s my understanding that the game is very popular, which is great news for those fans who want to play something just like it with modern graphics.

If you’re unfamiliar, both of these games are star ship shooters. Basically, you fly around in a ship and shoot down others. There are missions, of course, in which you take out certain targets, some easier than others.

Squadrons is interesting in that you get to play both sides of the war. Once you start the story, you start out as an Imperial pilot, but after some time, you (not your character) are a pilot for the New Republic. It goes back and forth like this after a few missions, until the end.

The game isn’t very long. I think the embedded YouTube video I watched said that the story missions take about 10 hours to complete. However, that’s there’s more to this game. Multiplayer is another component of the game. I don’t have much to say about this since there are very few games that I play multiplayer. Apparently you can earn in-game currency and get things for your ship such as paint jobs.

The game does feature HDR and turning it off requires an edit in it’s config file. I just got a new monitor and I’ve tested color/gradient banding and it passed. However, this game is slightly disappointing, because parts of it look terrible, particularly the loading screen. I noticed other players found this issue as well, even an EA ticket is unresolved. I noticed this banding and I tried to resolve the issue, but was unable to. I think the issues I saw were in pre-rendered videos and graphics, thus the banding could be due to compression and possibly the resolution I was playing with (2K I think). The rest of the game looked fine, but a 4K video I saw made it look very beautiful.

I don’t have much to say about this game, perhaps because I played through the relatively short story mode. I did enjoy it although even though it was frustrating at times. I did finally complete it, so I’m done with it (I’m planning to move on to another game in the next day or two).

If you like Star Wars, this is definitely something you’ll probably be interested in. Fans get to finally experience what it’s like to fly an X-Wing or TIE Fighter, but there are other ships, too. You can also fly an A-Wing and TIE Bomber among others. Each ship has it’s purpose. For example, U-Wings serve as support ships, which can fire a projectile at a friendly target to give it a temporary shield. There’s more to them than that, though. Personally, I like the X-Wing and TIE Fighter best, probably because they seem to have the best hull and defense is a priority to me.

One more thing to point out is energy allocation. You can specifically choose to prioritize energy to engine, weapons, and shields. The engine helps improve maneuverability, which is important in not only getting through tight spaces, but also helps give a speed boost. Focusing energy on one of these parts also allows it to recharge faster. However, you can also select a balance, which is the default setting. You can also direct shields to cover a certain side of the ship. So, if you’re running straight into enemy fire, you can focus shields on the front where you need them most.

There are a variety of weapons and weapon types and each ship has two or three components. Lasers are the main one and there are variations to choose from. This also applies to auxiliary weapons like a lock-on missile and also defense against missiles locked on to your ship. However, sharp turns are also effective at dodging missiles.

I'd also like to note there are a couple cameos and a name drop, so I hope you notice them. They aren't main Star Wars characters though.

I managed to get the game for free, I think it was a freebie for Origin at one time. Normally, the game costs $40, which is a bit of a relief since these days games normally cost $60. I’m glad I got it for free, but it might be worth the $40 price tag.

Well, let me know if you’ve played this or if it’s something you’re interested in. Feel free to add me as a friend on Origin. My user name is GregoPeck (big surprise, right? LOL). I’m embedding a good “Before You Buy” video, which gives it a good review. You can play this game in VR as well. The game is available on Origin, Steam, and consoles.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 02/01/2022 at 04:20pm

I have the PS4 version in my backlog. I guess it has a free PS5 upgrade. I may need to check this out soon.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/04/2022 at 06:25pm

I enjoyed this quite a bit on my Series X but went back to complete Star Wars Battlefield 2 first. After playing SWB2 it seems like Squadrons is the flight parts of it, which isn’t bad but I like how Battlefield 2 breaks up the 3rd person shooter with spaceship pew pew.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/05/2022 at 06:28am

I haven't played a Star Wars Battlefield game.

jdodson Admin wrote on 02/07/2022 at 05:34pm

Sorry I meant Battlefront II.

Azurephile Super Member Post Author wrote on 02/07/2022 at 11:58pm

That's what I meant, too.

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It's The Time For The Great Video Game Company Aquisition Fest of 2022!

Microsoft is acquiring Activision for 69 billion, Take Two acquired Zynga for 13 billion and just today word broke that Sony acquired Bungie for 4 billion. I'm not sure how I would have guessed 2020 would start but it wouldn't be with some of the biggest tech acquisitions.

I can't really speak for Take Two, but generally speaking I don't mind these acquisitions as I'm hopeful Microsoft would do well with Activision/Blizzard and I'm not sure there would be much of a change with Sony acquiring Bungie beyond us getting more games from them. With that, consolidating all of the main game franchises in a handful of companies isn't great and I wonder how long multi-platform... Read All

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Comes To Our Galaxy April 5th!

I wouldn't have guess that one of my most anticipated games on 2022 would be a Lego game but it's a Star Wars game so I suppose it's not too surprising. Truth is, I've played a handful of Lego Star Wars games and to date I've found some to be good and some to be not great. From the look of this, it seems developer Traveller's Tales has built an entirely new Lego Star Wars game including each movie from the Skywalker Saga and really make them look fantastic. Which is, most likely, why the game was delayed into this year because ... The Lego Skywalker Saga looks massive.

I'm not sure this game will be a day one purchase for me as I have questions about how unlocking... Read All

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/24/2022 at 02:23am

Excited for this game, sad to read things like this

https://kotaku.com/lego-star-wars-skywalker-saga-release-date-crunch-tt-wa-1848392098

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/24/2022 at 03:34pm

I've had this preordered for 2 years now, I think.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/24/2022 at 03:40pm

Ugh, the crunch story sucks. Sadly, I feel the majority of the games industry has been this way for a long time. That doesn't make it right though. I am glad crunch is getting a bigger spotlight as of late, and I hope it makes companies rethink this approach.

Now we need more spotlights on VFX companies.

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/24/2022 at 03:48pm

Just watched the trailer. This looks massive! The framerate didn't look the hottest at times though.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/25/2022 at 07:49pm

What version & system did you pre-order on?

Will_Ball Game Mod Super Member wrote on 01/25/2022 at 08:44pm

Originally PS4, but switched to PS5.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 01/25/2022 at 09:29pm

👍

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