Celebrating Hip-Hop Week at In Third Person!

“It was all a dream! I used to read [Gamepro] magazine!”

My love of video games is well-documented here on In Third Person. However, another one of my passions is hip-hop music. As a kid, I fell in love with the boom bap, studied the older records before my time, and have kept a close ear to where it’s gone ever since. For a time, I was even making my own beats and I dabbled in rapping for a bit, though the less said about my rapping, the better.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll drop one post per day covering different places where my love of video games collides with my love of hip-hop. Until then, pack your cardboard, rehearse your pre-written raps to make sure they sound like freestyles, and come back tomorrow for the boom bap!

Tetris 99, Tetris Effect, and How Context Changes Everything

In the span of three months, we got Tetris Effect and Tetris 99. The former is a euphoric synesthesia trip, while the latter is the most savage puzzle game ever conceived. At the core, they’re the exact same game.

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We Received a Medal for Our Extra Life Efforts!

Extra Life 2018 has come and gone, but the story is’t quite over just yet. As part of signing up as an Extra Life Platinum member and raising as much as we did for the Children’s Miracle Network of Hospitals, we unlocked the silver medal!

It’s a wonderful symbol of everything great that came out that experience! To top it off, I got it engraved with each team member’s first initial to make sure the whole team was represented on this memento. It means so much more with this added touch!

Earlier this week, I took the time to mount it on my wall. Now every time I stream, you can see the medal in the back to commemorate the hard work, great times, and positive impact we made on the world as a team!

One more time, the thank you list! It’s admittedly a copy/paste with some slight edits, but it’s still relevant and still means just as much!

  • Thank you to all of the donors whose generosity will help improve the lives of patients and staff at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto!
  • Thank you to my wife and Executive Producer of the marathon, Steff. She helped with the planning of virtually every aspect of this marathon, including all of the work behind the scenes to ensure that everyone was comfortable throughout this insane journey.
  • Thank you to my cousin Adrienne for lending us her photography lights and backdrop.
  • Thank you to the team! Randy, Jenna, Mat, Jon, Jason, Laura, Kris, Rachel, Michelle, Jascha, Janis, and Dusty. You’re all rock stars and your time and effort towards supporting the cause was (and still is) greatly appreciated! Couldn’t have done this without you.
  • Thank you to everyone who tuned in! We hope that we put on a great show for you and your support helped us get through this difficult-but-fun marathon!

This was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to pick up where we left off for the 2019 campaign!

Tetris 99 Live Stream

Move over, Fortnite! Tetris 99 is the new battle royale king! I get REALLY into Tetris 99, including multiple wins and one big meltdown! We also talk about Valentine’s Day and the struggles that come with dating!

Highlights

Winning four straight matches to close out the stream!

An extended conversation about the struggles of dating

Controller-throwing rage

Karma

Never miss a stream by following my channel and turning your notifications on! You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram for stream updates and other cool stuff posted daily!


D-Pad Left Joycon

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Tetris 99 Review

The battle royale sub-genre of games has a new competitor in town. Going beyond the bounds of the shooter, The Tetris Company and Nintendo surprised the world with Tetris 99. Exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, 99 players enter one room and battle in block-dropping warfare until only one remains. Tetris in its base form is one of the greatest games of all-time, but how does it translate to the modern battle royale format?

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It’s Valentine’s Day! Here are some of my favourite love songs!

I don’t talk about this much here, but I’m the biggest sucker for love songs. Even before I got to an age where my voice started to change, they always struck a chord in my soul to the point where they might have actually had a negative effect on my development as an human being. To this day, I have sappy tendencies and love songs will always illicit a strong reaction from me.

Since today is Valentine’s Day, and I don’t feel like making gaming-related content to celebrate it, let’s talk about love songs instead! It was going to be a list of five, but I couldn’t help myself and I added a few more. Here are a few that always get me in my feelings!

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Advance Wars Live Stream

Long before war got its “groove” back, Nintendo paved the way for turn-based strategy games with mainstream appeal with Advance Wars! You won’t need a time machine to relive the fight. Just watch the VOD as we play through the first few levels and have a great chat about the Nintendo Direct that hadn’t happened just yet at the time of recording, games that expanded our horizons, our favourite tactics games and more!

Highlights

We got our Extra Life 2018 Medal!

Why I trade in and sell old games

How I fell in love with Advance Wars

My wife’s bougie Chess origin story

My Gameboy Advance SP NES Classic Edition

Playing Gameboy Advance during class

Never miss a stream by following my channel and turning your notifications on! You can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram for stream updates and other cool stuff posted daily!


D-Pad Left Joycon

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What I Learned in a Marriage Course That I Try to Apply to My Video Game Content Approach

Before my wife and I walked down the aisle and exchanged I do’s, we took part in a marriage course. As members of the Catholic church, completing the course is a requirement. Though the thought of doing this weekend-long course sounded as fun as watching paint dry, it ended up being a really positive experience that taught us a lot.

One particular piece of advice that came out of it really hit home. Been trying to incorporate this into my day-to-day interactions with others ever since. Without realizing it, it’s also impacted my voice as a gaming content creator.

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Blade Strangers Review

Even before Super Smash Bros. Ultimate hit the scene, the fighting game market was getting pretty crowded on the Nintendo Switch. From the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary CollectionBlazBlue: Cross Tag BattleARMS, Dragon Ball FighterZ, to the slew of classic Neo Geo fighters in the eShop, getting your pugilistic fix wasn’t much of an issue.

One of those pre-Smash titles that jockeyed for position was Blade Strangers by Nicalis. With a roster comprised of indie game characters from different franchises, it aimed to carve a niche for itself with a unique roster and a streamlined combat system. Does this fighter have the chops to stand as a worthy challenger?

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Wrestlemania X8 – Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock

Haven’t played Wrestlemania X8 on GameCube in ages and I don’t remember the controls, but I try my best to beat The Rock anyway!



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