video games

Early Nintendo Labo Variety Kit Impressions

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Sometimes, wacky Nintendo is the best Nintendo. From the Wario Ware series, to Elite Beat Agents, to the world-shifting Wii Sports, their free-thinking approach can blaze the trail for others to follow. On the other side of that same coin are duds like Wii Music, the Wii U, or the e-Reader; ideas that couldn’t overcome their own insanity. By virtue of including cardboard into the mix, the Nintendo Labo put itself on the fast track to one of those two extremes.

Having now made and played with three of the five Toy-Cons in the Variety Kit, I think I have a better idea of where it fits on that scale.

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Nintendo of Japan is Now Selling a Dockless Switch Bundle

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The Nintendo Switch, praised for its ability to function equally well as a home console connected to a TV and as a standalone portable, now has a bundle in Japan that cuts out the home console part. At a discounted price of 24,980-yen ($226 USD), you’re getting a Nintendo Switch minus the dock, adapter, HDMI cable, and Joy-Con Grip. This is a savings of 5,000 yen ($45 USD) compared to the current base package.

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Green Man Gaming has made cost-per-hour as a value metric a thing

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Back in 2010, I tackled the hypothetical-at-the-time metric of cost-per-hour relative to valuing a video game. Even in my cursory glance at the challenge, I poked a few glaring holes in the idea to the point where it didn’t make sense to me as a worthwhile metric. In spite of that, it appears that Green Man Gaming has implemented cost-per-hour as a metric on its storefront. No, they didn’t find the magic workaround to make the metric make sense, and I vehemently disagree with Green Man Gaming’s CEO Paul Sulyok’s defense of its implementation.

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Boss Rush: Episode 1

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Jett and Mat break down the latest news from Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII! Also, is battle royale a fad? Is Nintendo Labo actually cool? How bad is Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery? Find out in this inaugural* episode of the show!

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BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Ragna Tips and Tricks

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Brush up on your Ragna skills before BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle hits stores in June! I cover a few key tactics to add to your arsenal, from air-based mix-ups, to techniques you can use to extend your combos. Check it out!

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God of War Review

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I’ll always love that first God of War game. Even though I experienced it on the PlayStation 3 years after its original release, I was wowed by the game’s balance of frenetic action, bombastic setpieces, Greek mythology, and light puzzle solving to keep players on their toes. However, the formula got stale after a while, and issues with Kratos’ always angry character design became too hard to ignore. Though the series would add five other games to its catalogue before going on hiatus, I never got very far in II or III and I skipped the rest.

Had Kratos never come back, I would have been okay with that. His first game made an impact on me that I’ll always cherish and I thought that was good enough. 2018’s God of War proves that sentiment wrong as the Greek God returns in a wholly new experience that is bigger and better than any game in the franchise before it.

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Stern Pinball Arcade: Ghostbusters and High Roller Casino

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Had a rough night, as OBS got corrupted again and I had to erase all of my streaming templates. Decided to wind down with some Stern Pinball Arcade instead!

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Tetris Double Header Live Stream

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Tune in for one legendary game and…another game in the same series while I answer questions about video game content creation! I also completely embarrass myself at the very beginning of the stream with one of the worst rounds of Tetris of all-time.

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BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Beta Impressions for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch

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Up until the release of Dragon Ball FighterZ, Arc System Works was the fighting game developer I wanted to love more than I actually did. Experts at making visually-luscious and mechanically-complex fighters, the former has gotten me to buy a number of their games, while the latter has caused me to push them away in short order. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a place in this world for fighters with their level of depth, but it’s a bridge too far for me.

Maybe it was just the developer trying to cater to the Dragon Ball audience, but Dragon Ball FighterZ shows what Arc System Works can do when they attempt to tone down their core formula for something more accessible. While I think it went a smidgen too far with accessibility to the point where the game feels a bit too limiting in ways, it was the first of their games that I could really sink my teeth into and love on a deeper level.

It may be too much to assume that the impact of FighterZ influenced the development of BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle, but based on my time with the beta on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, accessibility continues to be a focal point for the developer. At this pre-release juncture, I’m greatly enjoying what I’m seeing.

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BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle Beta on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch

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I got in some quality time with the PlayStation 4 and Switch versions of BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle! I will say, coming into this with no expectations, I was wowed by how Arc System Works got the balance between accessibility and depth in a pretty good spot. Will be picking this one up on launch! Which version though? I don’t know the answer just yet.

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