Modern and Retro Video Game Reviews, News, and Gameplay
After years of anticipation and speculation, and many leaks in recent months, Nintendo has officially announced the Nintendo Switch 2. The reveal trailer, a brief but captivating two-minute showcase, has confirmed some of the rumors while leaving plenty of room for excitement and speculation.
Continue reading “Nintendo Switch 2: Everything We Know and What to Expect”
If you have a Samsung TV or use Amazon Fire, you’ve likely enjoyed the 24/7 streaming of game content on IGN1, a channel provided by IGN. The channel disappeared on the evening of December 28, 2024. After the channel switched off, Samsung TV users were redirected to a new channel – Movie Hub (as I was).
Continue reading “IGN1 Sunset on Samsung TV and Amazon Fire”
Video games have always been a big part of my life, and now they’ve become a way to connect with my daughter in meaningful ways. As someone who’s been gaming since the days of the Atari 2600, I’ve seen how this hobby can grow and evolve. Today, as a dad, I’ve found new ways to share my passion for gaming while balancing parenting responsibilities.
Here’s a look at my journey, how I’ve introduced my daughter to gaming, and some advice for parents who want to share this hobby with their kids.
“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” was released in the US in May 2023. It was developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch as a sequel to the critically acclaimed “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” (BOTW) from 2017. This action-adventure game retains and expands upon the open-world exploration of BOTW’s Hyrule, introducing new dimensions of gameplay.
Players once again control Link in his quest to save Princess Zelda and thwart Ganon’s destructive plans. The game stands out for its expanded vertical exploration, allowing players to traverse both the skies above Hyrule and a vast underground realm known as the Depths. “Tears of the Kingdom” was initially conceived as additional content for “Breath of the Wild” but grew into a full-fledged sequel due to the abundance of new ideas. The game has sold over 19.5 million as of September 2023 and is one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo Switch.
I bought Tears of the Kingdom on release day, May 12, 2023, and I’ve put in more than 245 hours of gameplay. After really digesting everything I played, I want to share my experience.
Continue reading “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review”
I used to update this website multiple, sometimes dozens of times per day. I covered every bit of game news I could. And I loved it. But then I got a job that made it nearly impossible to continue without complete burnout. Eventually, it helped me land a side gig of doing game reviews for a well-known tech reviewer. So that’s where I spent any of my extra game journalism time. That lasted for maybe a year, and I could have kept going if I wanted, but I needed to focus on my career.
Fast forward to 12 years later and I want to come back. But I don’t want to publish news anymore. I just want to have fun.
So with all of that said, this is the first of what I hope will be more gameplay videos on this site. I realize that this first video isn’t up to par with the quality of most gameplay vids these days but it’ll get better. So I hope you stick around!
I just bought a new iPad Mini and needed some new gamest to go with it. I avoided the App Store’s most popular games, because the popularity of those games can be misleading since so many non-gamers download anything that’s free.
Instead, I did some research to see what real gamers recommended and what better place to start than the iOS Gaming Subreddit?
After spending hours going through many great discussions, I found a BUNCH of great games to start with. Here’s what I found.
Free: (some are free only for a limited time)
Below are the top recommended paid games.
Do you have anything to add? I’m all ears for recommendations right now, free or paid.
I’ve been reading articles, watching game reviews, and listening to game podcasts talking about how great Mario Kart 8 is. It looks great and I’ve been really wanting to play it but I don’t own a Wii U and I don’t plan to buy one in the near future. I decided to pull out the ol’ Nintendo 64 version to get my fix instead.
I’m pretty terrible today, but with a little practice, I think I can get back to the skill levels I once had. I was a pro at this game when I was younger! We played this game so much that we destroyed the joysticks on the N64 controllers.
I’ve purchased two Dragon Ball Z games in the past and I’ve played a couple others, all of which pretty much sucked. It looks like the indie developer group, Team Z2, thought the same and decided to make their own version – Hyper Dragon Ball Z. The game is built on the Mugen freeware fighting game engine and was developed with the gameplay styles of Street Fighter and Darkstalkers in mind.
WOW!
This looks like the Dragon Ball Z game that I’ve always wanted. Check out the demo trailer below. I couldn’t stop watching.
So awesome!
Check the description on the YouTube video page for more details on the project. If you want to keep up with the progress of the game, follow the Hyper Dragon Ball Z Facebook page or grab a pre-packed sample here: http://z2.smeenet.org/HyperDBZsample.rar
I don’t have a cat, but if I did I would totally make a Super Mario Bros. cat tower. I almost want to get a cat just so that I can build one of these!
Redditor “collinferal” built his own cat climber and posted a picture (seen above) of his final creation on Reddit. Check out that thread for more tips on building it.
The cost for this project ran about $140 in materials.
He even took some video of the cat using it.
This project was based on the Etsy item “Super Mario cat complex,” which you can see below. Also freakin’ awesome!
The original costs $200, plus $45 S&H, so you can save $100 by building your own, maybe even more with some modifications or if you already have some parts laying around.
Chipotle has just come out with a promotional campaign that targets two of my biggest passions – natural food and video games. The video above tells a beautiful story of a scarecrow (Chipotle) who works for “Crow Foods” (industrial farms), a food company that produces highly processed foods containing chickens pumped full of hormones and cows raised in cramped, unnatural conditions. The scarecrow sees the wrong in this and takes it upon himself to bring natural foods back to the people by starting his own farm and selling it in the city, competing directly with the company he formally worked with.
The iOS game puts you back in the scarecrow’s shoes, fighting against Crow Foods. The controls are entirely tilt-based and you need to navigate through each level while avoiding obstacles.
In each level, you need to transport items to your destination, trying not to lose your items by getting hit by an obstacle. Each level has various challenges. In the first level, for example, you need to carry 5 boxes of fresh produce to your destination. Each time you are spotted or get hit by an obstacle, you lose a box. At the hardest difficulty of the first level, you need to get to the end of the level without losing any boxes and within the short time period you’re given.
This game is challenging, but honestly, it isn’t very good. There are only four levels and each level has 4 or 5 challenges, which is really only the same exact challenge, but with increasing difficulty. I became bored of the game real quick.
I liked the little shots the game took at industrial farms and food production companies though. This game has a great message! The one thing I find interesting is that Chipotle would choose to release this when nearly all of their ingredients are GMO.