Burning_Spear

Long weekend here. I've mostly been plodding through my frustrating Civ VI run as Pericles leading Greece. I've been mired in war and unable to make up the deficit I began with because I stepped up in difficulty.

I've also mixed in some Balatro runs, which have gone much better.

Happy gaming, everyone!

@Anti-Matter Same. Pre-New Horizons always felt like being punished for not playing enough, no matter how often I played. And New Horizons feels like punishment no matter how much I play or don't play, particularly because of the breakable tools, the endless recipes, and the overload of letters, gifts, inventory scrolling, etc.

Great trailer. What's the game about?

The Spearess and I got in late last night after an unbelievable holiday on the happy island of Aruba. Nothing but a beautiful beach and all the food and liquor we could consume!

Later today I'll get back to my Civ VI run as Pericles leading Greece. I stepped up in difficulty and paid the price. This one is not looking good, but I'm on the verge of capturing the Khmer kingdom's capital and hopefully some more of its cities after it declared war on me. I hope the expansion of my empire will get this run back on track.

I'm happy to be back reading about everyone's gaming plans. Happy gaming, everyone!

@Ganner Hey, Ganner, I feel you. I've been using a lot of my days off to help the folks with doctors' visits. But the way I look at it, when I was a kid my dad spent so many days off dealing with Little League and other activities for me, so I'm just paying it back. And my dad was a firefighter, so I'm sure he needed the days off much more than I need them now. (It's tough, though, when these games have their claws in you, right?)

I’ve got limited time to play this weekend because the Spearess and I need to be awake at 2 a.m. Monday to fly to the happy island of Aruba. Still a lot of prep to do before that.

For those keeping score at home, I easily won my Civ VI run as Tsar Peter of Russia very early last weekend, gaining victory by making our founded religion — Rastafari, of course — the dominant religion in every other civilization, the highlight being when Babylon was converted. Jah bless.

I promised myself I wouldn’t start another run because I didn’t want it occupying my mind while I was on vacation, but then I went ahead and began a run anyway as Pericles leading Greece. I stepped up in difficulty, and it has been a struggle. So, I will indeed have that on my mind next week!

And … happy gaming, everyone!

I bought this from Limited Run last year. I suppose if anyone can rewrite the meaning of limited it's Atari.

@Moroboshi876 My thoughts exactly about there being yet another physical release of this coming. If Atari is good at one thing it's making folks pay and pay and pay and then pay five more times for the exact same thing.

All I can say about this is, too bad there wasn't digital delivery in 1988.

I am in the middle of my Civ VI run as Tsar Peter of Russia. We’re going for a religious victory and have already successfully spread Rastafari across 60 percent of the world’s civilizations. Of particular historical note, as depicted below, we took down the Babylon System in the process. Chased those crazy baldheads out of town!

https://i.postimg.cc/fyvK2rxv/Rastaman-Vibration.jpg

Happy gaming, everyone!

Just can't make my pockets deep enough for Atari.

Ever since the GameCube days I've owned every console and controller variant, but this gen just feels different. I'd rather spend that $90 on a retro game or two.

I only played for about 75 minutes last night but was able to finish my Civ VI run as King Mvemba a Nzinga of the Kongo. I scored my quickest culture victory ever, as the Kongo rode a capitol packed with religious relics and manmade wonders to a great start, which was finished off nicely by some grinding with rock bands.

Today I'm going to start a run as Peter of Russia. I'm aiming for a religious victory but will pivot if circumstances dictate.

Happy gaming, everyone!

@TheMule1983 Streaming helps the industry. The answer is that YouTube, Twitch and others need to get rid of folks like this, who are clearly crooks.

@Purgatorium You have to prove monetary damages, and let's face it: How do you prove exactly how many sales you lost because of a crook like this? Unfortunately, it's probably not enough to have a lasting effect on him. He'll always be a crook and a jerk, most likely.

My DS copy is still right here in my desk drawer, so no need to use a version with an inferior control system.

@MJF The mouse controls for Switch 2 are pretty bad, according to one review I saw. And I think I heard touchscreen controls were also less than ideal.

I've reached the 17th century in my Civ VI run as Mvemba a Nzinga leading the Kongo toward a culture victory. His massive collection of relics on display in the capital is attracting hordes of religious tourists, and we're nearing the completion of the Cristo Redentor monument, which should nearly double the draw. Really fun run. And Civ Vi is now my most-played Switch 1 game. Insane.

Otherwise, that's about it for me this weekend. Happy gaming, everyone!

@wollywoo Luigi's Purple Coins! It was the most difficult level I'd ever played until Champions Road.

I started a new Civ VI run last night, this time aiming for a culture victory with the very difficult Mvemba a Nzinga leading the Kongo. I'm off to a good start!

I won the Cleopatra Egypt run earlier this week, though I had to take a diplomatic victory instead of culture, as I had planned. It felt cheap, but England had landlocked a level-4 rock band of mine that was slamming it and could have snatched a diplo victory quickly if I didn't. For my own satisfaction, I let the game roll on One More Turn and got the culture win 21 turns later.

Happy gaming, everyone!

@RodSD64 Yes, exactly that. And also just having the map constantly visible was a big plus. And I miss all the nooks, crannies and pinch points the maps in the original had.

@Yobreeze I last played 2 in August. I remember the first match took forever to get into, but after that the wait times were about usual for that game, if I recall correctly.

@Luigia Right? It had much more of a Punk Rock vibe than the sequels.

Splatoon 2's maps are miles better than those in Splatoon 3. But I guess for everything else 3 is better.

I still think playing with the GamePad in 1 was the best experience. Having the map displayed at all times and being able to super jump with a thumb twitch was huge.

@Nintendontyouknow Jah bless, sir. That's the best laugh I've had in a long, long time!

@Misima I've been where you're standing! Keep up the good fight!

I'll be getting a very late start to the weekend, as I was exhausted last night and had little energy for anything other than a few runs on Mr Driller 2 on the GBA (not NSO).

When I get back in the cockpit, I will resume my Civ VI run as Ptolemaic Cleopatra leading Egypt to a culture victory. She has just started recruiting Egyptian rock bands, and for those familiar with the game, I'm at that point where the tourism is beginning to arrive in chunks, rather than one every turn or two. So I'm optimistic.

Happy gaming, everyone!

@Spider-Kev I wouldn't set foot in GameStop even if I were on fire and they had water.

Is GameStop making people needlessly buy merchandise to get one of these codes?

I'm back after spending last weekend on vacation with the Spearess. I spent a couple hours in Mr. Driller 2 on the GBA last night (not NSO). I improved my high scores on all three Endless difficulty settings.

On Civ VI, I'm about one-third through a run as Cleopatra leading Egypt. I'm just about fully settled and ready to start the push for a culture victory. The run as Joao III of Portugal ended in a glorious space-race victory last Friday night. Joao's trading empire let me buy my way past everyone else, and I actually would have had a culture victory if I'd chosen to play it out that way for another 10 turns or so.

Happy gaming, everyone!

I guess this means the little blue UI light is on ... again.

This looks pretty cool. I don't remember this in the arcades.

I was satisfied with Hori's Pro substitutes for Switch 1 and would buy these. They're good for when the real thing needs a charge and you're not playing a game with rumble.

I'm about halfway through a Civ VI run as Joao III of Portland. Looking good. International trade routes are producing insane amounts of loot, making it a snap to keep my military far ahead of everyone else's as I build toward a space-race victory.

I also completed this month's challenge on Mario Golf Super Rush last night.

Happy gaming, everyone!

"While we have nothing to announce about our internal business activities, the claims shared with IGN include inaccurate information."

Not saying Nintendo is lying, but as a journalist, I often receive these responses about inaccuracies and then, after pressuring the media-relations person for clarification, learn that the "inaccuracy" was a barely meaningful part of the greater story.

My physical copy of Mr. Driller 2 conveniently rests in my desk drawer, ready for a run any time my attention wanes at work. Great game!

@Robot99 I agree with just about all the points against game-key cards and wish they'd go away, but criticizing Nintendo for removing their older digital shops is not germane to this argument. You can still redownload Wii, DS, Wii U and 3DS games, which is the equivalent of redownloading a key-card code.

@Ganner Hey, man. Long time. Good job with Captain Toad. I played it on the Wii U and thought it was one of the five best games on that console. So much fun!

And good to see you're working toward that eventual 100 percent on Snowrunner!

Congrats, Jim! I beat this game back when the NES was current gen but have never found time to go back and beat it again. Too many games, too little time.

@Medic_alert I was thinking of putting the Analogue on my Christmas want list. No complaints with it?

@Medic_alert The GameBoy is always on my desk for whenever I need a short distraction. I had just finished some Tetris Plus when I saw your message.

I'm happy to say that I took a gaming break last night to book a holiday for the Spearess and me in Aruba later this year. One of the few worthwhile non-gaming pursuits for a Friday evening!

Later this morning, I'll start a new Civ VI run, this time as Joao III of Portugal. The last run as Eleanor/Britain ended gloriously on Monday with a culture victory but just one turn short of my space-race project reaching its completion, all the while with foreign cities all over my continent flashing Britain's crest, signaling their impending defection to Eleanor's rule. Gaming joy at its best!

Happy gaming, everyone!

@HugoGED Agreed. There's not a thing wrong with these games on Wii. I always prefer to play on the original console anyway. $70. What reality are they living in? Nintendo since Switch 2's release feels 100 percent corporate, zero percent fun.

This looks amazing. This and Dragon Quest VII have stolen the show so far.

Genki? Nope. Happy to help them out of business.

@Coxula I don't remember that, but it has been a while. Do you mean when the puzzle first loads, after moves or both?

@Daggot @Coxula I put 100 hours into the Switch version and don't recall performance being much of an issue. I seem to remember it crashing once or twice during puzzles, but I could be mistaken.

Like @nHSnork, I sunk 100 hours into this on Switch, beat it, and kept going until the side quests just got too repetitive. And so I'm probably a couple hours shy of 100 percenting it.

To anyone who hasn't played it, I'd say absolutely go for this version. It's super fun. But just stick to the main quest. The side quests are just busy work. Oftentimes you beat one and the person who asked for the help will say, "I may ask you to do this for me again." And they do. Rinse and repeat ... and repeat.

No more three-day weekends for a while, so instead of juggling multiple games this weekend, I'm back to just Civ VI.

It's now my third try at the Eleanor/England combo, which, if you know the game, is one of the worst leader/civ matches. No synergy. You really have to ignore one buff or the other.

This game was going along unspectacularly until Persia declared a surprise war on me. They put their entire army on one of my border cities, Birmingham, and took it. But not without heavily casualties, almost entirely on their end.

Once I drew in reinforcements, I retook Birmingham and rampaged through two of their cities. And since then, I've been snowballing. Even beat everyone to the Statue of Liberty to block the AI from a cheap diplomatic victory.

And so now, it's just don't-do-anything-stupid and finish this thing off, either through tourism or the space race. And then I can finally add Eleanor/England to my Hall of Fame page.

Happy gaming, everyone!

I took a day off yesterday, so my (even) long(er) weekend is already underway.

I am in the middle of a frustrating going-nowhere run on Civ VI, as Sundiata Keita has been waging largely fruitless war on me for the better part of 2,500 years, distracting me from my victory objective.

I've also put in a bunch of time on Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons, played a little Tetris 99, because I never miss the special events, finally unlocked the Superstar Clubs for all 21 characters in Mario Golf Super Rush, clocked a little Wii and 3DS time on Animal Crossing, and even hit the GameBoy Color for some Tetris Blast. @JohnnyMind's list has nothing on mine this weekend! (Though he can write his in Japanese.)

I also picked up Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar and will be getting into that at some point. My Switch 2 is excited to be finally getting off the sidelines!

Enjoy the long weekend, everyone!

I can't even imagine the cost of this. The Switch 2 is $450 to roughly approximate a base PS4. What would a portable PS6? And if they go with PS5 specs, will Sony's power- and graphic-conscious audience accept that?