Burning_Spear

Still on Balatro. I'm working on gold-staking a fifth deck and have now reached 98 percent toward Completionist. Maybe a little Splatfest if my addiction allows. I also hope Mario Party Jamboree will finally be booted up.

Gave these a whirl last night. I like Slay the Spire most.

Not much time this weekend, as family stuff and sports are taking priority. I downloaded Mario Party Jamboree but spent about five hours on Balatro last night, so it looks like Mario Party will have to wait until next week.

@Ganner Keep moving that timber, buddy!

I'm still — still — attacking Balatro. I beat Gold stake on Checkered Deck last night and will turn my attention to another deck this weekend. Completionist status is coming into range.

@axelhander I don't share the underlying sentiment, but my goodness was that funny.

@Ganner Hey, Ganner, I picked up SnowRunner. I haven't gotten to it yet because something else is sucking up all my free time, but I'm looking forward to hitting the (off)road.

I started with more than six hours of Balatro last night. I'm working my way up the ladder toward Gold stake on the Checkerboard deck now, having hit Gold on two others. I also unlocked three more jokers on the way to Completionist.

It's a beautiful weekend here, and there's playoff baseball in this house, so that may be it. I probably need to get away from this Balatro addiction for a couple of days!

Wishing them well, as long as they ditch the idea that gamers have to get used to "feeling comfortable with not owning your game." Otherwise, vaya con dios.

The Financial Times also ran a piece on this, I believe Thursday, with the only complaint being there wasn't enough about the history behind the games, like how Miyamoto arrived at the company and gained so much influence over development, or the origin of the GameBoy, for example.

The Balatro addiction continues here. Six hours last night. I'm trying to Gold Stake a second deck. Yellow.

The law should be that once you buy the game its license can't be revoked and that it must be available for free redownload (as long as proper credentials are provided) for a reasonable period after the sale. It's nice that they have to let us know they can revoke the license, but that doesn't really make things better at the bottom line.

Mine was delivered this afternoon. A nice addition to the collection!

@ChromaticDracula @Not_Soos If you still have your GBA or a PS2, you can grab compilations of 2600 Activision games.

So now we're good until the next DLC and an even-steelier book?

@EarthboundBenjy Agreed. Atari has mastered the practice of getting folks to continually repay for the same things. I still have my 2600 and cartridges, in addition to a few Atari collections and the PS2 Activision one, but it's so much more convenient to have them all in one space on the current console.

@Ganner I've had my eye on Snow Runner. Probably better to pick it up for my PS4 Pro, would you say? How much do the season packs add?

@Rykdrew I had unexpected spare time tonight and finally beat Gold stake, the Violet Vessel included. It's a special night in Balatro Country!

@Ganner Oh, man, glad to meet a fellow Balatro addict. What are you working on now?

I've unlocked all the decks and beaten every stake but Gold, which I've been attacking for a few weeks. Last week I had it. Perfect joker build. Six hands available for every round. Everything in order. I was there. At the finish line. And then the Ante 8 boss was The Violet Vessel, with its insanely large blind. The cards went cold, and I narrowly lost. If any other blind had popped up, I'd be a well-rested man today. Alas, Balatro.

Gold stake has opened a whole new world for me. I'm now figuring out ways to use and weaponize jokers and tarots I never previously considered.

I did almost six and a half hours on Balatro last night. So I'm down until Sunday-night Balatro.

This game is insanely addictive and starting to push its way into consideration for top-five status in my Switch rankings.

@OrtadragoonX I agree that Nintendo did a poor job of highlighting the Wii U Gamepad's second-screen functionality, but I'll submit that Mario Maker wasn't the only game that did it well. I still miss it in the current versions of Splatoon, and Nintendo used it to great effect in Nintendoland.

Skeptical of this, but if it's true, it's disappointing that Nintendo would not have solved the issue of adding a joycon D-pad.

This was Nintendo at its best, paying homage to a great franchise and its loyal fans. So much love, care and time put into free DLC!

An unbelievable send-off, Nintendo. The Grand Festival was an amazing piece of work and a huge salute to the game and all of us who love it.

SPLATFEST and Balatro!!!

I like the idea of designing games so that they can be entirely completed in a manageable amount of time.

One of the things that's difficult for me — particularly as someone with OCD — is maintaining the mindset that I won't complete every objective, see everything there is to be seen, etc. I often say I will just play for the core experience, but then it becomes a quest to do everything that ends with 75 hours played, a bunch of stuff still undone, disappointment, and other games that were never played as a result. So, for me personally, if completionist times were reduced, I'd be happy.

I was waiting for the PS5 Pro to upgrade from my PS4, but at THAT price — and without a disc drive — "I can do without the rock 'n roll," as Mick Shrimpton famously said.

Balatro, Splatoon and maybe a bit of MK8 Deluxe. Enjoy, everyone!

They are en route from Best Buy at this very moment!

I don't think we need to even think about this. Of course it will be backward-compatible with a device that will undoubtedly have sold more than 150 million units when its successor launches. That's too many people potentially waiting to make a purchase; too many lost software-sale opportunities.

Yet another weekend of Balatro and the two Splatoons. I've unlocked all the Balatro decks, so the next hurdle is the gold stake.

Splatoon 2 and 3 and Balatro!!!

@Oppyz666 I'm planning/hoping (procrastinating) to create shelf space for my CRT to get all my post-Atari retro consoles set up. What are you using to split all those connections? Any recommendations?

And I thought I was the bomb with five: Switch, Wii U, Wii, PS4, PS3. Anybody got a spare 400 splitter cable?

Splatfest and Balatro!!!

@Spider-Kev When the Switch reaches 160 million units sold, Jim Ryan will say the real number is 165 million.

@beltmenot Yes, but it hasn't shipped yet. At least mine hasn't.

@anoyonmus Echoing what @Neckcrane said and adding that you DO NOT need to understand poker to play and beat this game. Once you play a couple of runs, it becomes simple to understand but with so many strategical options. You and I could have an entirely different approach to winning. So many risk-reward decisions and thought-provoking choices.

Crazy-addictive game!!! There's so much to unlock and beat with what we have now, but new variations will still be most welcome. I double-dipped for the physical version because I always want this in my possession.

@Axecon 2026 seems right to me too. It gives 3 another couple years of sales, and it provides a nice year-two momentum booster for Switch 2 and its online subscription service.

Probably a sentimental nod to the Squid Sisters for their "splatastic" debut in the original, but I may just have to go with Callie and Marie for their humorous banter in 2. Decisions, decisions.

The two Splatoons and maybe two or three Balatro runs.

The original Metroid gets a lot of criticism, but one of the things I enjoyed most was mapping it myself. Same for the original Zelda. I think that's what you would do it if you were actually in such a situation in real life. I realize modern games are more convenient and probably more fun with easily accessible maps, but I found the cartography of Metroid and Zelda a big part of the fun. As for Kraid, well, that's another story.

Splatoon and Balatro!

@wazlon My favorite game in the Yoshi series. Enjoy it!

Looking forward to the little blue dot appearing next to NSO every single time I fire up my Switch.

"I know a lot of people looked up to us, Jackpot, and me personally."

Ummmm ... get over yourself. We all play games. You're just like us, except racist.

Balatro and Splatoon!!!

@KillerTan98 Nice! I may be the only other person who has both of those games.

Splatastic. Just SPLATASTIC!

Balatro and Splatfest!!! Balatro has completely sunken its teeth into me. I'm still trying to unlock all the decks.

@Nagi Me too. I ordered it July 30 of last year.