Zaruboggan

Not the worst of the prospective buyers, but is that really any consolation as we watch the continued monopolization of entertainment?

I just wanted the UI to be new.

I'm looking forward to the game, but I had to stop watching the video. Watching somebody watch somebody watch the game is...trying.

@axelhander I don't think it should get Art Direction or Audio Design, but basically everything else, absolutely.

I'm just here for game announcements lol.
Sad that this is basically the closest thing we've got to E3.

It should arrive sometime this weekend.

Man, still no multiplayer is pretty disappointing. I have good memories of goofing around with friends in the wildnerness, getting pounded by bears and getting up to no good in town.

I'm more than a little tired of ports having less than the original game.

Kinda wild, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I hope Mina the Hollower succeeds, and expect it to. I had fun with the demo, and loved Shovel Knight, so I'll be picking it up.

Pretty excited to throw down with some pals in this one. $30 seems a bit steep since we're not likely to play more than once, but it'll probably go on sale between now and when the gang gets together.

Metroid Prime 4 and Mario Tennis Fever for me.

Absolutely nothing. I'm afraid I got sick in a gross way, so instead of playing games I'll be hacking up gunk.
I am not very happy about it. I have too many games to play to be wasting a long weekend!

My personal favorite. I remember beating it as soon as I finished a bike race back in middle school.
Good times.

Somehow Timesplitters passed us by, when we were busy with 007: Agent Under Fire and Metroid Prime 2.
Looks dank.

Nightreign was awesome. I don't love the PvPvE genre, though. I'll still give this one a try--I just don't expect I'll play it for very long.

Probably more Absolum, and some Kirby Airiders. I'd like to keep chugging away on Borderlands 4 and Expedition 33, too.

Cabinet Installation.

And some Lumines Arise, Borderlands 4, and Absolum if I've got the time. Maybe even more Baldur's Gate. Or I'll try to finish Expedition 33.
But mostly Cabinet Installation.

@beartown This is funny to me, because I ALSO grew up on Super Mario Bros and Super Mario 64. I ALSO don't really care for Super Mario World or Super Mario Bros 3 (and didn't play them until later). And I ALSO love Odyssey and Wonder.
Get out of my brain, bear.

Fun list! I enjoyed reading it throughout the week.

@PessitheMystic Eyy Solatorobo! Great game, great OST.

Maybe I'm too much of a pessimist, but between uninspired locales, soldiers with tropey dialogue, and a wide open central area on a bike...I think I'm less excited?

Much more minor nitpicks, but I also don't like that they felt the need to title Sylux "Archrival" or that the first line of scanned dialogue we see begins with "O Lamorn, gaze upward and..."
I can practically read the Japanese.

All that said, I'm sure I'll enjoy the game. I love me some Metroid.

Why, that sounds like my era of internet! Color me intrigued.

Absolute banger year for indies. Absolum is probably my big winner, followed by, of these, E33.

Now you're talking. I'll be picking this up in a week.

My Steam Deck has been operating as a Steam Machine since I bought the dock. This would look a lot cleaner in my living room...
Too bad the deck came out first lol.

More Absolum! We've finished the final final boss twice now, and just got the crystals for seeing the entire map. There are a couple of side missions still to clear, and then it's just make fun builds!

Time depending, I'll try to do more of the post game in Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
Otherwise, we'll be bringing our Switch 2's over to a lapsed gamer's house to party like it's 1998. Or whenever Mario Golf 64 came out.

I always enjoy reading lists. Even conglomerate ones that (almost inevitably) veer towards predictability.
Of course, reading people's personal lists is way more fun! That's where the real surprises come through.

Absolum, absolutely. Unfortunately, it's a bit laggy online. Presumably because we're on the switch versions. I'm tempted to double-dip to see if the Steam version also lags...

Another busy weekend, and not on purpose!
I should have gaming time on Sunday, when I'll be playing (if I have my way) a whole lot of Absolum. Absolutely fantastic co-op 2 player beat em up roguelike. We just got our first clear on Thursday (long live the chicken!!), and are eager to play more.
The only complaint I have is that when 2nd player clears a mission, it doesn't count. We rotate who's first, but every time we get the super high combo, we get it on 2nd player lol.

Selfishly, I'm willing to wait until further into the console's lifespan for Animal Crossing. A bigger Switch 2 install base globally and, more specifically, in my friend group, is vital to my enjoyment of the game. Right now, only one of the people I played Animal Crossing with has a Switch 2 (though technically they're not opening it until Christmas...).
For a title as social as this one, on the success of NH, I'm content to wait. Just don't make me wait until the NEXT home console.

I'm looking forward to hopping on and making an island with friends, even if the details of which remain to be seen (do we only have access to the host's furniture, or can we bring our own?).

Looking forward to playing this with friends. It doesn't sound like the slumber islands support asynchronous work, which is too bad. Anybody see anything that says otherwise?

I take umbrage with Palworld being pointed to as some sort of beacon of innovation in the space, but that aside...

IMO it probably started with "we're not doing an end game because kids want to get back to their phones" (paraphrasing) and the way legendaries were implemented not in the world itself (a la HG/SS) but via Hoopla hoops. But those are pretty minor compared to what happened on the jump to the Switch.

Sword/Shield literally guideposts you past anything you might want to look at (big explosion in the distance? just leave it to Leon! Powerplant building in the distance! Don't worry about it!). Add Dexit to that, and a largely ugly wild area (Neat idea! Poor execution), and you get a game that really didn't match the level of quality I expected. (Not to mention it was like 30-40 hours with Pokedex completion...)
Pokemon Legends Arceus is not an exception, with a dreadful battle system and even worse story. The catching and research stuff was fun, but the world still looks BAD. "Good enough" insofar as they're ultimately fun to play. But the writing doesn't even aspire to "good enough."

Scarlet/Violet and Pokemon Legends: Z-A suffer from the same problems of writing and presentation.

I don't agree that Pokemon should balloon its budget. I think it needs to design for its budget. I think it needs to design its story beats around the fact that they won't have voice-acting. I think it needs to design its worlds around the technical or artistic limitations of their team/engine/hardware. Design around the time permitted. Or, dare I say it, permit more time (but I suppose that would be an increase in budget).

I tried this one a while back, and found most of the staging and physics to be pretty contrived. It felt like how something would happen was brute forced into what they wanted to happen.
Ultimately, I bounced off after five episodes.

I'm about 30 hours into Pokemon Z-A and planning to make more progress on that front. More Baldur's Gate 3 is also in the cards. Possibly Borderlands 4.
I'll also be painting a library and watching some League of Legends Worlds.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, EA.

13 Sentinels, Unicorn Overlord, Lumines Remastered, Dicefolk, Fight N Rage, Crawl, Chained Echoes...

That's a good list of stuff! I'll be trying to do the responsible thing and hold off during this sale, since I'm still busy with about a hundred games, but if you've got the time for any of the above, I highly recommend them!

I hope we get the MP1 treatment for MP2, WITH multiplayer in-tact. MP2's multiplayer is still my most played Metroid game lol.

I'd like to add my hand to those raised asking for mission mode and campaign co-op!

I'm probably done buying NES games, tbh.
However, I've barely begun buying up Gamecube, GBA, and above. While I have working consoles, hardware doesn't last forever. Having the option to play these games on newer hardware would be appreciated.
More importantly, my Pokemon Gold cartridge battery is dead. I missed getting it on the 3DS eShop (stupid; I figured if I haven't even finished my Red file, why should I get Gold? Well, I've since finished my Red file). God darn it, Nintendo, let me BUY these games!

Most importantly, VC pushed third parties to release games, too, and they're most of what I want rescued from the limbo. If they even can be... So many companies have disappeared since those days, it's hard to say there'll ever be an avenue to play their games that isn't legally grey.

Grabbed Absolum at release, and super excited to play more!

@Banks 24/7 Baby Park

Pokemon Legends Z-A for me.
Maybe some Baldur's Gate 3, but probably just Pokemon.

The sequel we didn't know we were waiting for! The return of TMKB got a laugh out of me, as did the final picture of the toilet paper. The dudes at the shop were probably wondering what upcoming doomsday event they hadn't heard of yet.
Now you can scalp the extra TP to the preppers!

I got a friend who extolls this game's virtues pretty frequently. Might be time to give it a look.

Yeah, I'll be playing it this weekend.

@topsekret Thanks for the heads up about the demo! I'll queue it for download.
$70 is pretty steep, though... For now, I'll put it on the wishlist and consider an import!

Curious about Bad End Theater and Cardfight!!
I've liked TCG RPGs since playing Yu-Gi-Oh on GBA, so hopefully this is more like that and the Cygames one.
I played Call of the Sea and if you're into that kind of puzzle adventure, it's pretty easy to recommend. Wall World is in my Steam library (gift from a friend) but I haven't gotten to it yet. And Barony has been on our local MP maybe list. Maybe next get together we'll have to give it a shot!

Yo, I'm super down for this. I think it looks smooth. I don't love how fighting games launch with a tiny lil roster and then fill it out for over a few seasons for some big $$$, though...

I'm away this weekend, so as much as I'd like to continue Expedition 33 or start Absolum (which I am so stoked for!), I will likely be doing very little gaming. I had planned to bring my Switch 2, but I realized I don't have a case, so...
Might fire up something on my Steam Deck. Otherwise, I'm itching to get home for Absolum, Pokemon Z-A, and Ghost of Yotei!

Great! I had to put this one on pause while playing DK. It'll be nice having it upgraded on my Switch 2 when I get back to it...after the October releases.

I'd like a physical 9, but probably not for that price.