Blog - 2020 October
2020 October 30th - Scorecard and Stickfigures
Decided to follow through on my previous threat, so here’s a scorecard for my predictions of the 9th console generation. I’ll hopefully be updating this over time, particularly when Nintendo produce a fully successor to the Switch (and not just a mid-gen hardware revision).
Also, decided to add some old comics of mine from back in 2012, so if you’re interested in some surreal stick-figure sketches, check out Sticky Situation.
2020 October 25th - Plot and Predictions
So, I got a little tired of morons on social media trying to claim that “Story is more important than Gameplay”, so I made a counter-argument to that. Was going to release it alongside a second counter-argument, to those who claim that “Games just shouldn’t bother with Stories” as it’s an equally wrong opinion, but it’s been a week now and I really can’t get angry enough about it. I’ve burnt myself in the past by procrastinating on the second half of a project, so I figured this time I’ll release that as a stand-alone, and I’ll probably do the 2nd one some other time.
Also this week, I’ve seen the news that Control for the Series X won’t fit onto a single disc, and the rumour that the Series X is planning for VR support in the future (due to code snippets for Scarlett_VR in the Microsoft Flight Simulator game files), and it reminds me of the 9 gen predictions I made almost three years ago. Think I shall have to do a follow-up of some kind.
2020 October 11th - Cutscenes, Crash and Caves
I’ve spent a good chunk of this week researching an upcoming essay on game narratives and their overall importance, and while doing so, was struck with a great idea for maintaining story engagement whilst allowing for cutscene skipping, so I figured I’d write that up. And yes, obviously the best way to avoid players skipping your cutscenes is to stop using them altogether, but hey, baby steps.
I found this video of someone’s upcoming Crash N Sane Trilogy romhack mod, and it may be one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen. Seriously, if I saw this sat on a store shelf with a AAA price tag on it, I’d snap it up in an instant, because wow.
Also saw the Minecraft Caves and Cliffs trailer, and all I can say is; finally! I’ve been meaning to write something proper about Minecraft for years, maybe when this drops I’ll finally get around to it?
2020 October 4th - The Spooky Season Beginneth
As the Halloween Season has official begun, I have of course spent the weekend indulging in suitably-spooky entertainment. Alongside my Nth rewatch of the Elvira movie, I also got in some classic PS2-era Survival Horror gaming in. I decided to pick up a few new ones earlier this year in anticipation. Here are my thoughts so far:
Project Zero – Awesome
Clock Tower 3 – Awful
I still have The Haunting Ground sat waiting to be given a spin, but honestly, after Clock Tower I’m afraid of this one being a piece of shit as well. I’ll probably give it a try in a week or two.
In the meanwhile, here’s a write-up on the darkest and gloomiest TV characters around, the South Park Goth Kids!
