Dufniall

Basically when you play during the event period (from Friday 8th of January 8:00 CET until Tuesday 12th of January 07:59 CET) you score points by playing. The higher you end the more points you get. If you collect 100 points you get to keep the theme. A Tetris Maximus 1st place immediately gives you 100 points, but you can also play multiple games to accumulate them.

Cool, I was recently thinking it would nice to progress through a game together again (basically @nekunando going through Snake Pass and the various reactions on it). So glad to see you guys taking the initiative! I checked my Epic Store freebie library and I actually have quite a few titles there from this list. I'm desperate to play Inside as I loved Limbo but never got around to playing Inside. However, I'm also curious to see how different people would experience a walking simulator; a genre I haven't played much myself. So I'm voting either Gone Home or What Remains of Edith Finch. Guess I have to pick one so let's go with Gone Home.

I've been revisiting some of my older Switch games during my week off, because I couldn't really settle on a big game and wasn't in the mood to continue Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition. So first I got back to Breath of the Wild. I was surprised by the things I still could do! A while back I got the DLC and did the first two parts of Trial of the Sword plus the fifth Divine Beast. So now I started by getting a bunch of the EX treasures. I was also sitting at around 97 shrines but I found a couple more so now I'm at 103. Found plenty of Koroks, and I did a couple of normal sidequests but to be honest they are quite dull. Will try to go for all shrines though, because it's great to return to this world again. Also I never did any of the post-game in Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu. So first task was getting Mewtwo which was a matter of poisoning him with Toxic and throwing about 50 Ultra Balls at him. Next stop will be to get the Mega Evolutions and complete the Pokédex. It's interesting to go back to this after Pokémon Sword. The Go-style capturing is still pretty fun, but it's just silly you need it for the XP as well so now my box is filling up with dozens of duplicates. Still, it's a very charming game. Also a friend lend me his copy of Super Mario Party, so I've been playing that a little bit with the misses. She's not much of a gamer but party games she can enjoy from time to time. We've done the River Survival once, one of the 2vs2 boards and one of the regular boards. So far River Survival is our favourite, as it keeps things at least a bit up to speed without the need to wait for other players to roll. The rest is pretty straightforward Mario Party I guess.

Thanks! I'm guessing the G502 is pretty popular as it's sold-out everywhere. It's also a bit above the price I was going to spend. Currently I'm looking at the Steelseries Apex 3 and the Steelseries Rival 3. The keyboard is getting good reviews and the only thing that it's lacking is per-key RGB, but it does have 10 zones RGB. The mouse is pretty straightforward. I prefer symmetrical mice, and I never really felt the need for a lot of extra buttons. Still, I may spend a bit more for a better equipped mouse. But this set right now would cost me about €100 which is about what I was planning on spending.

Right, so I've busted another mouse (to be fair this one has lasted quite long), so I'm looking to replace it. My keyboard is still okay-ish but I think I should just get a new set because who doesn't want a matching keyboard and mouse? Requirements are wired, preferably RGB colour LEDs. The set I had now was a pretty cheap set from Cooler Master but it was pretty good. But I don't mind spending a bit more now. Any recommendations?

Just something to get you started on filling your friend list @Beast!

For me it's the day. I can't make Thursday nights anymore because I have band practice. Would love to join again if it's a day I can make. That said, I think I enjoy Smash even more, but the time slot is too late for me. I'm an hour later here and you start at my 22.15.

No, we all hate it.

Great write-up there @Cube, nice to read about all the games you've enjoyed this decade. For me it's a bit harder to review decades as I'm on PC and Nintendo so the console generations kind of go past me. Nintendo does its own thing, while the PC is one big generation haha. Still found a couple of games I definitely want to play in your top 50 though.

And sticking with the Mario theme, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is pretty fun if you're into strategy games, and can be picked up for cheap quite often.

EA Play for the PC Game Pass has been postponed to 2021: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/12/15/update-on-ea-play-xbox-game-pass-for-pc-2021/?ocid=XGP_soc_omc_xbo_tw_Text_lrn_12.15.1

Right, I've been neglecting this thread for too long again, so time for an update. I'm not in the mood to put down thoughts for all of these games so here's the quick and dirty version: StarCraft II 10th Anniversary and the Nova DLC (PC) It’s the 10th anniversary for Starcraft II, and for that reason a substantial update dropped. It adds a plethora of new options for the level designer, as well as new achievements in the single player campaign. I’ve been meaning to replay the single player so this was a good incentive to do so. I finished all three main campaigns and got all anniversary achievements for it. Some of the achievements were pretty uninspiring (finish under a time limit) but some were fun, like use only certain units. It mixed up the way I usually play, and I experimented a bit with different tactics. The game doesn’t play like a 10 year old game; it still feels perfectly balanced which is thanks to the continuous updating and balancing going on. The story in the campaigns is a bit more all over the place compared to the first Starcraft, but the characters are great and some of the dialogue is amazing as well. Cutscenes are superb despite being a bit on the low resolution side. These have not been updated. The Nova DLC was new content for me, and it was pretty good. Some nice new mechanics got introduced, and the stealth missions were a nice variation. So all in all StarCraft II is one of my favourite all-time games, and I’ll be dipping into the co-op missions every now and again. I fear for the future of the series as the story really is finished now, and Blizzard has said as much about it. And even if it was not, I’m wondering if Blizzard in its current state could craft another masterpiece like this. A Short Hike and Minit (PC) Two short games I had hanging in my Epic Games library (gotta claim these weekly give-aways) and I finished both quite recently. A Short Hike is a pretty relaxing game to just breeze through. The writing was a little bit "popular" but the general feel and mood of the game is good. A perfect game to play between bigger games. Minit however is the better game of the two. The idea of having only one minute works great as a gaming concept, and keeps you on your toes throughout the game. Definitely worth playing. Resident Evil 6 - Leon's campaign (PC) After about 10 hours into the game I put it away for a while, but I picked it up again last weekend and completed Leon's campaign in RE6. I wasn't really feeling it in the beginning but now it clicked, and I enjoyed playing it. His campaign ended with one of the greatest boss battles ever in a RE game so that was pretty awesome. Started Ada's campaign next, and it's cool to see how it intertwines with Leon's. Don't know if I will finish all 4 campaigns, but for now I still enjoy it. Hyrule Warriors: Legends (Nintendo 3DS) I finished the main single player campaign, plus Linkle's quests. Currently going through Cia's missions. Coming from Fire Emblem Warriors on Switch to this on 3DS I was expecting it to feel really outdated, but surprisingly I loved playing it. The fanservice, good cutscenes and Warriors-gameplay made me enjoy this quite a bit. Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Nintendo Switch) I finished all three games in the collection, and it was a very nice experience. Mario 64 is still good, but definitely the lesser game of all three and the age of it is showing. I also have no nostalgia for that one so that isn't helping. Playing Mario Sunshine again however was a joy. The tropical setting, FLUDD, the graphics that still hold up well. Loved going back to it. Mario Galaxy is still one of the best, and probably my favourite 3D Mario. I loved breezing through it again, it's such a feel-good game with some amazing gameplay concepts. The touchscreen doesn't work great though in this version. I play mostly handheld but for Galaxy I tried to play on TV as much as I could, as the motion controls definitely outclass the touchscreen. The Wonderful 101: Remastered (Nintendo Switch) I played this gem from Platinum for the first time, and wow, what a rollercoaster of a game! It's even weirder than most Platinum games, it's colourful, it's hardcore, and it's got some amazing gameplay elements. Loved this to bits. I'm probably going to play it again on PC as I got a key for that with my Kickstarter order just to experience it in glorious 4K 60 frames. YesterMorrow (Nintendo Switch) I reviewed this game for the main site, and the link can be found in the tweet above. Why I'm mentioning it here is because the Switch port was pretty shoddy when it came out, but the devs put out an update a few weeks after release that fixes most of the bugs and slowdowns. It's a shame they released the game in such a wonky state, as it cost them dearly on Metacritic while the other versions score much higher. Well, that should bring me up to date again. Currently I'm playing Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition (12 hours in), Kid Dracula in the Castlevania Collection, OlliOlli, and Dragon Ball FighterZ on the Switch. On PC I've gone back to Jurassic World Evolution and I made a start with Sonic Generations. Updates on these in a future post.

A pretty solid showing! A good variety of games, and most coming out between now and 3-4 months. Among Us is obviously a great get for the system. I'm curious to see if cross-play with Steam and mobile phone works well. If so, let's set up a game sometimes and I can join with the mobile phone version. Also I wonder if they've integrated voice chat, or that you still require a second device for that. I agree with @Hero-of-Time and @Jonnas that Tunche looks very promising. When I saw that the devs were from Peru I was already curious, but seeing the game in action it looked great, and cool to see they use Amazonian culture as a start. Also curious about Cyber Shadow as the people from Shovel Knight are behind it (or are at least publishing it). I guess Spelunky is a game you need to experience, as it has never appealed to me despite getting great reviews. Weird they are coming so late though. Alba looked very promising as well. Nice to see some weird titles in there such as Fisty-Fluffs, Happy Game and Gnosia.

Another solid episode! About Snakeybus, it's been a while since I played it but I didn't notice any harmful slowdowns. That said, the whole game has this tech demo vibe to it (with the level of polish and the graphics) but that is all pretty easy to overlook by the sheer absurdity of it. I'm thinking back to the last time I really grinded in an RPG, and I think it was in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn to take on Dullahan. I used to grind in Pokémon as well, to get some 'mon to level 100. But that is not necessary anymore due to newly introduced mechanisms. Sometimes I just go around a little bit to level up one or two levels in for example Xenoblade, but definitely not for hours to an end. I do tend to grind for rewards though. Although I haven't played it for months, the biggest grind game for me was Paladins. Being a free-to-play game, there is a season pass with free unlockables and daily challenges that give out rewards. There I grinded a bit to just get that extra reward. I'm guessing Animal Crossing can be considered a grind game as well. Going back daily (or in my case a couple of times a week) to get some extra cash, fossils, bugs etc. feels grindy but in a relaxed kind of way. And then there are the palette cleanser games, for when I only have a short amount of time to play or I just want to play something brainless. That usually means I boot up a pinball game. But I don't really count that as grinding.

If you missed them the first time, the 4 SEGA 60th special games on Steam are available for the next couple of days:

Christmas tree and lights are up, nothing too fancy or abundant but it's always nice to decorate a bit! Tried out some recipes this weekend for when (well, at this point more "if" because apparently more Covid measures are being announced tonight) my parents and brother come over. Made an Italian bread soup, which was delicious but not very Christmas. So we'll replace that with a creamy tomato soup. We'll make coq au biere (chicken in dark beer broth) for the meat-eaters, and tried a vegetarian recipe for the vegetarian. We made it before and it was quite okay but it tasted very oriental due to the abundance of coconut milk. So now we made it again but just left out the coconut milk and actually it tastes better like this, and a lot less oriental and more wintery/Christmassy. It's basically a stew with pumpkin, fennel, leek, chanterelles and a bunch of herbs and spices. So that made the cut! Serve both with bread and potatoes. Maybe I'll add one more side dish but I'm not sure what works well with the main courses. Dessert will be a mocha parfait. Made that a while ago, and it was great! So that's dinner. Will need to come up with a couple of lunch dishes as well but that will be a bit simpler. Maybe just a board with different cheeses, meats and some quality bread. And more soup.

Are you looking for a 2.0 or 2.1 set (two speakers or two speakers + subwoofer)? I have the Hercules XPS 2.0 80, they're marketed as DJ monitors but work perfect as PC speaker. They are a bit more "neutral" soundwise because of that. Price was around €100. I picked them because I do a little bit of sound editing/music recording as well besides music/video/gaming audio. Obviously they ripped off KRK with that yellow cone but for the price I paid for them I'm happy with them! As for other brands, we used to sell a lot of Logitech sets in the computer shop I used to work in, but also a lot of Edifier. Both have a lot of options in the range between €30-150 (don't know what your budget exactly is). I was pretty charmed by the build and sound quality of Edifier. Another very good option are the T20 or T40 series II from Creative, sold a lot of these as well and their sound quality was very good as well. Out of these 3 brands I would probably choose Edifier or Creative. Good to consider if you want them to support Bluetooth as well or if they are only for PC. There are quite some models who have Bluetooth options.

This might be good news for @Ike (or other UK folk who still need a Zarude):

I think the most important point you miss here @Aperson is that you say local is with friends and online is with randoms. Like @Glen-i mentions, online can be fun and a whole lot less competitive when you are playing with people you know. The weekly Smash sessions or the N-E Mario Kart league (although the latter I would qualify as pretty competitive but due to the rule set it is leveled out a bit) are a good example, but I've also enjoyed some other online games with N-E people. For the rest I don't have many gaming friends outside of N-Europe, but I know people who frequently get a squad together to play Call of Duty or something similar. That is what I'm missing the most from my online gaming experience; a weekly game with voice chat and banter, especially in the Covid times where I'm not going out much to meet friends (and I'm horrible in keeping contact via Whatsapp or other chat apps). I agree with @Hero-of-Time here that it's baffling that we still can't talk through a Nintendo system. Going back to the people mentioned previously who play CoD, they just talk through the PlayStation without the hassle of extra apps. Take a game like Animal Crossing, I'm typing messages on my bloody phone as communication, while in this day and age I should just be able to plug in a headset into my Switch and shout at the other people to stay the hell off my flowers. I also miss the times of local co-op, for me they died when I left my student apartment. Getting a bunch of people together to play Smash Bros., or Mario Kart, or even a complete band in Guitar Hero, those were the days. And before that it was meeting up with friends after school, all the way back to primary school when we would play the NES or SNES or link up Game Boys with cables. Yeah, that's not coming back. Best I can do now is a very sporadic one or two friends over who still enjoy Mario Kart. I would love to have an online equivalent of that but somehow it's difficult to get that going on the Nintendo platform. For online with randoms, I can definitely enjoy that, but then it's mostly co-op games. Stuff like Starcraft II co-op missions, Paladins vs. bots, or Left4Dead 2 or World War Z which are made for co-op play. Games like Battlefield work as well as there are so many people in one game you will always find someone there who is worse than you and who you can shoot. And if you want to play PvP, yeah you will get slaughtered unless there is some proper matchmaking.

I'm not too fussed about the new character, and I'm still happy with my original roster and haven't picked up the Fighter Passes. Would have loved a more quirky character though. That said, this part had me in stitches:

Me too! Loved Left4Dead 2 and this looks like more of that, with added boss-type creatures. So weird to not just make it Left4Dead 3 and use the name for some guaranteed sales.

I never completed the original game so I can't see if this is a remake or a new game. Great to see Arthur make a return though as Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts is still one of my favourite SNES games. But, I'm also not too excited about the looks. When I first saw it it looked like a cheap 3D render, it took me a while to see they are actually drawn graphics. Hopefully it'll grow on me a bit.

I just keep wondering why there's a guy in medieval armour in the middle of the woods. But true, Left4Dead (2) was an amazing experience and I loved playing it. It did get a new update recently and I was planning to go back, so if you're game we can see if we can get a squad together to try that.

This just keeps looking better and better. After the first trailer I was still a bit sceptical (didn't look like much of a visual upgrade), but now I'm convinced this is going to be awesome and there will be plenty of new after Generations. Still curious how that webslinging mechanism is going to work but it looks to add a lot of speed to the combat. A demo is coming in January.

Going by the comments on the American and European Twitter account, a lot of people are asking for a Fortnite character. Looks like it's a different target audience over there compared to here. Also a couple of shouts for Soma.