Mera'din

I thought the season was supposed to be 12 episodes?

Watched the first episode. It's fantastic. It's also great watching the core people fanboy/girl over their own work so hard. Saw one of them talking about how most of them were rewatching all the episodes in the different languages available and were gushing about the Japanese VAs. XD

Yeah, that was a little weird too, but I don't think she was leading them. There was a shot of the throne/senate/whatever room with the 3 prophets (maybe. Was hard to see since it was pretty zoomed out). The way she talked too, she might not actually be human but that could just be the phrasing. Maybe they have a faction of humans that joined them too in this?  

Seems like they made Halsey a fair bit younger looking too. Hopefully they don't show Master Chiefs face. They got away with it (mostly) in the Mandalorian, so they can certainly do it here. XD

I know this is supposed to be an adaptation and not part of the game canon, so I'm sure there will be a fair number of differences. I don't have any real stock in the game series though so I can probably get over most anything they'd do as long as its good. 

So this is finally happening:

Doesn't look terrible. Some of it seemed a little weird vs what I've seen in the games, and hearing a different voice for Master Chief is going to be weird. Wonder if they just couldn't get the original guy or didn't want to? The person playing Cortana is just her voice actress, but people seem to be pretty upset she's not blue.  

I have no intention of getting Paramount+, especially for this, but I'll watch it eventually in some fashion or another I guess.

5.)  Lost Words: Beyond the Page

Pretty standard "Indie game with depressing story" sort of thing. Some interesting gameplay, but not really any challenge to it so it was almost a 2D walking simulator with light platforming. Still a nice experience with unique storytelling. Was written by Terry Pratchett's daughter. Glad I grabbed it on a sale though all things considered. Not a lot of replay value to it.

6.)  Life is Strange 2

Fuck me this game was extremely emotionally draining. It was good. At least as good as the first one (though in a different way), but way more depressing overall. Even in the more upbeat parts you could just tell something was going to go south eventually and completely fuck everything up. The end of a couple of the episodes left me pretty speechless. Would have sucked playing each one as it came out. Glad they're not doing that anymore.

Looking forward to playing the new one eventually. They really know how to get a person right in the feels and I'm sure the next one is no exception.

No joke there. No fucking way I was playing that on Nightmare difficulty. I googled the shit out of the manuscript pages I wasn't allowed to collect. XD

Louie Anderson as well. Guy probably hasn't been relevant since his stint on Family Feud, but I always liked his comedy when I was a kid.

The DLC bits are probably some of the best parts of the game. I don't recall them being terribly hard either, so give them a go if you have them. The stand alone thing, Alan Wakes American Nightmare is also really good. Controls feel better (though combat is still basically the same thing) and it felt a little more arcade-y and not as frustrating. Also short so the combat doesn't outstay its welcome like the main game. XD

Remedy has DEFINITELY evolved their combat since then though. Quantum Break was a massive step forward for them, and then Control refined that even further. Their shooting is still a little floaty, but Control made up for that in other areas.

4.)  Greak: Memories of Azur

Light little (I guess) metroidvania style game. Nothing super complicated to it, but some fun puzzles here and there that require the use of 2-3 different characters. Story was pretty typical fantasy faire with nothing to really show for itself, but it was fun to play just as a change of pace from the stuff I more typically play through. Didn't overstay its welcome.

From what I've seen, Kotick is sticking around until everything clears and then he's bailing (with a large some of money in tow no doubt  ). So that's a start. We'll see how everything else goes. The main thing I'm worried about is how this will affect the the strikes and the movement to unionize that was starting to get some traction. Time will tell. Chances are this whole thing won't be settled until next year anyway.

After this acquisition they'll still only be the 3rd largest publisher behind Tencent and Sony I believe I had read. Sony acquired 6 or 7 different devs this past year alone vs Microsoft who has only picked up three things video game related since 2019. Two of those just happen to be publishers instead of individual studios so the impact feels bigger and more immediate.

I don't mean to diminish the impact this will have though because Activision-Blizzard themselves IS the 3rd biggest at the moment I believe so it's a pretty big deal even if it isn't as all encompassing as it seems.

So it seems that by "reevaluate how we deal with Activision", what Microsoft actually meant was "We'll see how they act after we just buy them." O_o

https://news.microsoft.com/features/microsoft-to-acquire-activision-blizzard-to-bring-the-joy-and-community-of-gaming-to-everyone-across-every-device/

I would place it middle of the road personally. There was a lot to take in. Some of it good, some of it a little meh. They've done much better films over the years, but they've definitely had worse as well. I feel like it was setting up a lot of plot threads we'll see picked up in the future though which may have hurt it a bit in the now. Will have to see if any of it eventually pays off. Action sequences were a lot of fun though. Was nice to see super speed done in a way that wasn't just a straight blurring/lightning thing like they like to do with The Flash.

3.)  Haven

This was a great, chill sort of game. Excellent co-op experience but plays well solo also. It has combat in it, but it kind of takes a backseat to the exploration and relationship of the two characters (you even get more experience from conversations  than from the combat). Story was interesting, though the two endings you can get were both depressing in their own way. Was a great experience all around imo.

Ep. 3:

Yeah, even seeing him at a distance my  brain was like "Holy shit is that Danny Trejo??" like a second before it went "Holy shit, that's a Rancor!"  

Since Robert Rodriguez has been the Director for this thus far, I guess I shouldn't be surprised but it was still really cool.

The speeder gang is a little off note with the rest of the series so far it feels like. I like them, but man do they clash with the scenery. They're like Power Rangers. XD

Guess I spoke too soon about it just being people in their 90s so far.

We already have another from just a few days ago as well. Sidney Poitier died on the 6th. 

At least the current string are people well into their 90s that have lived pretty full lives. Still sucks though.

I'm actually kind of worried they'll do that with all the heavy leaning on Ned learning the other Peter's best friends tried to kill him considering his namesake in the comics. >_>

For those unaware, Ned Leeds in the comics was (kind of) the original Hobgoblin. With the insinuation of magic with this Ned, I could see them rolling the original Ned Leeds in with the 2nd Hobgoblin character who eventually solicited a demon to gain magical power and became possessed. He ultimately freed himself from the demon which then became Demogoblin.

On second thought, it might be fun to have Demogoblin in a movie. Could even finally pull out Ghost Rider at that point if they wanted to.XD

2.)  Halo 4 (MCC)

I actually really enjoyed this one. Was actively engaged in continuing the game to find out what was going on instead of playing a mission here or there when I was bored or didn't have a lot of time. Was super impressed that it was using stuff that was talked about in the first game too until I looked it up and found out that all those cool little terminal collectible scenes weren't part of the original two games and were added later for the anniversary stuff by 343.  

Kind of pissed now though. I actually feel a little invested in the games at this point and now find out I can't actually play 5 at all since they never put it on PC (guess that one came out before Microsoft stopped being giant assholes about everything?)  

When I have some time I'll just watch a video or something before I move on and if I recall that was the one everyone hated anyway, so  

I enjoyed it overall. Felt superfluous, but still enjoyable. The new Smith was trying too hard though. Definitely would have been 10x better with Hugo Weaving, though that character being in it is probably the thing that made the least sense in the movie overall. 

Kind of wonder how on the nose the bit about "You didn't want to do this, but WB is going to do it with or without you" was in terms of Lana Wachowski being on board for this. XD

Only completed 23 games last year. All the online stuff I've been messing around with is definitely leaving its mark. 😧
Played a much higher concentration of PC games than I typically have in years past though. Probably partly due to finally building a new computer and having to spend way too much on a graphics card. >_>

1.)  Halo: Reach (MCC)
Glad I didn't play this one first. Would have downright hated the way most of the rest played after this one. Story was actually interesting even though knowing how it ends kind of lessens the impact of characters dying and the writing wasn't good enough to make up the difference. Once again the vehicle sequences shine as the best parts of the game. Also YOU CAN FINALLY FUCKING SPRINT. Easily the most annoying part of the other games hands down. That takes care of all the Bungie-made games in the series. Time to see how I feel about the 343 ones. XD

Yeah, it looked really weird in stills I had seen but actually worked out in action. He definitely has an expressive enough face for it to have worked, and the rest of the outfit leaning into the classic look was enough to make a difference otherwise imo. 

23.)  Halo 3: ODST (MCC)

This one started out kind of meh but really took off as it went. Some great sections in it. The side story that built up as you found the files was probably the most interesting part though. Was more invested in what was going on there than I was the main story. XD

I played a bit of the multiplayer pvp stuff since its free. Was fun enough because of some of the game modes. Otherwise it just felt like playing slow motion Destiny for the most part. XD

I do have game pass though and since I enjoyed that well enough I decided to burn through all the original games quick just to see the story and work my way up to playing the new one. It's been fine so far. On ODST now.

I should really consider doing that too. Only thing I think I want to keep is my non-super hero stuff and maybe the Ms. Marvel and the Dan Slott Spider-man stuff I have since I have basically the full runs of those. I have way too many boxes in my closet though and I don't think I'll bother reading most of it again since its such a hassle to even go through them at this point.