Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoiler Free Review

At long last after nine mainline films, the Skywalker saga has come to an end with The Rise of Skywalker. The series is perhaps one of the most recognizable and important media franchises of all time. Touching the lives of countless millions since it’s premier in May of 1977. So concluding the story in a way that satisfied everyone would be nigh impossible. The question is were J.J. Abrams and Disney able to pull it off? The answer is complicated. 

Can Microsoft Make a Comeback With the Xbox Series X?

Since revealing the Xbox One in May of 2013 to disastrous results, Microsoft has been on their back foot so far as the console war goes, falling well behind their rivals Sony and Nintendo in sales. To date, Sony has sold over 100 million PS4s while Nintendo has moved over 41 million Switches in just two years on the market. Conversely, Microsoft has not fared as well; while no hard data is available, some sources estimate the Xbox One has sold around 42 million units in six years. 

Watchmen is the Best Show You’re Probably Not Watching

In a world overflowing with entertainment choices it’s often a tough sell to convince people to watch the show you’re currently obsessed with. I say this as someone who is frequently on the other side of that conversation, writing down titles of shows and movies that have an equal chance of being forgotten the moment I close my notepad as they do being watched. The benefit of streaming is it has allowed many people the opportunity to binge series, they may have never started if they lived in the days before DVRs and subscription services. However the corporate race to monopolize our limited viewing time known as the “streaming wars” has left us with an embarrassment of riches. Almost every streaming service has at least one show you would probably love but due to factors like time and money you’ll likely never watch. 

Frozen Dolphin

The name Frozen Dolphin is an illusion to my geographic location relative to the sunshine state. A man rooting for a team a thousand miles away while miserably cold for most of the season. However it’s also a commentary on the state of the Miami Dolphins over the past decade plus. The team has felt stuck in the throes of mediocrity never good enough to truly compete for championships or short of that, respect from outside observers. Though in turn never bad enough to warrant the team being blown up, burned to ashes in the hopes they would rise from them as something better and more complete. 

The Shanghai Dragons Are The Most Compelling Sports Story Currently Happening

The mantra worst to first is pipe dream rarely realized. Famously the 1969 Mets won the World Series after finishing no better than second to last since entering the league in 1962. However in the fifty years since this feat was accomplished it has rarely been duplicated. It’s even more impressive when you consider that the team secured their last place spot by going winless (0-40) in what was one of the worst season long performances by a professional franchise ever. All that lead up to history being made on Sunday when the Shanghai Dragons became Overwatch League Stage 3 champions.  

Courtesy of Robert Paul-Blizzard Entertainment

Big Brother Continues To Be The Best Reality Show On TV.. That Can't Get Out of Its Own Way

Reality television has always walked the line between genuinely compelling and unrelentingly trashy. For every Survivor that bills itself as the ultimate social experiment there is a Bachelor in Paradise that focuses on, and markets itself with the debaucherous actions of its participants. Perhaps no show straddles the line between complex human narrative and low brow entertainment more than CBS’ Big Brother.

Courtesy of CBS 

Did Bethesda Just Make Fallout 76 Relevant?

The launch of Fallout 76 was nothing short of a disaster. Glitches, a price drop, server issues, canvas bags becoming nylon bags, and glass bottles actually being plastic bottles contributed to what can only be considered as the worst launch of a triple A game in 2018. Perhaps even more egregious, in an interview with IGN on their show Unfiltered, Todd Howard, director and executive producer at Bethesda, admitted that they knew Fallout 76 was not ready to be released.

The Game of Thrones is Over

The Game of Thrones has been won. After years of watching, theory crafting, and hoping that it would end well, a new character sits on the iron throne. Before I write about my thoughts regarding the new ruler of the 7… well 6 kingdoms, I ask you to indulge me in a trip down memory lane.

The End Of The Golden Age of Nerds?

April 2019 will be remembered as the point at which nerd fandom reached critical mass. On April 14th the final season of Game of Thrones will begin airing. Almost ten years of political intrigue, nudity and Dragons have lead up to this moment, it’s feels as if everyone is waiting with bated breath to see who sits upon the Iron Throne when it’s all said and done. Or if you’re of a more nihilistic persuasion, to see if there will even be an Iron Throne to sit on.

Courtesy of HBO 

PAX East 2019 Highlights

Penny Arcade Expo 2019 in Boston, better known as PAX East wrapped Sunday after a weekend of game demos, announcements, and technical difficulties. The convention is truly something to behold, proof of the mainstream conversion nerd culture has undergone in the past few years. In the convention hall chatter and music mix together to harmonize in a deafening inaudible buzz. The crowds form currents that must be skillfully navigated to reach the next both that catches your eye. Cosplayers dressed as recognizable characters are sprinkled in, some looking as if the game has come to life.

The Walking Dead has Returned to Form Thanks to Angela Kang

Much like it’s namesake, AMC’s The Walking Dead has clawed its way back and is once again one of the most compelling shows on television. The last time I wrote about Rick Grimes and his supporting cast of colorful but melancholy characters, the show was still a bonafide hit that in the minds of many viewers stood shoulder to shoulder with heavy hitters such as Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. A cliffhanger cheapening the deaths of two of the show’s leads, followed by their deaths featuring extreme gore, and two seasons of meandering storytelling all but tarnished the legacy of the once heralded show. However season 9 is a true return to form, but unfortunately very few are still around to see it.

Google Stadia is the Future Whether You Like it or Not

Before starting this blog please check out our video version of The Slow Downfall of Live Service Games on our YouTube channel.

The future is here, at least that’s what Google wants you to believe. On Tuesday at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), they unveiled their gaming service Stadia. The service allows gamers to stream games to their devices via WiFi. While no price has been formerly announced, the idea of having current gen games without the large upfront investment of a console is intriguing. The project is headed by former Sony and Microsoft executive Phil Harrison, known most recently for overseeing the disastrous announcement of the Xbox One.

The Master Chief Collection Is Coming To PC

In a time when video game news is dominated by negativity and disappointment, 343 announcing the Master Chief Collection is coming to PC is a welcome change of pace. With Halo Reach coming to Xbox and the entire collection slowly rolling out to PC, it feels like the studio is listening to their customers and making decisions accordingly. It’s no secret fans of Halo and PC gamers at large have been clamoring for another port, with Halo 2 being the last to release on PC back in 2007. Their wait will soon come to an end.

The Slow Downfall of Live Service Games

Before getting this blog started, please do me a favor and check out our new Fake Nerds Update on The Boondocks.

The video game industry is a complex beast, the need to continue on paths of unsustainable growth has lead to companies innovating and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. The general idea is you make a breathtaking game that does things gamers have never seen before, and you’ll be rewarded for it with sales of said game. However, there is very little continued spending in this scenario. Just years of hard work, a spike in revenue, and the hope that what you made will last you until the next game or get you purchased by someone with deeper pockets.

Overwatch and it’s Beautiful Disaster of a League

The Overwatch League’s second season is underway, and while its been mostly successful, there are several things diehard fans and players would like to see changed. Blizzard is in a tough position, balancing the competitive scene of the league with the experience of the player base at large, but there are issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible in order to preserve the legitimacy of the league and the interest of the fans. To understand where these problems originate we must first know how we got here.

The 2019 Oscars: Dylan, Tamur, and Brian make their predictions!

The biggest night in Hollywood is finally here! The 2019 Oscars will kick off tonight at 8pm on ABC. 2018 was a hell of a year for Film and to celebrate, Brian, Tamur, and I are going to play a little Academy Awards "pick em". Below, we are going to lay out all the nominations and their Vegas odds to allow the casual moviegoer more insight on the favorites and long shots. For each category, all three of us will be making our selections as well as adding an occasional note on why we're making that pick. To add a little more fun to the process, each time a correct pick is made we will be awarded the points that category is worth. For example, Best Picture will be worth 5 points while other major categories such as Best Director are worth 3 points each. Categories such as Best Supporting Actress will be worth 2 points and categories such as Best Costume Design will be worth 1 point. Whoever has the most points at the end wins (and if Brian loses I get to take his place on the hit web-series 'Things we may have tried'). May the best movie nerd win!

Anthem: The Complex Nature Of Hype and Expectations

It’s said you only have one chance to make a first impression. Right or wrong, so much of your life can be dictated by the first interactions you have with someone. It’s no different for video games.

The Division morphed itself into one of the most interesting and expansive games of the generation, however many remember it more for the buggy state in which it launched. Fallout 76 is unlikely to rise above the perception it earned upon launch of being an unfinished mess regardless of how they turn it around. More to this blog’s central thesis, Mass Effect Andromeda has become a solid spinoff, but the memes from the first few weeks tainted the reputation of not only the game but BioWare Montreal, resulting in low sales and the studio being absorbed by EA Motive.

Which brings us to Bioware’s current game, Anthem. A cooperative loot based shooter that should have been marketed as “you can be Ironman in space!”. Influencers, critics and those willing to pay a bit extra are already playing the game and the reviews are, middling to say the least. At the time of writing, the game sits at a 70/100, which may as well be a 0/100 based on the way games below an 8 are interpreted but that’s a different blog all together. Complaints range from bugs, to long loading times, and the Youtube mob is out in full force. This isn’t to say they aren’t justified, it takes a lot of work to make any game and that doesn’t go unappreciated. However, when people are paying $60-$100, depending on the version, they need to be cautious and make sure they are getting the best bang for their buck.

The hype culture surrounding games is partially to blame as well, sleek highly produced trailers and the seeming need for each triple A release to live up to an absurd standard, leave many games to feel underwhelming. At times it seems as if the conversation around these games boil down to “is it the best game ever? If not then it must be a disappointment”. Which in turn forces the marketing of the game to perpetuate the idea that this title is going to change games forever. So when it comes out and doesn’t feel as exciting to play, gamers are left disappointed.

New monetization schemes such as “games as a service” are also at fault. The feeling that games must make large sums of money beyond just the initial sale is forcing developers to make games they otherwise wouldn’t. There are reasons why games such as Destiny are considered disappointments when compared to Bungie’s Halo series, and a big one is the feeling that Destiny wasn’t finished upon launch. It was discovered content included on the disc was hidden away for future DLCs and this turned fans off and damaged its reputation. However, Destiny also made hundreds of millions of dollars over the game’s lifespan. If there’s one thing companies love more than money, it’s more money, and as such games like Anthem were born.

The idea isn’t the worst, if EA was keen on making this type of game, using BioWare, a studio known for epic RPGs, felt like a no brainer. Though in retrospect, forcing a team that built their reputation on story driven titles to make a cooperative loot shooter has seemingly not worked out, at least that’s how things are being presented.

To conclude if it were up to me, talented studios would be given resources to create the unique experiences they want. In this scenario the quality of the games would speak for themselves and this would drive sales. Things aren’t up to me, and I’m not the head of a company eagerly trying to please shareholders. So things are unlikely to change anytime soon. It will be interesting to to see if Anthem can put the pieces together and resolve the issues with patches. It will be just as fascinating to see if the players stick around or if the game is doomed based on first impressions.

 

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Apex Legends The Journey To Being The Best Battle Royale Game

Innovation in industry is often dictated by trends, videos games are no exception. From the modern military shooters of the mid to late 2000s, to the current fad of Battle Royale games, most large companies see something succeed and want a piece of that action. Often times these companies miss the mark, see Medal of Honor compared to Call of Duty and NBA Live compared to the NBA 2K series. What do those two “copycat” game series have in common other than being discontinued aside from the occasional come back attempt? They’re both published by EA. Yes, the company many consider the worst in America. It should be clarified that it wasn’t voted worst gaming company, but instead worst company full stop. It may come as a surprise to you that this company currently has the hottest game in the world, despite it being another entry that could easily be hand waved away as a copycat. But how did Apex Legends do the seemingly impossible and supplant Fortnite, at least for the time being, as the Battle Royale king? Let’s find out.

New Titanfall Battle Royal (Apex Lengends)

Apex Legends is a new Battle Royale game created by Respawn Entertainment set in the universe of Titanfall. The game takes place after the events of the Titanfall 2 campaign and sees squads of 3 face off against one another to be the last ones standing. Players will be able to choose between various “Legends” who are characters with different abilities similar to Overwatch or Black Ops. This should lead to interesting team configurations adding a layer of strategy to the somewhat overplayed genre.

Review Bombing A Modern Moral Quandary

Reviews are constantly a hot topic in the gaming industry. Be it a well known reviewer giving a beloved game an imperfect score causing outrage, see Jim Sterling and the absurd aftermath of his Breath of the wild review. Or an employee doing damage to a large brand by plagiarizing their review from a small independent creator, see the IGN and Boomstick gaming debacle. Some even perpetuate wild theories about game devs and the gaming media partaking in scandalous activities just to secure good reviews. It seems there is always new drama to get into surrounding the scores attributed to these works of art.

2019 Oscar Nominations: Snubs and Surprises

Being a huge fan of Film, the day the Oscar Nominations are released is one of my favorite movie-related days of the year only behind the actual Oscars and whichever major Marvel movie is being released. I make an effort each year to see every movie nominated for Best Picture (except 'The Artist'. The Artist can kick rocks). This year I managed to take advantage of AMC Theaters "A-List" membership which allows me to see up to three movies a week for an incredibly low fee of $20 a month (sup AMC? You're welcome for the free ad. Please sponsor the blog), so I've been fortunate enough to see just about every major release this year. As always, the nominations bring some snubs and surprises that have the Twitter-verse big mad and big happy online. Usually, I'm pretty content with the Oscar lineup each year (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay are the Big 5 I care most about). However, this year I got some problems (outside of my personal life). Though before we get into that, here are the 2019 Oscar Nominations: 

The Remake Renaissance

Everything that’s old is once again new in the video game industry and that’s a good thing. It’s true that in console generations past old games have been given a new lease on life via ports and “remasters”. Often times however these were straight ports with no difference to the gameplay or graphics. This method worked well enough for games originating on 8 or 16 bit consoles as the games didn’t look too bad and the demographic of gamers purchasing these ports grew up with the titles.

EA Cancels Open World Star Wars Game

As a child the company EA conjured warm feelings in my cold nerd heart. I give credit to their EA sports games, which if you grew up playing madden as I did you just involuntarily flashed back to the PS2 era while reading that line. On top of well made sports simulations they produced their share of solid licensed properties such as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a game I remember quite fondly.