This is running a little later than anticipated. When I originally had this idea, it was March 19th. Admittedly, that was still a little late for Mario Day but at least it was close. Then life happened, vacation happened and it got away from me. But later is better than never, and Mario games are timeless, so we’ll forge ahead. I do need to get a few things out of the way before we get to the l...
It’s not an exaggeration to say that AAA gaming has reached an inflection point. Games cost more than ever to make, but only a few of them break through and sell enough to be profitable. Excellent games, like Alan Wake 2 , can be Remedy’s fastest selling game while also taking over a year to just recoup its costs. Star Wars Outlaws was projected by analysts to sell 5.5 million units in its firs...
It's been a while since I've written anything like this. At first, I told myself it was because life got in the way. Work, kids and everything else meant I'd put it off just one more week. Weeks turned to months, months to years, and here we are. But, a new year means a chance for a new beginning, and so in 2025 it's time to refocus and push myself to write more, and there's no better place to...
With the series past the halfway point and tied 2-2, it’s a good time to look at what’s happened and where it might lead heading into Wednesday’s pivotal Game 5. 175-136. That’s the amount the Pacers have been outscored in the first half in Games 2, 3 and 4. In contrast, the Pacers have outscored the Cavaliers 153-119 in the second halves. Slow starts have hurt the Pacers in this series. While...
It’s playoff time, and surprisingly the Indiana Pacers are still playing. Even the most diehard Pacers fan wouldn’t have predicted anything better than fighting for the eighth seed. Instead, the team snagged the fifth seed, and came within a few games home court advantage in the first round. Their reward for this surprising season: a first round series against LeBron James and the reigning conf...
On June 12, 2012, the basketball world settled in for round one of what everyone assumed would be the start of a legendary duel. LeBron James led the Miami Heat against young Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The future looked certain. LeBron and Durant would spend the next decade sparring for titles as Oklahoma City and Miami sported the best basketball teams in the world. Five years...
The Indiana Pacers were the first team eliminated from the NBA playoffs after another close loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The loss starts a key offseason for the team. With Paul George’s future in doubt and serious questions about the roster, the team needs faces some major questions going forward. With that in mind it’s time to look at some of three key roster questions starting with the el...
Before the season started it seemed like we were destined for Cavs-Warriors III. While the Cavaliers haven’t looked like a contender recently, the Warriors have rolled. Golden State has easily locked up the number one overall seed and home court all the way through the Finals. It may not be shocking, and the NBA rarely is during the playoffs, but Golden State will win the NBA Finals and these t...
Welcome back! If you're new to the series then check out the previous entries: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 Kylie Shepard has finally pieced together all the clues in her hunt for Saren and Sovereign. However instead of racing after Sovereign, Shepard has been called back to the Citadel on the Council’s orders. With grudging acceptance Shepard obeys the command. Grounded Why shoul...
When Nintendo finally unveiled the Nintendo Switch, it put an end to one of the worst kept secrets in gaming. The home/portable console hybrid had been rumored ever since Nintendo first began cryptically talking about their next console, at the time codenamed NX. The consensus after the reveal was that if they were aligning their console and handheld development resources into one platform Nint...
If you need to catch up on the earlier parts catch them here: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 Shepard has completed her missions on Feros, Noveria and Therum. Each time she has been one step behind Saren but that is all about to change. Her mission is about to lead her to that fated confrontation as well as the most challenging decision she has made so far. Hold the line At this point Shepard...
If you need to catch up on the earlier parts catch them here: Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 After stopping Matriarch Benezia and freeing the Rachni on Noveria. Kylie Shepard continues her race to stop Saren and the Reapers. Following another lead, Shepard heads to Feros to investigate unusual Geth activity. The odd colony The Mako always handles so well! When Shepard arrives on Feros she is told she...
Overwatch is unlike most other competitive shooters when it comes to scoreboards and stats. It doesn’t have a global scoreboard you can pull up at the press of a button and it doesn’t surface common shooter stats such as kill-death ratio for the whole game to see. Instead it focuses on surfacing positive numbers. Focusing on the positives sets the game apart from other shooters and makes it a m...
Trade season! It’s one of the most exciting times of the year for NBA fans. Teams are looking to solidify their playoff push by adding that final piece or trying to ensure an upcoming free agent doesn’t leave for nothing. While any NBA fan will have their own trade ideas to throw out I wanted to see what a computer would say, specifically NBA 2K17 . Using the games Trade Finder we’ll look at so...
If you missed part 1 or part 2 follow the links to check them out. If you want a little more insight into the 5-month gap between part 2 and 3 you can read some brief thoughts here . After taking a detour to stop a Batarian terrorist plot we rejoin Kylie Shepard as she makes her way to Noveria. The icy world, sitting just outside of Citadel space, is a hot spot for corporate research that would...
As some who were following my replay of Mass Effect may have noticed, it has been about 5 months since I updated my journey through the game again. At first glance it would just appear I got bored with it or lost the motivation to continue writing but rather life events made it difficult to continue over the last few months. I took a new job that required me to live apart from my wife for 3 of...
If you missed out on part 1 be sure to check it out. Kylie Shepard’s hunt for the rogue Spectre Saren continues. After spending most of the first 13 hours focusing on side quests and reacquainting myself with the world of Mass Effect it’s time to check back in with Shepard. She has now recruited an Asari scientist, stopped a Batarian terrorist plot and turned down romantic overtures from her cr...
Nearly nine years ago BioWare released the first Mass Effect and launched one of the most beloved and well received franchises of the last console generation. With the trilogy recently being put on sale on PC and Mass Effect: Andromeda on the horizon I felt like it was as good a time as any to revisit the series. Our trip down memory lane starts after getting about 13 hours into Mass Effect . A...
Warning: This post features spoilers for NBA 2K16’s story mode, Livin’ Da Dream Spike Lee is really excited guys! Visual Concepts has long dominated video game basketball. For NBA 2K16 they made one of their more ambitious moves with Livin’ Da Dream , a single player story mode. While a career mode has become an expected part of sports games, having a narrative driven mode hasn’t been attempted...
Yooka-Laylee is a game that I have been waiting on since the 3-D platformer shifted away from commercially viable genre and towards marketing tie-in. I have always had a soft spot for Banjo-Kazooie . I even played the XBLA versions of the first two games just to make sure it wasn’t just the nostalgia factor. The marketing that Playtonic Games did for the game was exactly what I wanted to see an...
Please note some minor spoilers for Watch Dogs are included in this piece About a third of the way through Watch Dogs you receive a phone call from Yolanda, the woman who is caring for your nephew Jackson, telling you that he has run off. After the call ends a text comes in from Jackson telling you that he is surrounded by armed men and Aiden’s response is that he is on his way. At this point a...