Webhead123

Sure. Lots of the nitpicks really have to do with simple preference but here are a few highlights: -Fortnite: To be fair, I feel the same way about all "battle royale" shooters. I just don't like the format. When it comes to multiplayer shooters, I prefer other formats like deathmatch/team deathmatch, king of the hill, move the payload, etc. Permanent elimination from those kinds of games has always grated on me. -GTA: Most "open-world, do-whatever-you-want" games suffer from the same problem for me. As a player, I need a sense of direction and I want to feel like my actions are pushing me toward a goal. So while I do enjoy just cruising around in an open sandbox for a little while, unless I have something really compelling me to see the story to its conclusion, I lose interest quickly. GTA is just one example of this. -Fallout (post-Tactics): I started playing Fallout with the original, loved it and immediately followed up with the sequel and Tactics. Maybe because I was so acclimated to the series as a top-down, turn-based RPG a la Baldur's Gate (another personal favorite), I just didn't take well to the game transitioning to a 3D engine. I tried my hand at both Fallout 3 and New Vegas but I couldn't get more than about 6-8 hours into either one before I just lost the will to continue. -Elder Scrolls: Same as Fallout above. My favorite examples of fantasy RPGs are the 2D, turn-based entries like the Baldur's Gate series. I tried to get into Morrowind, Oblivion AND Skyrim. I stuck with Oblivion the longest...about 15 hours...but eventually I lost steam. -Uncharted: I'm not the biggest fan of 3rd-person shooters anyway but as acclaimed as the series was, I told myself I would stick with it to the end. I really struggled to get through the first game. I was soooo ready for it to be over by the time I got there. I just didn't click with the characters. There were many annoyances with the game play. I was not impressed. But I'd heard Uncharted 2 was the best in the series. To it's credit, 2 had some legitimately fun set pieces and the story was a LOT more interesting than the original. But the core game play was still kind of underwhelming (again, I tend to much prefer 1st-person shooting action to 3rd-person shooting). After finishing Uncharted 2, I still haven't been able to bring myself to play 3. Maybe one day. Maybe. -Assassin's Creed: Similar to issues with some of the above titles, I'm a huge fan of the Thief series and I prefer this style of game in the first-person. I did enjoy the opening hours of both 1 and 2, learning the ropes as it were. But much like GTA, once the thrill of discovery was gone, I was left feeling that the actual game play wasn't my style and the massive checklists of "Ubisoft tasks" felt a lot more like chores than fun. -Halo: I've only ever finished the original. It was *fine*. Nothing spectacular in either game play or story. But, I'd been spoiled by the white-knuckle action of shooters like Doom, Duke, Quake, Serious Sam, etc., so the much more limited and slower-paced feel of Halo's combat didn't really jive with me. -Minecraft: See "open-world, do-what-you-want" commentary above. The whole point of Minecraft seems to be that you "make your own goals". I can't explain why but that just doesn't do it for me in a game. I need a goal. An objective. I need to know that the game is pushing me toward a specific end-point. If I can choose how to get there, I'm happy with that...but there needs to be a finish line. A light at the end of the tunnel. Some kind of finality to the experience. -Diablo III: I think it's just a case of burn out. I was a big fan of the first 2 Diablo's. I've even played through the main campaign of Torchlight 2. But when I tried to apply myself to Diablo 3, I just felt kind of fatigued of the concept. These days, I'd much rather play a turn-based tactical game like XCOM over the real-time click-em-ups like Diablo. -Final Fantasy VII: I don't really have an explanation for this other than a)I didn't own a Playstation in the 90's, so I didn't get in on this game when it was new and b) the older I get, the harder I find it to get into JRPGs. I loved the Dragon Warrior and FF series early iterations when I was younger but these days I just don't have the same kind of fondness and patience for them like I used to. Hope that helps. Cheers!

Taken as a whole, WoW isn't all wine and roses but it has to be said...if you ever managed to play it alongside a handful of friends, there is nothing else quite like it. It has survived as long as it has for a reason. The world is full of cool things to explore and core loop is addictive. I played for about 2 years, during the time of Burning Crusade into Lich King, then got a bit burnt out and stepped away for several years. Rekindled with about an 8-month long affair during Battle for Azeroth and currently on another hiatus. I'm not wild about the subscription fees or the absolute time-sink that you can let yourself get caught in sometimes but I have to say that I have some very strong, rewarding memories of my time spent in WoW. I gave it 8/10.

I'll break this up into 3 categories: Most recent "classic" game to impress: Metroid: Zero Mission -I missed out on most of the GBA generation, so playing Zero for the first time was a delight. I got a bit frustrated during the final stretch but I'm very glad I finally got that notch in my belt. Most recent "retro" game to impress: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon -I had a feeling I would enjoy CotM, as the classic Castlevania franchise is one of my favorites of all time. What I didn't expect was to become so addicted to it that I ended up completing it all the way through every loop. The way the game incentivizes you to revisit the game with a whole new spin multiple times over is just amazing. Most recent "modern" game to impress: Doom Eternal -I've been a Doom fan since early '94. Doom, Doom II and Doom (2016) were kind of addictions for me. Then Doom Eternal comes out...and I thought Ultra-Nightmare on 2016 was tough. Eternal is almost exhausting at times...but it is also just about the pinnacle of "boomer shooter" accomplishment. Still haven't played the expansion, though.

What game(s) did you play that looked completely worthless or uninspired at first glance but changed your tune after giving them a chance? A perfect example of this for me was Blades of Vengeance on Genesis. Going in, I had never even heard of the game...but the name sounded cool. The graphics and music were serviceable but nothing noteworthy. For whatever reason, I stuck with it through the first stage...and then the second...then third. I suddenly realized this game is kinda groovy! Now, I try to go back and revisit it every so often. I mean, it's no Revenge of Shinobi or Streets of Rage 2...but the game managed to surprise me with a level of enjoyment I certainly didn't expect to get from it at first impression. Another guilty pleasure for me was Streets of Sim City. Buggy as hell and ugly to boot. The frame rate chugged and the controls were slippery...and yet my brother and I honestly got much more enjoyment out of it than Sim City 2000 proper. Go figure.

People who didn't experience it just don't realize how big a deal SMB3 was when it came out. I wish I still had the family photos from Halloween 1990. My grandmother helped make me a custom Racoon Mario costume that was surprisingly good...and while trick-or-treating, in one of the houses I stopped at, I could see from the front door that they were playing SMB3 in the living room (they were on World 2, actually ). When they saw my costume, they positively *flipped out* they thought it was so cool (and gave me an extra share of candy)!

That Panasonic is a swanky-looking tube! What model is that?

Exactly right. With Johnson and the "War on Poverty"/rise of the welfare state, we've now diminished the value of the family unit for multiple generations and replaced it with the sense that the "government will take care of them". This (and other factors, certainly) have ushered us into a society with rampant issues of fractured households and statistics show that this cycle is self-perpetuating.

To explore another road, should you care to do so: Party ideologies aside, what would you like to see for the future direction of the country? What makes the most sense in your eyes of the direction the U.S. needs to take from where it stands today? This is not judgement. I'm just curious to know what other people see as the path to better this nation.

As long as that "big govt." stayed/stays confined to the crisis-intervention, that's proper use of reach and funding, in my opinion. As I said, I'm a Friedman-ist. I'm sure we'll never get there but I can dream of a day when we return to the fundamentals.

You folks have convinced me. To hell with both parties. We're screwed either way. Cheers!

I may be an idealist at heart but I can't deny the truth of that statement. I WISH we lived in a world where the government genuine wanted the best for the people and not just for itself.

And we need to wean people off dependence on social services. Let's teach people to fish for themselves instead of teaching them to stand in line to receive government-catch.

Oh, I'm not saying that we're not in the midst of a shit storm. We certainly are. But liberal politics are taking us the wrong direction. We need to course-correct toward smaller, less-intervening government.

But we just demonstrated that the wealthy won't end up with the tax burden anyway because they have the tools to get around it. So, "taxation of the wealthy" just ends up being symbolic jargon. Funding has to come from somewhere and there's not many options left if you cut out both the lower and upper classes.

Exactly right, although I hear the liberals crying about readjusting tax rates, not the conservatives. So, guess who gets stuck with the bill.

I don't follow.

True. If we manage to keep the Senate majority conservative, that will certainly help keep things from getting too out of line (well, any more out of line than they already are). Them Dems are clambering for (among other things) more social services, increased minimum wage, immigration leniency, student debt leniency and increasing taxation of upper classes. Also elimination of school choice and charter schools, increased gun control, etc. Listen, I'm not some heartless lizard-person but none of these things have ever or will ever do our country a favor. For the past 60 years, we've slipped ever further into a society that incentivizes people to depend on their government to provide for them instead of empowering them to provide for themselves. Somebody's paying the price for all that economic windfall. Those in the system aren't paying it and those who aren't even legal citizens certainly aren't paying it. The wealthy aren't paying it (because they know how to manage their affairs accordingly). So it's just the working middle class folks that end up shouldering the burden of the rest of society. I don't like Trump as a person and his rhetoric is terrible. He's a bully, an egotist and a bit infantile at times. His foreign policy approach is also pretty sloppy. I don't watch any of his addresses, honestly. I find his personality abrasive. But I have to give credit where the facts say to give credit. He's bolstered the domestic economy. He's bolstered employment and education, particularly for those minorities that he's constantly accused of being discriminatory toward. He supports strong borders. I'm willing to set aside my personal bias in favor of valuing the facts that matter for the longevity of this country. I'm very much a Milton Friedman when it comes to politics. Minimal government, minimal intervention, minimal taxation. Friedman said that the government should really serve only 3 roles: 1) to protect its citizens from dangers without (aka the military and securing borders), 2) to protect its citizens from dangers within (aka police, public safety, courts and the supporting infrastructure) and 3) to collect the taxes needed to pay for these services. Thanks for listening. Now, turn down your music and get off my lawn.

Dr. Thomas Sowell said it well when he said "some people are absolutely immune to facts". We are rapidly approaching a point in this country where the social construct is placing more value on opinions/views than evidence. We're also under attack by an ideology that says censorship is desirable. In other words, your opinion is valued before your facts...but that opinion should only be heard as long as it matches the general consensus. Rome's decline began long before the Goths invaded. With the imminent election of one invalid and one opportunist as the leaders of the country, I fear for the direction the next several years will take. I just hope there's enough moral fiber left in the average American to not just sit back and allow this country to mutate into a Socialist nightmare.

I'm making an effort to get all the way through Super Mario Sunshine for the first time ever. I've always admired the game but back in my Gamecube days, Sunshine ended up taking a back seat to Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness, Wind Waker and about a half dozen other amazing titles that I had available to me. It's obvious to me that Sunshine was intended as an experiment and the gimmick does kind of get in the way at times but it's starting to grow on me the more I play it.

Okay, some of you should probably prepare to be enraged. I did/do not care for: Fortnite (what even is this game?) The entire GTA series (fun for about 2 hours a piece and then boring) All of the Fallout games after Fallout Tactics (Fallout did not transition well to the 3rd dimension) The entire Elder Scrolls series (see Fallout above and apply that logic to games like Baldur's Gate) The entire Uncharted series (the very model of 3rd-person shooter mediocrity) The entire Assassin's Creed series (just...ugh) The entire Halo series Minecraft (simply not a style of game that offers me any entertainment value) Diablo III Final Fantasy VII (*mic drop*) That's enough for now, I suppose.

I think I should be available on the evening of the 14th. If so, I'm happy to participate.

DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball? ... You're not totally alone. I'm with it, Brocko.

Mega Man X (because of the terrific music) Beyond Good and Evil Super Metroid (a sad, yet triumphant finale) Super Mario RPG Thief and Thief II The ending to Contra also felt pretty good as a kid.

I have a real soft spot for a lot of Atari game box art. So much so that I have several posters of it on the walls of my game room. Stuff like Berzerk, Yar's Revenge, Slot Racers, Asteroids, etc. Another game box I've always had a soft spot for though is: Super Mario Kart

This would be mine as well. Super Mario World is without a single doubt my favorite game in the main franchise and Mario RPG is my favorite spin-off, so those two would have to go neck-and-neck for the title. I think SMW wins out simply because of how strongly it defined the transition from the NES to the post-NES era of gaming for me. It was the game that fostered a lot of hallmarks for me. I'm sometimes tempted to call SMW the "greatest video game of all time"...from a purely subjective position, of course.