Blog: Video Games of April 2017

April was pretty much dedicated to Breath of the Wild. I played other stuff pretty much either to give myself a palate cleanse or because I was somewhere where I couldn't play (I played BotW on the WiiU). I haven't really dedicated such a long period of time to a game before (at least intentionally) and it was interesting to get immersed that way. There were definitely times where I felt like it was too much, and it did cut down on how much sleep I was getting but overall it was a fun month.


My top five games (by play time) for April were:

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - In short, I spent sixty hours playing Breath of the Wild and I'm not sure I spent enough time playing Breath of the Wild. There is so much game there and so much purity of fun that I'll be back before too long. At this point I've played 110 hours of that game in total and it's one of the best gaming experiences I've had. I'm not sure it's one of the best games, but I'll talk about that later. For the time being I'm waiting for a little bit until I feel like it's time to pick it up again. 
   
   
2. Hearthstone - I'm not sure what's up with the current state of Hearthstone, but I'm really enjoying it at the moment. (And I'm still not any good at it, but I'm really enjoying it). I do think Blizzard perked up the competitive game and for us scrubs at the bottom of the ladder, I'm seeing a pretty even split between classes.
   
   
   
   


3. Marvel Puzzle Quest - It's a game! On a bus! And it's fun!
   
   
   
   


4. Fire Emblem: Awakening - I like my RPGs on the TV and so Awakening makes me kinda sad. For some reason even if I'm sitting in my game playing chair the 3DS still just doesn't feel quite right. Other than that I think it's a pretty good game with a lot of nice features added to the classic formula. (Although it's still freaking hard.)
   

   

   From GameFAQs user MasterBass



5. Xenonauts - XCOM, real XCOM, is a great game. Xenonauts is a faithful recreation with a modern make over. It has a lot of the charm of the original and it is cleaned up some, but it also feels like some of the faults in the original were also recreated. There are a few spots where the game just feels really devoid of fun or interest. On the other hand there are plenty of times where it's a lot of fun and well designed. (Also it's quite freaking hard, I just seem to suck at a lot of genres that I love.)
   
   
   
   

Here's my total play time for April:

And here's a chart of how much I've played each game over the month:

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 156)

In this volume of my Favourite YouTube Videos, we go through the five steps of trauma, remind ourselves just how awesome we are and then get dirty fighting about video games.

• First, Dael Kingsmill, illustrates the trauma that is a broken Internet connection. 
• Second, Pomplamoose is the shit, and they have been right since the very beginning.
• Finally, The Gaming Historian walks us through the rise of Tengen and the war of Atari vs Nintendo.

Blog: Video Games of March 2017

Breath of the Wild hit in March. It's good. Like really outstandingly one of the best games of all time. Somehow I also played some other games, but really it was in an effort to get back to Zelda.

My top five games (by play time) for March were:

1. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - The fact of the matter is that any time a new Zelda game comes out, it's extremely likely to be the game I played the most that month. So you shouldn't be too surprised that I played 40+ hours of Breath of the Wild, but even then you'd be underestimating just how really good Breath of the Wild is.
   
   
   It's so good that, really, I don't want to say too much about it because the more you discover on your own as you play it the better it will be. The game is intended to refresh that childhood sense of going on an adventure and it does it beautifully, taking you on a truly epic journey through the Land of Hyrule. Each time you see a new vista you get a chance to see a new amazing thing in the world, and the game constantly takes your breath away.
   
   If you can get your Hands on Breath of the Wild, play it, as soon as you can. You will be well rewarded
2. Marvel Puzzle Quest - As usual, I've mostly checked in on MPQ when I've been on the bus, play for 20 or so minutes. The game is still great and I definitely miss when I haven't played for a day and it's certainly something to do while you're getting back to Hyrule.
   
   
   
3. Hearthstone - Again I haven't played too much Hearthstone and largely when I've needed a break between jobs or on the odd occasion when I couldn't get back to Hyrule.
   
   
   



4. Pharaoh - I like city walker games, and this one especially. It's also a game with a lot of nostalgia and coming back to it years later I'm enjoying being actually good at it. It definitely has some flaws and could stand for a modern recreation, but it's still great. ... and I played it at least partly so that I didn't burn out on Hyrule.
   

   

   From - GameFAQs User yutjrtf76

   
   
5. Mario Golf: World Tour - Mario Golf is great. I play it at lunch. I tell you this a lot. You know what the world needs: Breath of the Wild Golf. Get on it Nintendo. Meanwhile ... Hyrule.
   

   

   From IGN

Here's my total play time for March 2017:

And here's my play time chart:

Blog: Favourite YouTube Videos (Volume 155)

In this volume of my Favourite YouTube Videos, we lament the passing of small local video game zoos and celebrate just how cool modern engineering can be.

• First. Dave Bulmer, sings a song that makes him very happy. About Donkey Kong. And how he doesn't have a zoo any more. And it's a real song even!
• Next, Destin from Smarter Every Day discovers that the cupola shutters on the International Space Station work by turning a rod stuck through the side of the space station. You might think this would let all the air out, but, because engineering is cool, it doesn't.
• Finally, The Engineer Guy breaks down the way aluminum cans are manufactured, which is a very complex process for something that happens within a second or so.