PixlBit

It's always a comfort knowing this website still runs and the community still supports it. There's nothing but shame and bad excuses from me. It's nonsensical, too: professing my enjoyment of a website even though I don't do enough as a member. I can always take comfort in the fact that it's super laid back (unless someone in the comments corrects me on that opinion ;) )

In the past year and change since I've last posted (Feb of last year!), I'd say things are pretty much the same. I still: have the same job; live at the same place and aside from acquiring a better vehicle, things have been refreshingly normal. 

At the end of May, I did finally upgrade to the current gen and bought an Xbox Series S and an expansion card to go with it. I'm very satisfied with it so far. All the optimized titles I have work wonderfully and I can really see the difference with games like AC Valhalla, Halo Infinite and Destiny 2. Now all I have to do is continue worrying about getting a PS5...

When the 3DS/Wii U eshop termination date was announced, I took my tax return and did what any responsible U.S. citizen would do: spend it all on 3DS digital games while the getting was good. I managed to get all of the titles I wanted, the ones I knew were more expensive physcially: Dragon Quest 7 & 8, Pokemon X/Y/Ultra Sun/Ultra/Mon/Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby/Red/Blue/Yellow, Fire Emblem Awakening, Metroid: Samus Returns, Radiant Historia. Also some eshop exclusives like Dr. Mario Miracle Cure, Rhythm Heaven Megamix, the 3D versions of Excitebike, Kirby's Adventure and Kid Icarus. All in all I spent around $400. Seems extreme but imagine what it'd cost for physical copies...

Since the year started, I finished the main storyline in God of War ('18), the main campaign and DLC of Horizon Zero Dawn and the main storyline of AC Valhalla (currently working on DLC and side quests). I was bad at finishing games these past couple of years because I spent so much time playing games that don't technically end (AC New Horizons, Genshin Impact, Destiny 2). 

I made some friends a year and change ago when I followed a Twitch streamer named Rockhaggis. I've been following him on Twitter and podcast appearances (although he doesn't do the latter anymore) and subscribed to his channel as soon as I found out about it. He and a couple of close friends still play COD: Warzone on an almost regular basis (I dropped off a month ago) and in that time we've played other games whenever possible. He bought an Xbox Series X last year so he's been catching up on a lot of exclusives (e.g., I've helped him finish the campaign for the Gears of War and Halo series). It was good to make some new friends whose schedule sometimes aligns with yours. 

Movie-wise, I've seen a handful of new stuff. Ambulance, The Northman, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Top Gun Maverick (my favorite of the year so far) have all been stellar experiences. I saw the Doc Strange sequel a couple of weeks before it hit Disney+ and really preferred the second half where Sam Raimi let loose on the chaos. Decent film overall. This past weekend I watched The Princess via Hulu and its a good, fun medieval take on The Raid. Someone on twitter said this and it made sense: all of the drama stuff feels like fantasy movie that could air on Disney+ or ABC Family but every five minutes it pivots to ultraviolent action scenes. It rocks. 

As far as my podcast goes, I took a 14 month hiatus but have recently resurrected it with an episode I'm still editing. I'll let you know when it posts. 

Speaking of hiatuses, I really hope this post ends the one I've done on this website. No one to blame but myself but I got to come out of hiding sometime. 

Take care of yourself and stay safe.