I hope everyone has had a decent July 4th weekend (those who live in the U.S.) and good tidings to members across the globe. I've pretty much used my 4 day weekend so far to sleep, eat, read, watch films and play games.
Microsoft has taken a beating due to Xbox One (as they should) but I'm still into the 360 and the July 3-4th digital game sales have looked great. I picked up Far Cry 3 (so I can resume that bad boy) and The Orange Box and I may get Bulletstorm although I've already played it.
Over on PSN, I bought the Ratchet & Clank Collection. I've spent most of the afternoon playing the first game, which is still pretty good although I've hit the hoverboard race section and I've decided to quit the game right here. It's so mind-numbingly unfair that this isn't optional. It's probably one of those things where I'll give it numerous tries and fail, quit the game, start it up one day and clear it on my first try or so. And that's just horrible game design. What was Insomniac thinking? I played these games on the PS2 and completed them and apparently I had more patience then but I'm pretty damn sure I hated this stuff then. To be honest, Going Commando & Up Your Arsenal are the reasons I want this collection at all.
This is old news but I recalled that Retronauts released their new podcast recently and I loved it. I miss the old theme song but the discussion was fantastic and I'm glad that so many helped Parrish, Mackey & Co. get this thing up and going. By the way, I don't know if any of you listen to the This Year podcast but you should. It's a podcast series filled with compilations of select podcast programs for as long as internet radio has existed. These are gargantuan compilations, too; some ranging in the 5-6 hour running time. Anyway, a 6-hour Retronauts episode was posted and it's a decent selection of moments (Super Mario, Commodore 64, Atari 2600, Survival Horror genre) and I'm sure more episodes will be posted; there's plenty of material. Also, check our their compilations on Giant Bombcast, The Hotspot, 1UP Yours, EGM Live, Idle Thumbs & GFW Radio (at some point, everyone needs to hear that show). Here's the website address:
http://www.thisyearcollection.org
I've always wanted to play Ratchet and Clank but just never got around to it. That hoverboard level sounds horrid though!
My 4th was good. We had kielbasa sandwiches on the grill. I'm using the weekend to play the FFXIV beta.
It's still fun. I took a break, calmed down and tried it again and beat the race on my 3rd try. Apparently, I overlooked the strategy of jumping corners and hitting speed boosts. Still, very unnecessary.
New Retronauts was cool. I listened to it today. Those thisyearcollection pods look interesting. I'll keep it in mind if I ever get to end of new releases.