So last night I loaded up my iPad to play some new Mariokart and the system was down. I guess everyone trying to play it either broke it or Nintendo wanted to make sure everything works. It wasn’t a big deal because truthfully I forgot that it was being released until I saw something on Twitter about it. Anyways I woke up earlier than usual so I can get the install and other stuff out of the way and I’ve been playing the game for about two hours and here are some quick thoughts about the game:

One of my favorite games of the early 80s, Oil's Well, was a computer game made for early 80's 8-bit computers by Sierra On-Line. Its premise was that you had discovered oil (conveniently in the form of pellets), and you were trying to drill it before big-name oil barons pirated it from you.

I’ve never played the original handheld versions of these games, but I played them on the Game & Watch Gallery collection I downloaded on 3DS. I was surprised at how good they were. They looked so minimal in design, I thought I’d play them five minutes and be done, but I was hooked on several of them trying to get the highest score. I wish I’d picked one up back in the 80s.

I played 1979 arcade game Lunar Rescue (I'm cheating on the date a little bit) on Taito Legends 2 (PS2) and Taito Legends Power Up (PSP). I was surprised at how much I liked it. There are elements of Space Invaders, Lunar Lander and even Asteroids in this game.

College years. I had an Apple Macintosh Plus computer, mostly used for writing assignments but also some games. I had a single arcade cabinet in my tiny college town, and I went to arcades when home. I didn’t know the Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, GameBoy, or Atari Lynx even existed. 

I strangely didn’t notice the release of the NES in ’85. Instead, I had access to an Apple computer and went to the arcades.

Borderlands 3. I'm level 19 and stuck on a boss. So I've been doing side missions and finding audio logs to listen to. Along the way, I've been constantly battling, improving my gear and leveling up.

I can't order my thoughts much right now, so I'm just going to drop a few ideas. 

1983, the year of the video game crash. At the time, I didn’t notice or think about it, but it’s clear from looking at what came out for home consoles, that I didn’t play anything new. Playing at the arcade was much different, though. Some of my favorite arcade games released this year. 

Thanks to my friend Mark, I now have three of the four arcade cabinet Christmas tree ornaments Hallmark has made. I'm only missing the Galaga one, which, is too expensive to get right now, but one day. Here's some pics of Pac-Man. I want to add it to a diorama I'm thinking about making.

1982 was the heart of the golden age of video games, in my opinion. Flynn’s Arcade in the movie Tron, that came out this year, gives a good view of what an 80s arcade was like.

EDF 2025 will go in the digital locker with the release of Borderlands 3. My friend got a physical copy, and I got a digital one. I'll finalize my thoughts on EDF below. 

At the end of August/beginning of September, I went to PAX West 2019 in Seattle.  And I finished my articles last week so here are links to them in this blog.  Please read them when you get a chance.  Lots of cool pictures and new games!  Also, my birthday is coming up (Sept. 15), but the presents are for you!  I’ve got more game reviews I’ve written recently as well!  Please read as many as you can and maybe post a ‘like’ or comment or two.  I’d appreciate it.  OK let’s get this party started!

I'm trying to finish up with EDF 2025 before I dive into Borderlands 3 next week. I also have Gears of War 5 from Game Pass ready to go. I'll probably get to that much later since Borderlands 3 will likely take up my game time for a while. 

My friend was trying to get me a Hallmark Pac-Man cabinet ornament but this came instead. It's by Boston America Corp and smaller. I think it has candy in it too. It's cool though. Check it out. 

I haven't been on in about a year or so but some of you will remember me and yes I'm still alive a big Steam gamer not so much consoles any more but something like 422 games and I play on an Omen 15 laptop which plays pretty much anything I throw at it and I will be a bit more active and post some blogs etc...until then game on!!

I had my first experiences with PC gaming this year. It was a banner year for arcade and home video games.

In the 80s arcades were everywhere and there were multiple home systems to choose from. I was a teenager. I rode a bike to the arcades and checked out all the home systems through my network of friends in the neighborhood. Atari had simple fun games, ColecoVision had the best arcade ports and Intellivision had the best simulations of sports. Let's take a look starting with 1980.

The first week of September 1999 was a busy week for Electronics Boutique, Software Etc, and all the other video game retailers at the time. You were in one of two lines, or perhaps both. One was for a new console, the Sega Dreamcast. The other line was for one of the most anticipated games of the year - Final Fantasy VIII. I was part of the latter group, excited for this game having played and replayed FFVII. 

Games Beaten

I discovered a lot of game deals on PSN the other day and bought a bunch of them. Today I finished Bastion and played some Earth Defense Force 2025 co-op with Mark.