Hat was an OG and the improvements we saw when he joined the Hearthstone team were immeasurable. I hope he gets another contract with them so the community can keep that voice of knowledge.
Hah, my first thought when I saw the press drop on that item was "is this EU or NA dates?" and I'm glad it was further clarified. This is a call to stop ambiguous dates, YYYY-MM-DD is the superior format for all dates and we should all bow before our great savior ISO 8601.
Oh yeah, I didn't even think about how amazing it will be with a new Smash on the horizon.
CONFIRMED FOR BRAWL memes were an incredible moment in internet history and making references to it is a favourite of mine. It would be wild if Nintendo lead the release with a Smash game, though I suspect that will end up coming down the line a bit later, possibly holiday season the following year, which would allow a lengthy tease process regarding characters.
Though, it could be that Super Smash Bros Ultimate also just gets a refresh for the Switch 2. The game is incredible as-is so do we really need a completely new title? Tough call.
Hey all, I'm aware our threads aren't working for the new mini-set. I'm currently diving into the issue and hope to have it resolved before the next reveals in 2 hours.
Everyone has been asking for Heroes of StarCraft since the whole "Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft" announcement over 10 years ago. After we were teased about this last year during the 30th anniversary event for Warcraft, it's very cool to finally see cards for it.
My answer for this month is going to be quite boring I'm afraid. I plan to continue Stardew Valley, I'll be checking out the WoW update dropping soon (but not likely to do much with it), and I'll get in some Tarkov PvE here and there which I played during the Winter break with a couple of friends.
I've got a few titles that are in my queue for reviews for the site that hopefully I can get to. It would be refreshing to play something new and possibly be surprised by how good it is.
Quick update, just finished AC Rogue and Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, so it seems I will be moving straight to Hades and AC. Unity if I am not in the mood for some reason on PC and finish Advance Wars Reboot camp on my switch. My mood was not for it before finishing the second game so it might be time
You know, I don't think my copy of Advance Wars Reboot ever shipped lmao. I guess my pre-order was cancelled when it was "indefinitely postponed" and I never really thought about it.
I'm jealous of your beating Echoes of Wisdom as I haven't bought or started it. What are your thoughts on it? Should Nintendo make more games like it? Was it cool to have Zelda as the main character? How'd you feel about the art and performance?
It is possible some of this is in-dev stuff so its printed to be playable and thats it. It's very easy for them to just pull out existing art assets from the universe, much like how Hearthstone started with WoWTCG art (which makes the base set so iconic imo).
We also didn't see any crazy foiling or special effects on any of the cards, which I refuse to believe Riot won't be having serious chase cards in the packs - the secondary market is so important for longevity whether we like it or not.
But yeah, I'm a bit disappointed they didn't just dive right into some real gameplay. I'm still interested though since the Runeterra universe is incredible and physical cards are so much more fun to play with than digital.
I updated my D4 review from last year to include the term Exilelike lmao. Going forward, all content on the site for Diablo 4 that I write will be including the term Exilelike because Blizzard has lost the plot and I hope that it, in general, sticks.
I'm very intrigued by a new physical card game, and from Riot of all people. Legends of Runeterra was a cool game, but it just missed the mark, which is quite clear when you witness the decline of the game.
Collectibility is something Riot is very good at digitally, so seeing them transition to over to cardboard will be interesting. Secondary markets are immediately going to pick the game up because it has a titan behind it, and Riot's dedication to supporting events and competitive play all over the world makes it a worthwhile investment if you love competition.
We didn't get to really see mechanics or very many cards in full yet, so it'll be interesting to see what information they show us about the game as we approach the Macau TeamFight Tactics tournament, where a demo will be available at the event. Also, Arcane-themed pre-order next year? Super cool idea!
Continued the farm last night in Stardew which rolled us over into Fall Year 2. We barely got all the Pumpkins, Artichokes, and Beets planted before it hit 2 AM. The chickens and cows went unloved for a day but it was worth the chaos. Regretfully, I didn't buy the seeds for next year's summer crops so a trip to the store will be mandatory come Summer 3, cutting into the possible planting time.
What was great though was be barely had any plowing to do which is the only reason we were able to plant the entire farm. Planting Wheat across all the fields, which is a multi-season crop, allowed us to quickly harvest it on the first day of fall and not have to plow the bulk of the farm. No plowing means it was also all watered for us. I have not been happier to transition seasons because we actually accomplished all of it - also made room for three new iridium sprinklers too so that's an extra 72 crops planted.
We also got our first Shed which is half full of preserving containers. I know that Barns are ultimately more space efficient, but we aren't perfectly going for min-max and the Sheds just look nicer. Another pond has been started too so we can breed more fish. That puts us at three ponds and we've got the perfect amount of room for another three in the bottom corner, turning it into our own little fish market that would make Willy proud.
Mostly Pokemon TCG right now - I really like how little of my time the game demands daily
Yeah, I wish I had of started it sooner. This is the perfect amount of time for me to have a bit of fun with it! I hate timer-based games with the rewards related stuff, but it also doesn't feel too bad. Though they've certainly done the Japanese mobile thing where there are way too many currencies just to overcomplicate things lol. Maybe that's not even a big unique to Japan thing anymore.
Wow, has it seriously been 6 years for Parkitect already? Time is flying by.
So this month i'm expecting to jump deeper into Stardew Valley, hit up a little bit of World of Warcraft, sink into Factorio harder to maybe play the expansion content for real with the biter problem coming to a close, and I've finally started Pokemon TCG Pocket so that'll get picked up a couple of times a day for quick Pokemon fun.
There's a lot more I want to play, but I'm setting the goals low because time is the bane of my existence.
So. Would you say the imac mini m4 in its cheapest version would be a good answer to these expectations? Do you have any experience in how easy and stable steam can be used on these? I've read a bit about that and while some people say it's super easy, other had lots of trouble. Any other thoughts or stuff I should be aware of?
So, I have an M2 Studio and I love it. Your gaming selection is definitely limited on MacOS, though there are plenty of games to choose from still and the only game I haven't been happy with the way it runs is Path of Exile, so I run that on my gaming PC still. (Path of Exile is much better with various third-party "addons" anyway for price checking items, which are Windows only)
I am hearing AMAZING things about the M4 performance. Compared to my studio, the little thing is looking like a beast! The M2 Max in my studio has more GPU cores, but also they're older GPU cores so its possible the M4 on the Mini could out-perform them with its 20 vs 30. You'd need to do some serious scouting online about the games you'd want to play on it to see how they run on the hardware. I imagine there are a ton of reviews up around the internet on them.
From my Steam Favourites, 21 are available on MacOS (I know games are missing on this list haha) vs the 42 I normally have in the list.
Also, WoW works on Mac as does Hearthstone and they run fantastic, so thank you Blizzard.
Personally, I love my Mac due to the efficiency, it's great to have a unix system for programming on, and there's a whole lot less bullshit going on when compared to Windows. Apple has the advantage of being able to rip ancient stuff out of the OS whereas Windows is stuck in this backward compatibility loop that is 30 years old. Apple having the tight integration of OS and Hardware is a huge positive.
Mac can't replace a gaming PC though entirely, that I'd be silly to argue. But, for me, I can play most of the games that I enjoy so I'm on my Mac 95% of the time.
Even still if I had some money to throw on the Nintendo Switch sale, I get physical everytime if there is the chance.
Physical all day every day for me too. The eShop won't be around forever, and it gives me the opportunity to sell the games in the future if I want to (I won't, lol) which is nice. It's also nice to be able to loan games out to friends or family. Companies were so hyped about the major switch to Digital, I'm gonna be pissed the day we can't buy Nintendo stuff physical anymore... if that ever actually happens. I feel like Nintendo is in a very unique position where they have huge physical sales still due to the major collector market for the systems, and they're afraid to touch that.
Speaking of which... has any of you taken advantage of Black Friday deals? I know PlayStation has some nice sales going on like AC Valhalla, Horizon: Forbidden West and Diablo IV. I'll probably dip my toes in Diablo for the first time this weekend... The one downside is that all those sales are only for the digital versions and I have a disc console with limited space for downloads but eh.
No real plans for any Black Friday deal shopping here. I don't need more games added to my backlog hahahaha. I also don't really feel like I need anything in general right now. I'm quite happy with the state of things and really the only major thing I'm looking to buying within the next year is the M4 Mac Studio for work. It's not that my M2 is bad, it's just I bought it with the intention I would upgrade to the M4 when it came out and go with the higher-end version of the Studio to last for multiple years. It's been great that more and more games are working on Mac now too, I very rarely have to boot into my Windows desktop to play games anymore. The only reason would be for simracing really. I reinstalled Windows this month and still need to get all my racing stuff setup again though before I can hop back in on that fun.
Black Friday has been kinda... lame? for the past few years though. It never feels like there are any really good deals anymore and it's just largely the same deals we'd see during other times of the year. On the plus side to that though, I do notice fewer people trying to sell Black Friday-specific SKU products which are bottom of the barrel with regards to how they are produced and with what components, so maybe that's a positive.
Joke if you must but this article did pretty well!
Hat was an OG and the improvements we saw when he joined the Hearthstone team were immeasurable. I hope he gets another contract with them so the community can keep that voice of knowledge.
Its live as of a few minutes ago!
Hah, my first thought when I saw the press drop on that item was "is this EU or NA dates?" and I'm glad it was further clarified. This is a call to stop ambiguous dates, YYYY-MM-DD is the superior format for all dates and we should all bow before our great savior ISO 8601.
Oh yeah, I didn't even think about how amazing it will be with a new Smash on the horizon.
CONFIRMED FOR BRAWL memes were an incredible moment in internet history and making references to it is a favourite of mine. It would be wild if Nintendo lead the release with a Smash game, though I suspect that will end up coming down the line a bit later, possibly holiday season the following year, which would allow a lengthy tease process regarding characters.
Though, it could be that Super Smash Bros Ultimate also just gets a refresh for the Switch 2. The game is incredible as-is so do we really need a completely new title? Tough call.
Hey all, I'm aware our threads aren't working for the new mini-set. I'm currently diving into the issue and hope to have it resolved before the next reveals in 2 hours.
Hell, it's about time.
Everyone has been asking for Heroes of StarCraft since the whole "Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft" announcement over 10 years ago. After we were teased about this last year during the 30th anniversary event for Warcraft, it's very cool to finally see cards for it.
Happy New Year everyone!
My answer for this month is going to be quite boring I'm afraid. I plan to continue Stardew Valley, I'll be checking out the WoW update dropping soon (but not likely to do much with it), and I'll get in some Tarkov PvE here and there which I played during the Winter break with a couple of friends.
I've got a few titles that are in my queue for reviews for the site that hopefully I can get to. It would be refreshing to play something new and possibly be surprised by how good it is.
I opened a few packs and got some goodies!
The double Mankey was quickly improved upon when Celebi made an appearance!
Where's my Switch 2 at? Hah
Thanks Demon for keeping this updated throughout the show and pushing thumbnails out for me and Nirast!
You know, I don't think my copy of Advance Wars Reboot ever shipped lmao. I guess my pre-order was cancelled when it was "indefinitely postponed" and I never really thought about it.
I'm jealous of your beating Echoes of Wisdom as I haven't bought or started it. What are your thoughts on it? Should Nintendo make more games like it? Was it cool to have Zelda as the main character? How'd you feel about the art and performance?
It is possible some of this is in-dev stuff so its printed to be playable and thats it. It's very easy for them to just pull out existing art assets from the universe, much like how Hearthstone started with WoWTCG art (which makes the base set so iconic imo).
We also didn't see any crazy foiling or special effects on any of the cards, which I refuse to believe Riot won't be having serious chase cards in the packs - the secondary market is so important for longevity whether we like it or not.
But yeah, I'm a bit disappointed they didn't just dive right into some real gameplay. I'm still interested though since the Runeterra universe is incredible and physical cards are so much more fun to play with than digital.
I updated my D4 review from last year to include the term Exilelike lmao. Going forward, all content on the site for Diablo 4 that I write will be including the term Exilelike because Blizzard has lost the plot and I hope that it, in general, sticks.
I'm very intrigued by a new physical card game, and from Riot of all people. Legends of Runeterra was a cool game, but it just missed the mark, which is quite clear when you witness the decline of the game.
Collectibility is something Riot is very good at digitally, so seeing them transition to over to cardboard will be interesting. Secondary markets are immediately going to pick the game up because it has a titan behind it, and Riot's dedication to supporting events and competitive play all over the world makes it a worthwhile investment if you love competition.
We didn't get to really see mechanics or very many cards in full yet, so it'll be interesting to see what information they show us about the game as we approach the Macau TeamFight Tactics tournament, where a demo will be available at the event. Also, Arcane-themed pre-order next year? Super cool idea!
That's awesome! Congrats!
Continued the farm last night in Stardew which rolled us over into Fall Year 2. We barely got all the Pumpkins, Artichokes, and Beets planted before it hit 2 AM. The chickens and cows went unloved for a day but it was worth the chaos. Regretfully, I didn't buy the seeds for next year's summer crops so a trip to the store will be mandatory come Summer 3, cutting into the possible planting time.
What was great though was be barely had any plowing to do which is the only reason we were able to plant the entire farm. Planting Wheat across all the fields, which is a multi-season crop, allowed us to quickly harvest it on the first day of fall and not have to plow the bulk of the farm. No plowing means it was also all watered for us. I have not been happier to transition seasons because we actually accomplished all of it - also made room for three new iridium sprinklers too so that's an extra 72 crops planted.
We also got our first Shed which is half full of preserving containers. I know that Barns are ultimately more space efficient, but we aren't perfectly going for min-max and the Sheds just look nicer. Another pond has been started too so we can breed more fish. That puts us at three ponds and we've got the perfect amount of room for another three in the bottom corner, turning it into our own little fish market that would make Willy proud.
I love Stardew Valley.
Yeah, I wish I had of started it sooner. This is the perfect amount of time for me to have a bit of fun with it! I hate timer-based games with the rewards related stuff, but it also doesn't feel too bad. Though they've certainly done the Japanese mobile thing where there are way too many currencies just to overcomplicate things lol. Maybe that's not even a big unique to Japan thing anymore.
Wow, has it seriously been 6 years for Parkitect already? Time is flying by.
So this month i'm expecting to jump deeper into Stardew Valley, hit up a little bit of World of Warcraft, sink into Factorio harder to maybe play the expansion content for real with the biter problem coming to a close, and I've finally started Pokemon TCG Pocket so that'll get picked up a couple of times a day for quick Pokemon fun.
There's a lot more I want to play, but I'm setting the goals low because time is the bane of my existence.
To bring over a comment from November's Thread:
So, I have an M2 Studio and I love it. Your gaming selection is definitely limited on MacOS, though there are plenty of games to choose from still and the only game I haven't been happy with the way it runs is Path of Exile, so I run that on my gaming PC still. (Path of Exile is much better with various third-party "addons" anyway for price checking items, which are Windows only)
I am hearing AMAZING things about the M4 performance. Compared to my studio, the little thing is looking like a beast! The M2 Max in my studio has more GPU cores, but also they're older GPU cores so its possible the M4 on the Mini could out-perform them with its 20 vs 30. You'd need to do some serious scouting online about the games you'd want to play on it to see how they run on the hardware. I imagine there are a ton of reviews up around the internet on them.
From my Steam Favourites, 21 are available on MacOS (I know games are missing on this list haha) vs the 42 I normally have in the list.
Also, WoW works on Mac as does Hearthstone and they run fantastic, so thank you Blizzard.
Personally, I love my Mac due to the efficiency, it's great to have a unix system for programming on, and there's a whole lot less bullshit going on when compared to Windows. Apple has the advantage of being able to rip ancient stuff out of the OS whereas Windows is stuck in this backward compatibility loop that is 30 years old. Apple having the tight integration of OS and Hardware is a huge positive.
Mac can't replace a gaming PC though entirely, that I'd be silly to argue. But, for me, I can play most of the games that I enjoy so I'm on my Mac 95% of the time.
Physical all day every day for me too. The eShop won't be around forever, and it gives me the opportunity to sell the games in the future if I want to (I won't, lol) which is nice. It's also nice to be able to loan games out to friends or family. Companies were so hyped about the major switch to Digital, I'm gonna be pissed the day we can't buy Nintendo stuff physical anymore... if that ever actually happens. I feel like Nintendo is in a very unique position where they have huge physical sales still due to the major collector market for the systems, and they're afraid to touch that.
No real plans for any Black Friday deal shopping here. I don't need more games added to my backlog hahahaha. I also don't really feel like I need anything in general right now. I'm quite happy with the state of things and really the only major thing I'm looking to buying within the next year is the M4 Mac Studio for work. It's not that my M2 is bad, it's just I bought it with the intention I would upgrade to the M4 when it came out and go with the higher-end version of the Studio to last for multiple years. It's been great that more and more games are working on Mac now too, I very rarely have to boot into my Windows desktop to play games anymore. The only reason would be for simracing really. I reinstalled Windows this month and still need to get all my racing stuff setup again though before I can hop back in on that fun.
Black Friday has been kinda... lame? for the past few years though. It never feels like there are any really good deals anymore and it's just largely the same deals we'd see during other times of the year. On the plus side to that though, I do notice fewer people trying to sell Black Friday-specific SKU products which are bottom of the barrel with regards to how they are produced and with what components, so maybe that's a positive.