Skip to main content

The Post-E3 Games Showcase Era, Summer 2024 Highlights: Part II

In the ashes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, amid the bloat and pretense of the games industry, always must there be a presentation... always must there be game trailers... and always must there be those who commentate. So it is that we find ourselves in the aftermath of this year's collected summer showcases, a cavalcade of announcements and information to parse in its wake. For my part, I set forth to note the games that stood out among the pack. Today, we go over the high points of the Future Games Show , the Xbox Games Showcase , the PC Gaming Show and, yes , even the Ubisoft Forward . Heaven help us all... Future Games Show The High Point: Duck Detective: The Secret Salami The premise of “riffing on the hardboiled detective story with talking cartoon animals” would be a fine selling point for a game in itself. The choice to also lean into a sticker book aesthetic, complete with characters hobbling around as barely moving objects in a scene? Now that's a fun time ...
Post a Comment

State of Affairs for the Blog


 
Hello to all the fans I may or may not have! SO... it's been a fucking while, huh?

Time, money, and personal issues made it less than convenient to keep up posts on this here blog, much as I wanted to expand into new and untested waters.  I wish it weren't the case, I'm sorry to have not kept up updates of some kind, but I hope that you'll still take the time to read this post (and, indeed, the forthcoming material which I'm about to discuss).

I just put up a Patreon page that I urge you to consider checking out and maybe contributing to if at all possible - it helps ease my personal troubles AND enables me to do more with this blog and the KURT OF CAMBRIDGE brand as a whole.  Even if you aren't able to contribute, I'd ask that - should my material past and future resonate with you to any degree - you think about sharing said Patreon with your friends, family and assorted acquaintances.  Every little bit helps, after all.

Regardless, I'm pushing on with new content - reviews, think pieces, any and all pop-culture writing I can generate based on material of interest to me and (potentially) to you.  In the spirit of that, here is what you can look forward to in the near future
  • Within the next two weeks, an OUTLAST review (yes, the original 2013 game, because why the hell not and also kind of relevant)
  • My thoughts on the likes of the first three Mega Man games, Castlevania for NES, Mega Man X and potentially a game or two more - expect this towards the end of May
  • I'm toying with the idea of more Let's Play or equivalent material for the YouTube channel
Hopefully, you'll find something to like about the writing I have coming up.  Please feel free to comment below and tell me what you think, or suggest other games/assorted works you wish me to cover.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Post-E3 Games Showcase Era, Summer 2024 Highlights: Part I

In the ashes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, amid the bloat and pretense of the games industry, always must there be a presentation... always must there be game trailers... and always must there be those who commentate. So it is we find ourselves in the aftermath of this year's collected summer showcases, a cavalcade of announcements and information to parse in its wake. For my part, I set forth to once again note the games (and, occasionally, people or moments) that stood out - for good or ill. Today, we tackle that which was displayed at Sony's State of Play, the OTK Games Expo, and the Summer Game Fest... Sony State of Play The High Point: Astro Bot Is it nakedly playing off of lingering nostalgia for various Sony properties, current and forgotten? Yes.  Is it unmistakably taking cues from other more successful platformer series? Absolutely. Nevertheless, the team at Sony seem to have nailed the charm when it comes to their robot mascot, which is half the battle for cr...
Post a Comment
Read more

From the Archives: Squidlit Review

Still have some newer writing in the works, but for now enjoy this trip down memory lane with another review from the archives. This time: the delightful throwback platformer about a cartoon squid... Developed by Alex Barrett & Samantha Davenport (Squidlit Ink. LLC) Released on March 2nd, 2018 Version Played: Windows PC (also available for Nintendo Switch)   So I’m a fairly easy lay for the mascot platformer – partially of because the child-like whimsy it evokes in me, partially because these tend to be rather interesting games on multiple levels. Mechanically there’s various divergences that have come about in the post-Super Mario Bros space, from exploration-centric “Metroidvania” games to those works which toy with more specific gimmicks (like Sonic the Hedgehog’s speed or Sparkster’s rocket pack). And then there’s the variation in aesthetics, sound design, graphical detail, presence of an overarching narrative or themes… in short there's a lot to love there. But they also ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Obligatory (Not) E3 2023 Round-Up, Part 2: Sifting through the Slop

Alright, it's been a while but we're back again to cover the PC Gaming Show, the Xbox Showcase and the Ubisoft Forward. After this, that's it, that's all, we're done here. PC Gaming Show The Most Questionable Stuff 3. Road to Vostok (???) Choosing to look down on a game for overt familiarity from the word ‘go’, even if all it has done at this point is have its existence announced to the world, is not inherently an act to be proud of. Much of gaming iterates and builds upon what came before, much of the medium as it stands (for good or ill) exists because someone looked at a past work and were inspired to develop their own take on the material. How many excellent games would cease to be if people decided that “it’s just a clone of X” was a valid argument in itself? I establish this now to make it clear that I do not roll my eyes at Road to Vostok for taking the form of a sparsely-populated shooter set in a post-apocalyptic wilderness area… but rather because it loo...
Post a Comment
Read more