Fiona - Tales of the Borderlands 8Bit

I have it on good authority that Tales of the Borderlands is a great game. I mean, it's made by Telltale, so why wouldn't it be? Those guys have built up a good reputation these last couple years.

Matt and I have been goofing around with Smash Bro's on the WiiU. Every game mode is confusing. What's even going on half the time?

Inkling - Splatoon 8Bit

I've been seeing the girl inkling popping up a lot recently and I had no idea the game was an actual thing till yesterday. It looks good though! If you've got friends, and a second WiiU.

I can tell you right now that WiiU lost the console war in New Zealand, I presume it's global. Last weekend Matt and I went to look for an extra WiiU controller. There was nothing to be found anywhere. The best we could do was find a couple budget bins with the WiiU games chucked in there. We found a couple peripherals shamefully tucked in behind some XB1 stuff. Eventually we went to JB-HIFI who was the only place stocking decent WiiU stuff and got Smash Bros price matched with Harvey Norman (who didn't even have it on their shelves, but had it listed online.)

Why did you buy a WiiU Matt? What were you even thinking? How did you even find it in the first place to be able to buy it?

Self Portrait - 8Bit

This will be going on my CV so people roughly know what to expect when I crawl into their office for interviews. The Goatee will of course be optional.

It's been ages since I've looked at my CV. I never really even used it when I originally got my job. I mean, I gave it to them, but they didn't bother with it. The fact I had done interactive design stuff at uni was enough for them.

I feel like I shouldn't like this song so much, but right at the 3 minute mark it drops and is so freaking awesome.

Maxine Caulfield - Life Is Strange 8Bit

I haven't played a whole lot of Life is Strange yet. I tried letting Becky play through it because I thought she'd appreciate the character (which I think she does, introverts hold a special place in our hearts) but the controls were too spastic for her so she got pissed and bailed on me.

After the third time someone asked me a question which I was supposed to get wrong so they could tell me the right answer so I could rewind and tell it back to them I got bored of the rewind mechanic. I assume they come up with clever ways of playing with rewinding time in later episodes but it got old super fast for me.

The gravity of decision making is lost when you can change your decision after you see the initial outcome of your actions. This is what made the first season of the Walking Dead game so good. Every decision you made was just adding to the horror, like I was on a rollercoaster ride that I had a button for that was labeled "don't fly off the rails" and all I was doing was pressing that button at every opportunity. It was nerve wracking and enrapturing. I'm just not getting that vibe on Life is Strange yet.

I have it on good information that the game gets quite good. I have a season pass, so I'm gonna have to do it at some point. Just every time I get a notification that I could rewind time if I wanted, I won't.

Serena - Pokemon X & Y 8Bit

Serena makes the last of them! I'm kind of gutted to be finishing the Pokemon girls, they were all super fun and varied to do.

As you'll see from my next post I was kind of at a loss of who I should do next. Anyway, to celebrate finishing all the pokemon girls to date (from Pokemon Crystal to X&Y) I've put them all together for your viewing pleasure.

Any votes on who I should do next? I'm probably going to do a Tales of Borderlands character.

Rosa - Pokemon Black & White 2 8Bit

One more character to go! Unless I want to do the Pokemon Card game protagonists and all the random detritus from the other games. Maybe I should do Misty? She's gotta be the most popular Pokemon girl, except she doesn't exactly do a whole lot in the games.
But then I've opened up a huge can of worms doing every single Gym leader. What do you think?

I watched Supergirl in a totally legitimate fashion last night. The pilot is super rushed trying to squeeze in all the different plot points they want to cover off on. It's kind of ridiculous. She's flying along to deal with a burning building when she gets shot with a krypton dart. She then wakes up in a secret base where the boss of the place promptly tells her that "we're already doing your job, we don't need you, we hate aliens, btw your sister works here. Lol!"

Then the super bad guy must have been set to super easy mode or something because he went and KS'd himself to get it all over with.

I'm sure the story will have a better more measured pace when it actually gets into it, and I've had a mean childhood crush on Supergirl that needs to be nurtured, so I'll watch more when it actually comes out.

What I feel is missing from these shows though is that they rush past the whole origins/beginnings thing. The best part of a superheroes story is when they're still learning. That's why they keep starting Spiderman from scratch. The first bit is always the best.

They need to let Supergirl be a total noob for a season, accidentally killing people she's trying to save, getting outwitted by the purse thief etc. Then when she finally comes across a true threat it'll be a "holy shit" big deal moment.

Then again I guess most audiences would switch off without having the instant high stakes every week thing.

7 Day Roguelike - DUCKSOUP DUNGEON

I like to think of it as a personal community service thing to sometimes point you guys to the 7DRL challenge. A lot of cool shit comes out of there and recently the 2015 competition just finished. Check 'em out. There might be something there for you.

One game that really struck me was this gorgeous original gameboy palette inspired piece DUCKSOUP DUNGEON. It's browser based so there's nothing stopping you from playing it at work right now.
It's so beautiful I'm having a hard time believing something this smooth and awesome could be birthed in a week. Talented people. You inspiring bastards you.

Check it out here.