What video game are you playing?

[ulukinatme]

taking my nintendo switch to a buddy's house next friday night and doing a big mario kart multi player thing with him, his wife and all his college age kids there and there wifes as they give out prizes throughout the night for winners, just something they do every Christmas for fun while the kids are all in town and home for the holidays.

That's fun! If you have the yearly Switch Online subscription I think you can also play NES/SNES games via an emulator on your Switch. You can break out some Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter 2 tournaments too.

 

[IrishLion]

My son has officially reached "taking over the consoles in the man cave" age. He rapid-fire switches between Spider-Man 2, Fortnite, Madden 24, Hello Neighbor, and Rider's Republic. It's funny to see him have fun with one, get frustrated with it at some point, switch to another, have a blast, then slowly get frustrated again as he tries to tackle increasingly difficult tasks in each.

Having said that, it has relegated me to the computer desk, where I spend our "gaming" time watching whatever I can find on streaming services or DVD. I have a nice monitor that I can attach one of our consoles to, but I don't have the heart to steal either the PS5 (Madden, Spider-Man) or the XBSS (Gamepass) from him at the moment, as it's a blast watching him figure things out, listening to his questions, helping him problem-solve, and most importantly READ. His reading speed and comprehension is improving greatly as he reads subtitles and instructions. Cool stuff.

In lieu of playing console games, I'm now dabbling in Pokemon rom hacks. I download Visual Boy Advance to play all of the GBA Fire Emblem games, then dowloaded Pokemon FireRed as something new to try (never played the Gen III games).

First one I've tried: Radical Red. It is TOUGH. I've got it set to randomize all the mons, so it's wild to see the Gen VIII/IX mons I know nothing about, and to see them in a sort of old-school console design, but with all the newer bells and whistles in terms of abilities, learnsets, items, etc.

I could never do a Nuzlocke run on this game without way more experience and familiarity with strength/weaknesses and learnset strategies. Makes me feel like a total noob... and I love it.

 

[General Colon Bowel]

So pumped

 

[dublinirish]

So pumped

apparently this date has been debunked but the game still expected in july sometime

 

[greyhammer90]

I don't want to be the Debbie Downer, but anyone who is getting excited at playing a good NCAA Football game is setting themselves up for disappointment.

The game is supposed to be about six months away. We've seen nothing. Not even a single screenshot. All that EA has ever put out is a promotional image with confetti. EA Sports has been shitting the bed with their established franchises for the last 8 years. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it wound up being delayed. The only reason I have any hope that it's actually getting released this year is because the time to announce the delay would've been a few months ago. Even so, I expect a super shitty product that's going to piss everyone off.

 

[IrishSpartan]

Is there a way to play ncaa 14 on ps5?

 

[IrishLion]

I don't want to be the Debbie Downer, but anyone who is getting excited at playing a good NCAA Football game is setting themselves up for disappointment.

The game is supposed to be about six months away. We've seen nothing. Not even a single screenshot. All that EA has ever put out is a promotional image with confetti. EA Sports has been shitting the bed with their established franchises for the last 8 years. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it wound up being delayed. The only reason I have any hope that it's actually getting released this year is because the time to announce the delay would've been a few months ago. Even so, I expect a super shitty product that's going to piss everyone off.

Two-years-ago Madden with a college football skin. Limited roster customization due to whatever NIL deals they make.

Dynasty mode will first be broken, then be reduced to bare-bones in favor of NCAA Ultimate Team microtransactions.

RPO's and Triple Options will result in hilarious glitches that render user vs user matchups pointless in online play.

Connected Dynasty? We'll see!



I don't have faith in EA. Hopefully we're all wrong, and someone on the backend that actually cares about college football and having a quality dynasty mode is making things happen.

 

[General Colon Bowel]

Two-years-ago Madden with a college football skin. Limited roster customization due to whatever NIL deals they make.

Dynasty mode will first be broken, then be reduced to bare-bones in favor of NCAA Ultimate Team microtransactions.

RPO's and Triple Options will result in hilarious glitches that render user vs user matchups pointless in online play.

Connected Dynasty? We'll see!



I don't have faith in EA. Hopefully we're all wrong, and someone on the backend that actually cares about college football and having a quality dynasty mode is making things happen.

I guess we'll see. I agree that expectations should be low, especially for on-field gameplay. But my favorite part of the NCAA games was always Dynasty mode. If they add in elements like NIL budgets + the transfer portal to the recruiting landscape they had in the earlier games, I will be happy enough

 

[dublinirish]

I guess we'll see. I agree that expectations should be low, especially for on-field gameplay. But my favorite part of the NCAA games was always Dynasty mode. If they add in elements like NIL budgets + the transfer portal to the recruiting landscape they had in the earlier games, I will be happy enough

They are totally going to shit on dynasty mode as it provides no monetization impact for them


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[ulukinatme]

They are totally going to shit on dynasty mode as it provides no monetization impact for them


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Yup. They do the same thing in Madden Franchise mode. There were bugs reported in August or before of 2022 that were still not fixed by May of 2023. It was some pretty easy to fix shit too, but bugs that had long lasting ramifications like failing to sign a player you were negotiating with in the offseason and then you would be permanently down that many spots during Free Agency each year.

 

[ulukinatme]

In lieu of playing console games, I'm now dabbling in Pokemon rom hacks. I download Visual Boy Advance to play all of the GBA Fire Emblem games, then dowloaded Pokemon FireRed as something new to try (never played the Gen III games).

Never played a Pokemon game till Christmas. I actually fired this one up on my RaspberryPi over vacation. Pokemon was kind of after my time, but I figured I'd try it out once since it's spawned off a billion games. My son has been watching the old Indigo League show on Netflix lately too. When I was researching which of the old games to try that FireRed game came up highly suggested, plus it followed that show a bit.

I like the old school turn based style combat, although it's rather simple with just 4 attacks each fighter. The collecting and the evolving is kind of fun. There's not much of a story really, which is usually the meat of an RPG. I honestly haven't touched it since vacation as I've got better things to play again, but I had made it to the Diglette Cave with a few badges. I had a mean team with Charmeleon, Dugtrio, Kadabra, Gyarados, and a Pikachu.

 

[Lberry]

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, PS3. Haven't started but finished the download, this is a game someone's been recommending for a long time that I've put off.

 

[Irish14]

Two-years-ago Madden with a college football skin. Limited roster customization due to whatever NIL deals they make.

Dynasty mode will first be broken, then be reduced to bare-bones in favor of NCAA Ultimate Team microtransactions.

RPO's and Triple Options will result in hilarious glitches that render user vs user matchups pointless in online play.

Connected Dynasty? We'll see!



I don't have faith in EA. Hopefully we're all wrong, and someone on the backend that actually cares about college football and having a quality dynasty mode is making things happen.

I’m pretty confident it won’t be a Madden re skin if you listen to the people who have an in with EA.


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[dublinirish]

I’m pretty confident it won’t be a Madden re skin if you listen to the people who have an in with EA.


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[Irish14]

I don't want to be the Debbie Downer, but anyone who is getting excited at playing a good NCAA Football game is setting themselves up for disappointment.

The game is supposed to be about six months away. We've seen nothing. Not even a single screenshot. All that EA has ever put out is a promotional image with confetti. EA Sports has been shitting the bed with their established franchises for the last 8 years. I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it wound up being delayed. The only reason I have any hope that it's actually getting released this year is because the time to announce the delay would've been a few months ago. Even so, I expect a super shitty product that's going to piss everyone off.

That’s pretty typical for a sports game to not see anything until close to release


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[Irish14]

Ok lol


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[greyhammer90]

That’s pretty typical for a sports game to not see anything until close to release

Most sports games are iterative from last year to the point that it doesn't really make sense to do early advertising. This is different situation. They could be getting tons of social media buzz by just showing the stadiums. The whole cfb world is thirsty for any info.

There's a universe where EA Sports' A team has developed a great football game that maintains the arcadey feel of the original NCAA, with dozens more offensive/defensive styles than Madden, with a great franchise mode that takes NIL and recruiting to the next level, and shareable rosters, etc. I just think there's a lot more universes where that doesn't happen.

 

[Irish14]

Most sports games are iterative from last year to the point that it doesn't really make sense to do early advertising. This is different situation. They could be getting tons of social media buzz by just showing the stadiums. The whole cfb world is thirsty for any info.

There's a universe where EA Sports' A team has developed a great football game that maintains the arcadey feel of the original NCAA, with dozens more offensive/defensive styles than Madden, with a great franchise mode that takes NIL and recruiting to the next level, and shareable rosters, etc. I just think there's a lot more universes where that doesn't happen.

Look at all the buzz they’re getting without releasing a single thing. You don’t think its all calculated?


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[Irish14]

Most sports games are iterative from last year to the point that it doesn't really make sense to do early advertising. This is different situation. They could be getting tons of social media buzz by just showing the stadiums. The whole cfb world is thirsty for any info.

There's a universe where EA Sports' A team has developed a great football game that maintains the arcadey feel of the original NCAA, with dozens more offensive/defensive styles than Madden, with a great franchise mode that takes NIL and recruiting to the next level, and shareable rosters, etc. I just think there's a lot more universes where that doesn't happen.

Also go listen to some Matt Brown interviews. There’s more information out there than you probably think.


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[ulukinatme]

Not sure if it's legit, but it checks out. For old NCAA '14 fans, a guy was complaining on Reddit about him having the Heisman locked up going into Championship week, then the last week he swapped places with the #2 guy. Redditor chimes in a few times in the thread, but says he worked on that code at EA specifically because a designer thought there weren't enough "surprises" in game. Mentions a few things about working on the game back then. They rejoined EA recently, but not for college football, nothing to spill.

 

[calvegas04]

They could release NCAA 2014 again for the PS5 and I would be happy

 

[IrishLion]

Fucked around and got addicted to Palworld.

It’s like if Breath of the Wild had Pokémon in it… and some of the Pokémon had guns… and if there was a light bit of Minecraft thrown in.

 

[ulukinatme]

Fucked around and got addicted to Palworld.

It’s like if Breath of the Wild had Pokémon in it… and some of the Pokémon had guns… and if there was a light bit of Minecraft thrown in.

Watch till the end.

 

[greyhammer90]

Fucked around and got addicted to Palworld.

It’s like if Breath of the Wild had Pokémon in it… and some of the Pokémon had guns… and if there was a light bit of Minecraft thrown in.

I downloaded it since it was free to play on Gamepass. I logged in, saw Unreal Engine stock textures and animations, then saw a menu prompt telling me to "gather wood" and immediately logged off lol. Happy for the kids but hate how survival games have made it an acceptable expectation that the first 5+ hours of a game are all the same boring caveman simulator. The first time I made a stone axe to chop down trees faster I thought it was neat, but that was about 10 years ago. Now it feels like the mental treadmill is too obvious for me to enjoy.

 

[dublinirish]

i can't be doing with survival/resource gathering games at my age

 

[IrishLion]

I downloaded it since it was free to play on Gamepass. I logged in, saw Unreal Engine stock textures and animations, then saw a menu prompt telling me to "gather wood" and immediately logged off lol. Happy for the kids but hate how survival games have made it an acceptable expectation that the first 5+ hours of a game are all the same boring caveman simulator. The first time I made a stone axe to chop down trees faster I thought it was neat, but that was about 10 years ago. Now it feels like the mental treadmill is too obvious for me to enjoy.

Never got into them myself... I got into Minecraft unlimited mode in college for a minute, but I would mostly play on my phone and build mega structures with materials. Didn't do the crafting or complex setups. Played Breath of the Wild for a minute before my son and daughter stole the Switch from me.

What I'm saying is that I'm a man child, so this is a new and fun for me right now lol.

I do like the mechanic where once you catch Pals of certain types, most of your base, resourcing and crafting is self-sustaining at that point. It's only relying on you to initial the "building" of certain items once you level up at that point.

Tried the first boss battle last night, expecting it to be a mess, but it was actually put together pretty well. The boss pal uses a set number of attacks that get telegraphed, allowing certain time for reaction and counter, but is actually pretty punishing if you don't get it right. Like a Pokemon Soulsbourne boss. (I was too underleveled, couldn't get his health all the way down in the 10-minute time limit. Gotta level up my Pals.)

The biggest drawback is there is no camera/target lock. Didn't realize how dependent on that mechanic I had become until now.

 

[NDdomer2]

If I'm gonna buy a video game system this spring/summer for a young kiddo to enjoy would you recommend switch or oculus 2?

 

[ulukinatme]

If I'm gonna buy a video game system this spring/summer for a young kiddo to enjoy would you recommend switch or oculus 2?

I think the Switch is good, but I don't have any experience with Ocoulus so I'm biased. We generally only keep our Switch docked to the TV because I don't trust my youngest to handle anything more expensive than his Fire Kindle and that at least has a screen protector and case to go around it. We don't have such a thing for our Switch, so I made a rule that it stays docked. It is nice that it's portable though.

As far as games, there's a lot of family friendly ones for the Switch. You've got the Zelda games, Mario Kart, Mario party, Smash Bros, Animal Crossing, etc.

 

[greyhammer90]

If I'm gonna buy a video game system this spring/summer for a young kiddo to enjoy would you recommend switch or oculus 2?

You might want to double check that your kid is old enough for an occlus. I think there are age requirements because young kids don't have fully developed eyeballs.

That being said from a value perspective I would prefer the Switch unless your kid is really into VR stuff.

 

[ulukinatme]

Looks like the Irish are in.