It’s the Freakin’ Weekend! What are You Playing?

Posted on by Trashlevania

Friday! Video games! Let’s talk!

I’d like to start off on a bittersweet note. Having covered all manner of video games over the last four years, I found it increasingly difficult to remain passionate about solely covering Nintendo Switch content. That being said, I made the decision to bow out of Switch Player and will continue focusing all of my game content here at Cheap Boss Attack.

Everyone there was super helpful and it was a great learning experience, but I didn’t realize how tough it’d be to digest tons of rad gaming information from all over the spectrum and then narrow it down to just the Switch stuff. I wish those folks the best, and hey, I did accomplish my dream of having something published in a printed Nintendo magazine.

Moving on.

I was utterly consumed by E3 over the last seven days, between six major conferences, demonstrations, recaps, and the incredibly informative, endearing, and hilarious Giant Bomb at Nite interviews with couch-fulls of games industry all-stars. Their interview with the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, is easily my favorite post-E3 video so far. I’ve always admired Spencer’s knowledge and passion for the games industry, his desire to unite players and openly talk about PlayStation and Nintendo as if they were working together instead of as competitors, and I could listen to that man talk forever. He’s just such a radical, down to Earth guy.

Outside of digesting E3 content, I also spent nearly 11 hours on Wednesday recording CA! Radio’s E3 podcasts that have since begun rolling out. So yeah, not much time has been spent gaming.

I’m still working my way through Beyond Good & Evil HD on Xbox 360 (via Xbox One), which is my current focus. I received the game as part of the Games With Gold promotion and my Xbox Live Gold subscription expires next week. I don’t plan on renewing it until September when Destiny 2 releases, so I definitely want to see Beyond Good & Evil HD through before then.

For watching the Xbox E3 conference through their Mixer app (their version of Twitch) I received a free digital copy of Rare Replay, No Time to Explain, and The Final Station. I already own Rare Replay physically, but now I can get rid of the hard copy to free up some space! Huzzah! I hate the physical version because it requires you to have the disc inserted to play games that weren’t even on it — Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Perfect Dark, and Kameo come to mind.

It’s a 30-game compilation of Rare-developed titles, like Blast Corps, Jet Force Gemini, Viva Pinata, and Battletoads, but certain games were already available digitally on Xbox 360 and those had to be downloaded separately. So although I had Banjo Kazooie completely downloaded and installed on my Xbox One, it wouldn’t launch until I proved to my console that I owned the game’s license by inserting the disc. Not anymore, jerks!

A select few of Rare Replay’s games have been on my backlog for a while now, but since I no longer need to fiddle around with the disc I’m far more motivated to actually play them.

I don’t know why I’ve been on such an Xbox 360 kick lately. I tend to gravitate toward whatever console was on last, but I’ve been actively going out of my way to knock out my Xbox 360 backlog above all else. Hell, I just treated myself to three new games! I haven’t bought a physical Xbox 360 game since Assassin’s Creed: Rogue launched nearly three years ago, but the streak is over! I’m now the proud owner of Crackdown, Binary Domain, and Alpha Protocol.

I’m hoping to finish up Beyond Good & Evil HD tomorrow so I can swing back around to Horizon: Zero Dawn. I didn’t want to put it aside when I did, but yeah, I’m on a time constraint and that sucks. I miss Aloy.

That’s my weekend in a nutshell. I’m going out of town for a week on Wednesday and I’ll have my Switch with me, but there won’t be a Freakin’ Weekend post on Friday since I won’t be bringing my laptop along for the ride.

What about you, folks? Got any big plans this weekend?

Published by Trashlevania

Bradley is an RPG, horror, shmup, beat em up, and fighting game scrublord from Baltimore, MD. His favorite console of all time is the Sega Saturn, with a deep love for Sega console gaming in general. He adorably thought everyone owned a TurboGrafx 16 as a kid just because he did. He also has a Bloodborne tattoo. Aside from that, he's super into metal, the wild (and dumb) world of professional wrestling, cooking, and mostly games on PS5 for modern stuff. Follow him on Twitter @Trashlevania.

35 thoughts on “It’s the Freakin’ Weekend! What are You Playing?”

  2. Rare Replay was great fun. I especially enjoyed going back to Solar Jetman which I played a ton as a kid.
    Father’s Day weekend so I doubt I’ll have opportunity to play much again, but I’ll be sticking with Valkyria Chronicles for a little while I think. Might have a crack at Party Hard if I find the time.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I didn’t care for many of the pre-NES games since they either weren’t released in the States or I just found them hard to get into without any for of attachment. Lots of rad stuff in there, though!

      Mannn, I *hated* Party Hard, haha. I hope you enjoy it.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. I said it on Twitter and I’ll say it again — “BEYOOOOOOOOOND GOOOD AND EVILLLLLL”. Quality game there matey. Just been pissin’ about in Forza Horizon for me but I have been kaning Mario Kart 8, hopin’ to 100% in the next few days.
    Milo.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I wanted to 100% MK8D but the 150cc is driving me bananas lol. There’s no way I’ll get that, let alone the 200cc medals. Best of luck!

      BG&E holds up incredibly well for being such an old game. Definitely some rough edges in the camera and stealth segments, but still a good game.

      I loved Forza Horizon 3 and almost picked up the season pass. It’s half off right now and I really want to jump into the Hot Wheels track.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. My dreams have been squandered! I got 3 star gold cups on ALL ccs, beat all the staff time trials, and was 5000 coins away from the gold glider. Corrupt save, all gone. Never playing again — I can’t take the pain!

        Like

        Reply

  5. I’m going to try to get through Morrowind (ESO) this weekend with some friends, but we keep getting distracted by world bosses, and quest :). Hopefully this weekend will be the weekend that I finally play through Morrowind.

    When I’m not on my PC (which is often these days) I’ll be playing my Switch. I’m rarely home so having a Switch on the go is fantastic. I’ll be jumping into some Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Disgaea 5, and Breath of the Wild this weekend in small doses.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. I was a bit underwhelmed by E3 this year. There wasn’t a lot of fervor, or things we didn’t know about already. The conferences themselves were kind of meh as well. A lot of it felt kind of glossed over.
    I still saw some cool stuff though. It’s not like it was all terrible, and a waste. I just wish there was a little more info in spots. The stuff that did impress me though, I hope people will look into.

    Mario X Rabbids turned out to be a new X-Com. Which is awesome. And it’s Mario so maybe people who don’t dabble in TBS, or RTS games will give it a chance. I’m terrible at them. But I liked the X-Com games a lot anyway. So as long as it’s good, I hope it does well. Obviously Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2 are potential killer apps for the Switch. I think Rocket League getting on there is also great, and it includes cross-platform multiplayer like the PC version. I think Moss looked really cool too. I hope people who invested in a PSVR look into that one because it’s unique. There are tons of Horror games, and FPS games on VR platforms already. This looks like it could be a really fun puzzler. People cry a lot about wanting something new. Moss looks new. Assuming it doesn’t turn out crappy, I hope people look at it. A lot of folks are stoked for Detroit. I can see why. It really reminds me of the old choose your own adventure books from when I was a kid. The nautical pirate stuff looked cool too. Between Sea of Thieves, and Skull & Bones we could have really fun stuff happening in that theme.

    But the two things I was most excited for after seeing them were the Retron 77, and sequel to Insurgency. If you like army games like Battlefield, and tactical shooters like Rainbow Six, and haven’t played Insurgency you should. I reviewed it a while ago. It runs on Source, so it isn’t the prettiest military shooter around. But it is one of the best I’ve ever played. It gives you the scale, and modes of a Battlefield game, with the realism of an early R6 game. So like in Raven Shield, most bullets will kill you in one hit. Two or three if you have armor on. But that gear slows you down too. Instead of unlocking gear, and guns it has a point system. You used the points to choose stuff, and you only have so many. Picked a high powered sniper rifle? Well now you can only afford a side arm or a single flash bang. Picked a machine gun, and high capacity rounds? Well now you don’t get a bullet proof vest.

    And there’s no real HUD info to speak of. So it forces you to communicate, and strategize. If you run blind into any given map, you’re dead. It’s a very difficult game. But it’s also a very rewarding experience that focuses on goals rather than frags. I’ll be playing more of it this weekend because the sequel looks amazing. They’re retaining all of the stuff I just described, while moving it onto Unreal Engine IV, and adding a single-player campaign to boot. Plus it’s getting a console port. So I really hope it comes out in top form, and that it gives me as many hours of fun the first one has.

    I also want to get my hands on the Retron 77 whenever Hyperkin brings that out. They’ve made clone consoles for years, but this is their foray into pre-NES golden age stuff. The early buzz is that they worked with the folks who made the Stella emulator, it doesn’t run ROM files, but the actual cartridges, and that the final version will have options of aspect ratio, as well as the difficulty switches, black & white switch, in addition to the Start, Select switches. Plus it hooks up via HDMI to modern HDTV sets in 1080p. This may be something even those far younger than I may want to look into. It’s HDMI. So no having to figure out how to get an RF switch or a VCR with composite video out to a modern TV that lacks those ports. And common Atari 2600 games are dirt cheap. A great way to experience 40 year old games, Yes I’m a geezer.

    So this weekend will be spent working, playing Insurgency, and some Fantasy Zone II on the Sega Master System. By the way, one of the most difficult, but fun Sega games ever made.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Sea of Thieves isn’t my bag at all and it seems like something that’s only fun when 3 of your friends are online — which isn’t often for me. The aesthetic is very Rare, which is cool, and I hope it does well. Just doesn’t seem like a lot of meat on its bones for what it does. Skull & Bones looks significantly more appealing as a huge fan of the naval combat in Black Flag, but my heart sank when they revealed it’s a 5v5 multiplayer game. It’s Ubisoft, so OF COURSE it’s a multiplayer game and will likely have season pass content out the ass. That’s soul crushing, as it looks fantastic. Maybe there will be a tacked-on campaign I can play.

      As much as I enjoyed PlayStation’s approach last year where they just rapid-fired trailers, it didn’t work out too well this year. Some games, like Days Gone, NEED to be explained a little more because it’s suffering from a huge identity crisis. It just felt like I was waiting for a movie to start and sat through an hour of teasers. I don’t want EA levels of talking, but having narrated trailers can go a long way.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Yeah, I agree. I really would have liked some more info during game reveals. Some of this stuff was like “Surprise! Haunted Hospital game!” “Fishing!” “Shoot bad guys in VR!”. It did little to make me, as a viewer, and potential customer care. Every conference was guilty of this to some extent.

        And that’s another reason I hope some will look into Insurgency Sandstorm. No passes. No microtransactions out the ass. Just a core game, and done. Not “Hey! Get a RED pirate hat instead of the boring ass BLACK pirate hat for your guy! FOR THE LOW PRICE OF $4.99! Or grind away Ubisoft fun bucks for 12 months, and not pay jack! You don’t need it to win. WE SWEAR!”

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        1. I think Ubisoft’s presentation had the best trailer to explanation ratio, where they pretty much explained everything they showed in some way — be it verbally, or the toys-to-life stuff being shown in Starlink. Well, except Beyond Good & Evil 2. Ugh.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

  7. Sorry to read your exit from Switch Player but keep doing what your doing bud. Here to support.

    Gaming? I got sucked back into Horizon Zero Dawn. It took me about an hour to get the button layout working between my head and hands but maaaaaan I still love this game.

    E3? I’m rewatching Giant Bomb at Nite 3 as I type this. I really dig the Bomb crew and I find that I enjoy this backdoor content better than the actual press conferences. I still watch the press conferences but I feel like they are less impactful every year. This year was the worst since they were spread out so much. Let me know what you think about the Lang/Boyes/Vignocchi train wreck.

    Xbox One? Yeah, about that. I turned it on the other day, downloaded the monstrous 78GB Gears update and turned it back off. That was the first time it had been on in weeks. I boxed up my 360 and PS3 after weeks of not playing it and I’m almost at that point with the Xbox One. The last game I bought for it was Gears of War 4 and that was when it launched.

    Like

    Reply

    1. It’s all good. I already did the single-console coverage with Xbox at What’s Your Tag in its final stretch and it wasn’t very fun then, so I’m not sure why I thought it would be easier (or at least more interesting) at Switch Player. Probably the allure of the new console or something, I don’t know. Two months in and I just couldn’t focus on one format when there’s so much cool shit happening elsewhere. Appreciate the support, as always.

      I can’t wait to get back into Horizon. I’d much rather be playing that than what I am now, but I already explained that in the post I suppose.

      Giant Bomb at Nite was far more entertaining than the presentations, especially as someone who really wants to break into this industry somehow. Seeing mixed groups of developers, publishers, celebrities, and other journalists on the same couch sharing stories and opinions worked out really well. I finished up night 3 last night and JV, Lang, and Boyes was a fucking trainwreck (as it always is) lol. Spencer was definitely my favorite interview. Did you listen to any of their Ben Pack/Abby “My First E3” podcasts? They were pretty good too.

      I picked up Dead Rising 4 in a buy-2-get-1 Best Buy sale and sold it before I even opened it. The reviews seemed poor and I didn’t want to bother with it. Before that I picked up the BioShock remasters, since Infinite was supposed to run better on XB1 than PS4 due to some DirectX issues or something. Also haven’t played it, so yeah. I’ve been trying to show the console more love, but there’s nothing out for it that I can’t play on PS4 and that’s where I usually buy my multiplatform games.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. At 3am I’m rewatching the Phil Spencer interview, greatness. He makes me excited about a console I don’t play in a fun way. I want to watch/listen to the Ben/Abby pods from E3 but just haven’t gotten there yet. I already watched, again, the Nite 3 show and my sides still hurt from laughing. Vignocchi kills me and I love it, Lang is the perfect monster, Boyes ties to keep it together and Gertsmann just sprays lighter fluid on the fire and calmly backs away in state of brilliance.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  8. Sorry to hear you had to bow out from Switch Player. I’m looking forward to reading more great content here though!

    I Platinum’d and 100%’d HZD this weekend (finally!). I miss Aloy already :(

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. Thank you! I am super hyped for the DLC!! This will be the first time I break my stubborn “No paid DLC rule” haha. I loved what the developers created here and I want to show my support with my monies :D

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  9. Soooo it’s almost the next weekend and I’m just getting around to this. So behind with blog subs. I’ve actually started getting up earlier in the mornings before work to catch up on them and other things. Ah well. I’m definitely going to have to check out that interview with the Xbox guy. I love down to earth people, and it sounds like his interview just solidifies more that Xbox is about collaboration and bringing people together, and Sony really needs to get their heads out of their asses with their presumptive and hoighty-toighty attitude hehe. I’m hearing rumblings that they *may* be coming around, but I’m not holding my breath.

    It sounds like you got what you needed from the magazine, and you made the right decision for yourself. I’ve been following your blog for a while, we’ve talked at great length, and it’s safe to say I know you pretty well, and you’re WAY too inclusive in terms of games/gaming systems to be able to pare yourself down to just one system/company for so long. It wouldn’t be healthy especially since it was taking up a lot of your time. If it was something that was less time consuming, I could see the continuation, but it was taking up a lot of your time. You get to say that you were published by Nintendo Power. That shit is amazing, and no one can ever take it away. Plus we’re all glad that you’ll be able to write more of what you want/love again, because we are selfish bastards who want to read teh wurds :p

    I’m playing four games now, three of them Final Fantasies (of course!), but I haven’t touched Brave Exvius in over a week, and I should be done The Room Three soon. I started Type-0 and FFV, and I have that site you sent me bookmarked for the former. Once I understand the battle system better, hopefully I’ll like it more.

    Like

    Reply

    1. D’awwww, thanks!

      For Type-0 I relied heavily on King. At level cap with all of his abilities purchased, he can one or two shot most bosses with standard attacks. And since he’s a ranged character he’s rarely in jeopardy of taking damage.

      Fair warning, though: There are certain parts of the game where you’re split into two groups or only have certain characters to choose from, so I’d level cap at least 3 characters — one of which should have magic.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.