SSFF Media Consumption Blog 8/18/17

The weekly media blog is back! I know it’s bad to take a break on your second week but we were in Hawaii last week for our friends’ wedding. Even though most of the trip was taken up by wedding obligations, we treated the rest of the time as a vacation! Grace didn’t even bring her computer and I tried my damnedest to stay off of mine. We got back monday morning, and this is what we’ve been up to!

DEREK

Sonic Mania

One of the big release for us this week was the new Sonic game. You probably know I’m no Sonic fan. I think Sonic is maybe the purest and greatest example of style over substance. The character design, music, graphics, sound effect, everything just oozes off the screen, so much so that it’s easy to ignore that it’s essentially a game about running fast and punishing you for doing so. Sonic Mania seems to have exactly zero interest in rocking the boat, which is a problem for me personally because I just don’t think Sonic is fun to play. But even I have to admit the presentation is off the charts, menus, music, the cartoon that plays if you sit on the title screen, even the freaking game icon is incredible! But it’s the same ol’ Sonic, through and through. I don’t think this will make anyone a believer but it’s a damn fine treat for Sonic fans, which I’ve always rooted for. They deserve a decent Sonic game every so often. On discord someone said, “this is Mega Man 9 for Sonic fans” and I think that’s about as apt a description anyone could come up with.

Limited Run Games

This very loosely concerns this blog but I need to get something off my chest: I’m done with Limited Run Games. They are a website that makes physical versions of digital-only games, but, as the name suggests, in limited quantity. Their first few games were relatively old games like Shadow Complex, Sole Survivor, Thomas Was Alone but they’ve started scoring new games Flinthook and Strafe (through a similar site, Special Reserve) and just earlier this month Wonder Boy The Dragon’s Trap, and the Night Trap remastered. Instead of just being a neat collectable for fans, they’ve become part of a game’s release. However these games were given limited pressings of just a few thousand, just like Thomas Was Alone, except Thomas Was Alone was a free PSN plus download at one point and I’m sure has been on sale numerous times. There’s a much, much higher demand for these newer games.

Over the last two weeks, I tried to purchase Wonder Boy and Night Trap. I waited on the page, refreshing it until the doors opened, and bought it as quickly as I could. For both games, I first tried to buy the super, special editions, only to be told, after completing my order, I was too late. Both time, I entered by payment info, confirmed my address, but after I completed the transaction, I was told “sorry, it’s sold out now”. I was able to get a standard edition Wonder Boy but walked away empty handed for Night Trap (I was able to get the My Life in Gaming Documentary on Blu Ray though). Each game had only a few thousand copies available and they sold out in minutes!

Ignoring the frustration of having an item in my shopping cart but being told I was too late, Limited Run Games has grown too big for their britches and at this point serves only to benefit scalpers and resellers. I’ve seen their games at conventions for hundreds of dollars. And I don’t fault those sellers, that’s how that racket works, but if they want their business to continue growing, they’re going to have to change a few things. And until then, I’m good.

Fishing Planet

And I leave you with this amazing trailer,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0uNhsLmGWA

That’s it for this week! Thanks as always for the support!

GRACE

MORE Fishing Planet?!

That’s not all the fishing game stuff we’ve been into! After watching the above trailer, I just HAD to know more, which got me watching a few let’s plays of Fishing Planet, which I would like to call the Forza of fishing simulator. After watching an edited down LP of someone spending NEARLY TWO HOURS on one fish, I was delighted to see how nice some of the YT comments were! Who knew fishing sim youtube is so wholesome? Here are a few of my favorites, taken from this video:

The Disappearing Spoon

Outside of gaming, I have been trying to force myself to read books, mostly so that I can avoid blue light at bedtime (I read in a listicle that it’s bad for you...). My second book of the year is The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean. I picked it because it is supposed to be an fun and interesting look into a notoriously sterile subject (chemistry), and inject human stories into it. I thought this would be a good way to see how someone else makes history interesting. And... it’s pretty good. Not something I need to read to the end, but it’s given me some ideas on how to explain super techy jargon in an easily understandable way. If you’re a science buff, I’d recommend checking it out.

Have a good rest of your week! Here’s a pic of me and Launchpad taking a break from unpacking for some good ol chemistry readin’!

Let us know what you've been up to! We need recommendations of things to check out!