Holla atcha thing. Tis I, the sentient fleshy water balloon with an unspeakable -l u s t- for giraffes.

I last blogged at the end of 2020 promising a follow-up to my PlayStation 5 impressions. As is on brand for me I neglected to write anything else for almost half a year. If I'm anything at all I'm consistent, I guess.

So here the hell we are. The hell we are here. Like a crypto price tracker we swing hard, up and down, with every seeming bit of progress met with another setback... Though at least things seem to be finally trending upwards? Maybe?

I have been recalled to work finally after a full year of being furloughed and hopefully we can start to actually get some things done around here that don't result in another massive statewide lockdown. I'm looking at you, Becky. You know what you did.

So with some semblance of "The way my day to day used to play... Hooray" coming back into existence it has forced me to step back, take some inventory, and plan to live my life again the way it once was. The halcyon days where I would wake up at the same time every day, make the same commute, and do the same thing over and over again for 160 hours a month! That means the PS5 I use as an iPad charger and my recently completely renovated gaming PC rotate around to "Maybe I'll use you on the weekend" and my Switch becomes the device I constantly think about playing on the bus but don't because why not just watch YouTube on your phone?

How depressing!

Speaking of which...

How About That PS5 Tho?

Hoo boy. I'm not even mad OR disappointed. I get it. I knew what I was getting into. And if I hadn't decided to take the opportunity to rebuild my PC I'm sure I'd be using my PS5 a ton more. I should be grateful that I even got one... At launch, even. At MSRP even even. But I really, honestly, turn it on every day so I can charge my phone and tablet, since for some reason my PC's USB-C port doesn't provide enough juice to charge an iPad pro. And, again, I get it. The PS5 is a tough sell all around. I imagine developers aren't putting resources towards it because it's not like anyone can get one anyway, right? They have been doing some cool stuff on it, don't get me wrong. Astro's Playroom is still the coolest thing on the system and Demon's Souls is a very nice showcase for the speed and fidelity of the box. Even the little updates for Days Gone, God of War, and now Ratchet & Clank are pretty compelling. But as of right now my PS5 is a USB hub until Rift Apart comes out and when I'm done with that it'll probably gather dust until Horizon comes out.

The PlayStation since 2006 has kinda always been a "I use this for the Sony exclusives" box but my poor history with crappy PC components definitely cemented me as a console first type of gamer for quite a while. Things have changed though. I've changed. And I just... Don't use the thing. And yet I still see people going absolutely mental to get one and I legitimately don't know what they are so hungry for. It reminds me a bit of the story Jeff told once about people eagerly waiting in line to get what I think was the PS3? And they were so jazzed because they needed to play Madden when, in fact, it was and had already been playable on the Xbox 360 for a while. Sure if you want to play the Demon's Souls remake or Astro you need a PS5 in your home... But I somehow imagine the people raging online and pulling teeth over securing a console since November probably don't care that much about a remake of a game that one Ryan Davis said he had "never heard of" and that it "just sucks".

On a funny side note I actually, briefly, considered selling my PS5 on eBay. I figured "Well I'm not really using it at all and the demand is so high, maybe I can sell it for a profit and buy it back when the demand has evened out and there are, you know, games I want to play on it." I had nothing but trouble. I attempted to sell it twice and "succeeded" only to be stiffed by buyers both times. I get it. It's a hot ticket item. You're gonna find scammers. I just somehow imagined if I told the internet "I have a PS5 for sale" I'd have a thousand eager parents kicking down my door.

Speaking of sucky games nobody has heard of though...

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Monster Hunter is upon us. A series I deeply respect and have played a bit off and on since Freedom Unite. It's a legit phenomenon in a territory I have never been to and is a game that, as far as I can tell, keeps getting released in the US despite literally nobody giving a damn... And good for them. I can only hope that the math panned out enough times to make it worthwhile. I mean... Somehow World became their best-selling product ever and I'm still not entirely sure how *that* happened.

Still tho, Deviljo and her fluffy compatriots have re-entered the public consciousness with the latest entry: Monster Hunter Rise and... Hoo boy. I've seen some takes. I try my best to not ever come off as gatekeepy or elitist but some of the stuff being shouted about Rise are a little painful to watch. I get it, man. World was a big deal. Everybody that plays video games played Monster Hunter for some reason over the past few years. And if they continue to run World as a parallel series like they have been with Stories then cool. I'm on board. But I guess I was a weirdo that thought Monster Hunter World, while definitely an important success, seemed unusual. It looked different. It had a very unusual (for them) release structure. They made the mission progression just... What... And Astera was... I mean, sure. You've got big-boy graphics. Make it look big and impressive. You need to take a bus to get from the smithy to the canteen, you guys.

And yes. Duh. I'm nitpicking on World. It was a cool game. I should be grateful to anything that gets a game I feel never got it's due into the hands of more people. But Rise is all like "Yo, that MonHun you like is coming back into style" and people seem to be very upset that this japanese game made famous on handheld gaming consoles in Japan has been released with a Japanese setting on a handheld gaming console.

And for what it's worth I think it looks better than World. I loaded up MHW just yesterday on my cool, powerful PC and it just looked desaturated and blurry. What even is the style of Monster Hunter World, y'all? It's not quite Presto Studios presents Gundam 0079 the FMV game but man. World looks weird.

Anyway Rise is out and I've been playing a fair bit of it and it's very enjoyable. Everything is back as it once was, too, with the community spotlight highlighting the unofficial Giant Bomb Friend Code thread for the game twice... Which contains zero friend codes and a handful of complaints. Nobody wants to play or talk about Monster Hunter again so the die-hards can rest easy knowing that the old game you love is back in classic form.

Future Abandoned Project #34

With the aforementioned return to work and the other aforementioned Nintendo Switch Gaming Device Platform I will be re-entering the world of The Gamer Who Really Only Has Time To Play Games While Their Driver Ferries Them From Home To Work And Back Every Day. As a card carrying GWROHTTPGWTDFTFHTWABED I have thought many times about doing something (anything, really) with my latent creative desires that incorporates my nomadic game consumption lifestyle with some sort of blog. But you know me... I can barely commit to a set of pronouns let alone a regular writing project.

Maybe this time will be different, though! The world has changed and I have changed with it.

So I ask you this: If one were to write a "Gamer On The Go" series of articles about playing video games while commuting what would you like to hear about? My primary school of thought was to focus on elements of certain games that lend themselves to good for 20-30 minute sessions of sitting around doing nothing.

Was just a thought.

Train of thought has run out of steam. Brain sleepy now.

Bye.