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Gangway

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My 2017 Gaming Year in Review

With 2017 coming to a close I though I should write a few things about the year that I had personally in gaming. While I am not sure what the point of this is, I thought it would be a good idea to write about a few of the things that for whatever reason I did not write about when they happened. 2017 turned out to be a pretty good year in gaming for me as I played plenty of new games as well as old ones I had not played before. I also purchased a few interesting pieces of hardware and started a new venture that I hope could turn into something more than just a hobby (though even if it doesn't, it is still fun to do).

My PC Build from 2016

While this is mainly about 2017, I start it off what a little from the previous year, 2016. In December I assembled my first desktop PC from parts purchased on Black Friday. I build it with the intention of upgrading it in the future while still making it a capable machine in the present. I chose a Core I-7 6700K CPU, a GTX 1060 GPU, 16 GBs of DDR4 RAM, 500 GB SSD, 2TB HDD, and a Liquid CPU Cooler. All together my build came to about $1300. I wanted to build a system that could eventually handle 4K graphics with a simple GPU but could DO VR or a 1440P monitor. I hooked it up to my living room TV, a 51 inch plasma circa 2011. I have a few other monitors hooked up to it as well. My hope is that this is a good platform for my gaming and general computing needs for about a decade. Only time will tell, of course.

Emulation

One of the first things I did with my new PC was to try out some emulators I had been wanting to use for a while, most notably Dolphin. While it might have been possible for me to have tried it before with my laptop, I wanted to be able to run it with as much power as I could throw at it. I wanted to be able to see some of the Gamecube and Wii games being rendered in High Definition (something that Nintendo at the time said no one wanted). I was suitably impressed with the results. Not only was Dolphin quite a bit easier to use than I expected (Version 5.0 had been released no too long before hand) but it made some of these 15 year old games look pretty good. Nintendo has always had a good, simplistic art style that scales wonderfully in HD. I especially enjoyed seeing The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker and Mario Galaxy in 1080p.

Streaming

Starting early this year, I began to experiment with streaming some of my games. I started with Twitch directly from my Xbox One. I then moved onto a dedicated internal capture card for my PC, which allowed me to record and stream any system that could hook up via HDMI. I was limited my by slow Internet upload speed, witch was capped at about 2 Mbps and resulted in a lot of bad streams with low quality video and frequent buffering for any unfortunate individuals who watch any of them (sorry). Since then, I have upgraded my internet speed to a more reasonable 10 Mbps on the upload side and started streaming at that speed with Cuphead for the Xbox One. To say that the improvement is noticeable is an understatement. I have also switched to streaming on You Tube (my Twitch stream archives wound up on You Tube anyway) and while it will be a long time before I can even start to monetize my videos (let alone get any money from them) it is still enjoyable for me to do so.

Games with Gold

I managed to play some great games this year with my Games with Gold one Xbox Live. I just want to go through some of the standouts that I played through this year.

  • DarkSiders: I had heard about the comparisons to Zelda for years about Darksiders and had always considered getting at some point but for what ever reason I did not take the plunge. This year I got it for free and played through it from start to finish. (actually streaming it the whole while too). I was pretty good, and very much a game that was deliberately taking after Zelda (bomb plants anyone?) I am looking forward to Darksiders 3 (which should come out next year) however I don't have all that much interest in trying the second game as I heard it was pretty different and not in a good way.
  • Giana Sisters: In my ealier days of streaming and wanting to do more of the games with Gold games, I was less picky about the games that I did. One game I played through that I enjoyed quite a bit was Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, (specifically the directors cut version with the D.L.C.) It was a nice looking game with some interesting platforming and was worth playing through even if it is not quite the game I would usually play otherwise.
  • Bayonetta: One game I should have played sooner was (considering my affection for Devil May Cry) was Bayonetta. A very Crazy, Character action game that just goes off the walls at all times. It took me too long to adjust to the different style of combat from most other games in this category. When I did figure it out I was glad I put in the effort and I was certainly glad to have played this game through. As the equals are Nintendo exclusives and I don not currently own a Switch, it is unlikely that I will be able to play those anytime soon.

New Purchased and Completed Games

I purchased a decent number of new games this year (by my standards anyway) I will make about a paragraph for each of the note worthy ones I finished this year as some of them I already did a more detailed post of.

  • Wolfenstein 1 and 2: I actually played both of the recent Wolfenstein games this year and I enjoyed both of them for the most part. They both had better story telling than game play but it was kind of a throwback style of game that we haven't seen much of since the days of Bio-shock and the like were popular. I had a difficult time adjust to the fact that you can not play these games like a Call of Duty, that you have to keep moving. They are true run and gun style games where constant moving and shooting (circle strafing anyone?) are required for success and even enjoyment in playing. It also would be a better idea to play them on easy mode as it would allow you to get to the good sections faster and more easily.
  • Snake Pass: This was a game that caught my attention for looking a whole lot like Viva Pinata and for having a cool original game mechanic. It is a 3D plat former where you can't jump. You play as a snake (duh!) and you slither and wiggle your way up post using your length and gripping ability to climb to platforms. It is a difficult concept to get use to and it takes a while to master it but once you do it is immensely rewarding to complete what would otherwise be the most forgettable part of most 3D plat-formers (that would be the part where you jump from platform to platform, hence the name of the genre).
  • Sonic Mania: It is hard to imagine a good Sonic game coming out in 2017 but that is exactly what happened. It was pretty clear to me for a few years that Sega could not be trusted to make a good game with the blue blur and that some one else with an untainted mind needed to come in and save the day for this much miss used hedgehog. Sonic Mania comes off as the 2D Sonic game for the Sega Saturn that we never had or even knew that we wanted. The game combines old style levels and new ones in a compelling package that is more than just nostalgia service. Sonic mania shows why 2D platforming still exists and is still a blast to play. I look forward to what ever christian Whitehead (the main developer) has in store for Sonic next.
  • Cuphead: My most anticipated game this year by far is also by a greater distance the best. I still cannot believe I got to play this game. To look this good and to control this well and be oozing with so much style and substance is astonishing. This is the game IO show to people who have no knowledge or interest in video games and tell them, "look at how good this looks" and I explain to them how it is all hand drawn and is inspired from 1930 cartoons and the like. I don't know if it is reasonable to expect a sequel to this game anytime soon, or if ever, but I do very much want one anyway.
  • Yooka-Laylee: At the same time that Snake pass came out, it much more widely know game was came out from a kick starter campaign aimed at recreating the Banjo Kazooie style by the Ex Rare people who made them to begin with. I bought the game on a Black Friday sale for about 8 bucks and played through it late in the year (hence the lack of a dedicated post as I was busy with other things). I had no expectations going into this game and no nostalgia for the games that inspired it. I enjoyed most of the time I played it and felt it was a reasonably nice game to play at a leisurely pace. The last boss did sour me quite a bit on the whole game as it did reveal just how flawed it is but leading up to that point when only a small number of those problems (camera, collision detection, flying controls, annoying AI patterns, ect.) presented themselves at time it was easier to ignore them. I felt it was worth playing through but bear in mind that I spent only 8 US dollars to do so.

Oculus Rift

I spent much of this year not really being able to take advantage of my new PC that I built last year. Most of the things that I throw at it have been too easy for it. As mentioned earlier I had planned to get a VR head set. When I saw the Oculus Rift with the touch controllers on sale for $400 I decided to take the plunge into the virtual world. I can say that I am reasonable impressed with the hardware. Thankfully my set up with my living room where the PC and TV are located is right next to my dining room, which was easily converted into a small room scale space. The games that have impressed me the most are Robo Recall, Super Hot VR, and Rez Infinite. I might go into a more in depth post about my VR experience and set up later down the road, we shall see.

Project Scorpio

In perhaps what one would consider my most questionable decisions I purchased and Xbox One X, specifically the project Scorpio edition. I finally got tire of playing most of my games at a sub 1080p resolution, which is what my launch model Xbox One was mostly putting out. This was more of a future proofing buy as I knew I would eventually get a 4K OLED TV. Even with my PC the fact is I do most of my gaming on my Xbox as that is where I have the most games ( I do download every Games with Gold game every month after all).

Sega CD

With the purchase of my Scorpio I was able to trade in my launch Xbox One for a Sega CD. I have been wanting one for a few years now and with a near black Friday sale I was able to execute this trade. there are a few games for the system that I would like to see with my RGB Scart to HDMI upscaler. This was mostly are neat thing to get that ended up not costing any money as the regular trade value that I would have gotten for my Xbone what have barely netted me a game.

Overall it was a pretty interesting year that I had in gaming in 2017. I manage to play plenty of neat and interesting games, get my hands on some new hardware, discover a new hobby (or maybe more, one can dream after all) and do so while still doing good on the budget front. I plan on doing a post about what I hope/ expect from 2018 in gaming. Needless to say I very much look forward to the new year in gaming.

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