Immediately you might notice that I have changed the title of this column, and you might also have noticed that it’s been two weeks.  I do apologize for that but work set in, I got fed a few new projects and my depression and the feeling of burnt out returned.  I barely want to even watch anything I normally do at this point and to prove my point I am way behind on wrestling…I need to check WWE Network, but I’m probably about 3-4 weeks behind.  I miss NXT and NXT UK.

I have watched a few movies and series in the last couple of weeks.  Me and my wife did binge a couple of things on HBO Max (finally using that subscription) including the Flight Attendant (very good, quite surprised me) and the Undoing which I think my wife liked more than I did.  Not that I don’t like Nicole Kidman or Hugh Grant (in the right roles) but it didn’t quite leave me satisfied.

On the movie front, I watched Bad Times at the El Royale and loved it.  Seriously, Jeff Bridges was fantastic, and honestly I don’t have a bad thing to say about any of the characters really.  They all fit nicely, and there was a few good twists and turns too.  Saw Peabody and Sherman, didn’t care for it, but my son liked it.  I’ll ditch the disc and keep the digital code on that one.  By the same token, I saw Long Way North, enjoyed it a great deal and my son could care less about it.

Last night I started a movie named Blind Date (1984) and its not very good so far.  Yeah, it has a lot of pretty girls (including Kristie Alley in her prime), but the story is not there for me at all (maybe it will pick up).  I just hope it doesn’t end up as bad as White Bird in a Blizzard was (I literally turned that off half an hour in).  I do find as I get older, my tolerance for bad movies is starting to get thin (especially now that I don’t have to write reviews for them).   I just have so many movies unwatched that I need some way to get through them.  I also need to find a more reliable way of getting rid of them as well once I’m done with the okay to terrible ones but that’s an ongoing issue in this COVID world that we are living in.  (All of the swap shops with the exception of a few random book stores have closed up)

On the video game front, I have only been playing Skyrim.  As far as recent events, I am level 13.  I’ve already abandoned the main quest (again) and started to do the Thieves Guild quests only to stop mid-stream and switch to College of Winterhold since I never messed with those due to an early glitch in the 360 version that I could never overcome.  Now keep in mind, my magic is absolute shite but its not like when it comes to Skyrim I can’t just think ways around various scenarios.  At least for a while anyway, and worst case scenario is that I just keep improving my skills which I have never found gets me in too much trouble when it comes to this game.

If you are looking for a cheap game this weekend on your Xbox, feel free to check out the sales:

https://majornelson.com/2021/01/11/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-191/

Ignoring the 360 games because if you don’t have Bound by Flame and Mars: War Logs by now, seriously you don’t pay attention to any of the sales at all.   There are a few interesting Xbox One games to look at here.  Once upon a time, I actually reviewed a game called Stranger of Sword City which never seems to go on sale and can be had for a mere $10 now (it’s normally $40).  It’s pure Japanese Dungeon type RPG but it’s done pretty well and will keep your attention for a quite a while if you are into those type of games.  There are also a lot of board games here including Monopoly and Boggle.  I somewhat want to blow $4 just to play Uno again, but I probably should just pick up a deck of cards and try to teach my son again, actually that’s probably a much better idea.

As with most corporate professionals, I suppose I could spend $3 and some change to play Doug Hates his Job but no thanks.  By the way, be sure to pick up your free Games with Gold this month.  Dead Rising is now available along with Breakdown for the original Xbox.  Also, even though its not advertised, Frontline: Fuels of War is also free as are two pieces of DLC for that game.  So be sure to pick all of those up since you paid for your subscription anyway.  I’ll probably be trying to find a few minutes this weekend to play some more Skyrim though I am tempted to also try Torchlight III which just became available on Game Pass.  Have a great weekend, and enjoy.

Peggle 2 as I predicted is ticking me off.  It’s not that it is too hard or taxing my fingers, it’s just the headaches have returned and I’m begging for it to be over.  I only have half a dozen objectives left and then I can call it quits but I’m trying to do so before the New Year.  Then I can put it away for a very long time unless the DLC goes on sale for a $1 or something (which hopefully isn’t for six months at least)

I did play Skyrim for a hot minute over the past week, pick pocketing and sneaking my way to level 5.  Once a thief, always a thief.  I think I shot a few arrows too, it’s amazing how fluid this game is on Xbox One X.  I don’t think I ever want to go back to Xbox 360 for that particular game even if I have a ridiculous high level save there.  I have no idea how long it will take me to get even close to what I was on the 360 version but playing it here and there seems to be the best idea.

I did get a few games for Christmas including Control Ultimate Edition, Cyberpunk 2077 and Cloudpunk.  Obviously, I’ll wait on Cyberpunk as I see no reason to throw myself into bug hell.  I do have confidence it will turn out to be an amazing game (and I pity those who jumped off the bridge so quickly and got refunds), but I also believe that it will be about six months before we get there.  Control and Cloudpunk are already pretty well vetted and mostly bug free so I imagine I would play one of those first.

If you are looking for sales, then be sure to visit the following link for this week.

https://majornelson.com/2020/12/28/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-plus-the-countdown-sale-2/

There really isn’t much to be had that’s new (since this is the last week of the Countdown sale) on the 360 side.  A good point of interest is that the DLC for ArcaniA(not backwards compatible) is on sale.  The Raven DLCs (also not BC) are also on sale if you never got around to finishing those.  On the Xbox One side, there is as usual tons to go through but I’m kinda taking a look at Bear with Me which for the complete collection is under $5 now (and I do have Microsoft Rewards to burn).  On the retro end but updated for Xbox One, I do want to make a quick mention and remind you that Doom 64 is still only $1.49 for the rest of the week.  It’s normally only $5 but at that price, it’s easily worth the nostalgia trip.  Have a great New Year week and Enjoy.

Still playing through Peggle 2, I’m about 40 optional objectives away from completion.  And it’s started, the I’ve played this level five times and can’t quite get this objective.  Which is what I didn’t want to happen because the headaches started.  So, I will probably be using the bug to get through the rest of them fairly soon.  As mentioned previously, I did the 360 version 100% clean and hated myself for it.  2020 has been a messed up year and I really don’t care how I finish certain games and Peggle 2 is certainly one of them.

2020 has been such a messed up year that last night I finally decided to start Skyrim on Xbox One due to game pass.  Now keep in mind, I actually own the Xbox 360 Legendary Edition, the Xbox One version w/steelbook, the giant three hardback set of the “Histories”, two different hardback guides, the hardback art book, the signed by the composer 4-cd soundtrack set, and I even have a freaking Skyrim blanket that I got on Gamestop clearance a while back (which my son has claimed and uses to turn his figures into “Venomized” versions of their former selves, I’m not making this up).  So you would think I play the game all the time.  Well I did for roughly about 3 years off and on from 2012 to 2015 on the 360.

However, I had never played the Xbox One special edition.  I knew it would be a time suck, I very well knew it could be the only game I could touch for the next 6 months without batting an eye.  But I did it anyway.  Playing it on the Xbox One came so naturally, even after not touching it for 5 years, I could still pick locks with little to no effort.  I played a Dark Elf (cause I almost always play Elves given the opportunity) and had fun getting through the first quest.  And true to form, I even pick-pocketed the guy that was guiding me (hey I needed arrows!).  Like I didn’t miss a step.  I need to work on my sword play, but then I always stuck to stealth and arrows when I played the 360 game too.

Anyway, I could go on for days about Skyrim.  You want sales, we got sales.

https://majornelson.com/2020/12/21/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-plus-the-countdown-sale/

Actually, I already participated in the sales.  Got Life is Strange complete edition and then went over to NewEgg and got codes for Sleeping Dogs, Life is Strange: Before the Storm (deluxe) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (deluxe) since they were about 50 to 60 cents cheaper than Xbox store counterparts.  Much like Skyrim, I know I’ll play Sleeping Dogs again.  Life is Stranges were bought because I have the limited editions and don’t really feel like opening them up if you catch my drift.  Shadow of the Tomb Raider looked fun from the gameplay video I saw.  There really isn’t much from a 360 point of view as all of the titles have been on sale before which is unfortunate considering that a large portion of the BC catalog doesn’t go on sale, ever.  However, be sure to take a look and hope you find something that you are wanting.  Have a great Christmas Week/Happy Holidays.  Enjoy.

To be honest, I did not do much video gaming this past week.  You would think with the holidays coming around I would have a little less to do.  Actually that’s the far opposite and I’ve been feeling about as stressed when it comes to my actual job more than ever.  I hope it smooths out in the coming year because I’m not sure I can keep up the pace for very much longer if you catch my drift.

Anyway, I did play a little bit of Peggle 2 as I try to complete optional objectives and 100% the Xbox One version (minus the DLC which I have no interest in).  I’m hesitant to start another game before the end of the year and try to focus on and see if I can complete anything that’s open (like Broken Sword V).  But as I mentioned I have very little energy, even on the weekends because of the overwhelming stress.  It’s frustrating.

We do have some sales this week however, but not too many.

https://majornelson.com/2020/12/14/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-190/

The Xbox One sales are smaller than usual and the Xbox 360 is virtually non-existent except for Call of the Juarez and the almost usual Bound by Flame, Faery and RAW (last of which is not backwards compatible).  Spiders (who put out Bound by Flame and Faery) do know how to make a good RPG so don’t be put off by the near bottom barrel pricing.  Have a great rest of the week and enjoy.

Well, I 100% NHL 94 Rewind, and in fairly easy fashion as well.  The only tough part was the achievement where you had to actually be behind with 3 minutes to go, then pull your goalie and win the game.  The problem was that I played so effortlessly (from the tons of hours of playing the original), that losing on purpose was actually hard at first before I remembered I could skate basically into my own net.  After that, it only took a few tries to make it happen.  I did have a good chuckle at all of the comments that said it was hard to score in this game.  Apparently they weren’t old enough to remember this game in the first place and furthermore weren’t aware of the angles that make scoring fairly easy.

Moving on to Peggle 2 for Xbox One.  I have now beat all 60 levels and their 60 trials.  I am over half on the objectives.  That might get completed by Christmas, it might not.  I’m not going to force it and have the headache to go with it.  I kinda want to play River City Girls next, but I looked this up today and realized that River City Ransom actually got a $5 port for Xbox One?  Why do I not have this?  This is my favorite game on the NES of all time.  Even if it takes about as much time as NHL 94 Rewind, it’s still worth the $5 effort (supposedly this is part of a collection on the Switch).

Here are the sales for this week:

https://majornelson.com/2020/12/07/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-189/

There isn’t too much going on here to be honest.  But I guess there again had to be some sort of let down as we get closer to the actual Christmas holiday.  Far Cry and the usual assortment of Tom Clancy adventures.  On the Xbox One side, unfortunately I’m going to hold out on the Mafia remasters until the UK Trilogy disc gets to a reasonable price (at this point it would still cost me about $50 including shipping to get it here).  UK corporate shipping prices are absolutely ridiculous ever since COVID.  They have absolutely no reason to charge $20 for one game to get shipped here.  My only hope is that some third party seller gets a copy and charges a reasonable price for that service.  Anyway, hope you have a great weekend and enjoy.

Well, over the last week I needed a new game to play and I fell into a trap.  Game Pass now of course has EA Games to play and I spotted Peggle 2.  I figured since I aced the 360 version, let’s do it with the Xbox One version.  Now, while from what I can tell I still have “it” so to speak and have blasted through 40 levels and trials, I forgot how much of a physical headache it causes.  I’m sleeping worse than usual, truth be told.  I really don’t want to go past beating the game and it’s trials if I don’t have to (meaning I have little desire to complete the optional objectives).

Thankfully, to get me out of my rut when I was looking around last night, I saw a wonderful thing.  NHL 94 Rewind.  Full disclosure, I played the living crap out of this game on the Sega Genesis when I was in my college years along with 93, 95, and any NHL game up to about 98 before it got a little “too real” for me.  Now, some 25+ years later, you want to relive that time with achievements?  Sign me the heck up.  And I played it for about an hour last night, and I freaking love it.  Of course, it’s updated with new rosters (no Jaromir Jagr or Mario Lemieux unfortunately) but it still has the same gameplay that I love so much.  I will be 100% this game, and I will love every minute of it.

Anyway, here are the sales for this week – https://majornelson.com/2020/11/30/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-plus-black-friday-cyber-monday-sale-2/

On the Xbox 360 side, some Far Cry, some old school Assassin’s Creed, some Blood Knights but nothing too much unfortunately.  I guess that is to be expected for the drop off from Black Friday/Cyber Monday.  Note, if you get swayed easy by games that are cheap like Alien Spidy, don’t get it.  It has plenty of broken achievements and apparently isn’t even a good game.  Now, I did buy Anna and it’s pretty decent so you might want to pick it up because it’s not on sale all the time (but it’s not BC though).  On the Xbox One side, I did pick up Eventide Collection because good easy point and clicks are good for me every once in a while.  Anyway, have a good weekend and enjoy.

Well, I was able to nab the final two achievements of Streets of Rogue and I can say it was a much deserved completion.  Not my favorite game of the year, but in the top 5 for sure (still think Sparklite or Yoku’s Island Express are probably my favorite games of the year).  Since then, I haven’t played a thing.  I’ve watched some movies, read some books, and kinda taking a week off along with Thanksgiving.  After November is done, I’m sure I will start on something else but it’s nice to have the break.

Here are the current sales for the week – https://majornelson.com/2020/11/23/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-plus-black-friday-cyber-monday-sale/

If you sort by DWG (Deals with Gold) which separates the Black Friday sales I mentioned last week, you’ll be able to see the new sales games.  All of the Rayman games are on sale as well as Brothers in Arms along with some non BC games like Omerta and Arcania.  Port Royale 3 is also on sale at $3.99 and BC which isn’t on sale very often so it might be worth the pickup.  But be warned on that game it is a long completion (50-60 hours according to estimates) and it does have three pieces of DLC as well ($2.99 each).

Do not pickup Stacking as it will be a Games with Gold next month.  I unfortunately picked up that game a long time ago and never played a lick of it.  Shame on me I suppose.  Anyway, have a great holiday weekend if you are in the US like me, hopefully others get some fun out of this time of the year as well.  Enjoy.

This week, outside of being ridiculously busy, I decided to hold back the sales post until the Black Friday sales were a part of it which I knew were coming.  Furthermore, it’s taking me a lot of effort to put in these sales and I think a simple link would probably be best going forward.  Besides, I plan to revamp the site a bit soon and this will probably be one of the causalities.  I honestly am not sure if anyone really appreciates it and it might be better if this just serves as a blog for reviews, writing, and random thoughts.

I am still playing Streets of Rogue, I am up to 48 of the 50 achievements leaving just a couple at this point.  Basically, it will just require beating the game one last time to get the bad ending and then I’ll be done.  I don’t really have a “next” game in mind currently.  I would like to find time to go back and finish off Broken Sword V and Tell Me Why properly (at least the former), but we’ll see what happens.  I might just jump into another game where I can play it for 20 to 30 minutes at a time instead of trying to find time for a 2 hour session (which I never seem to have these days) which is what Broken Sword and Tell Me Why are going to require.

I will say the site does have an Instagram now (click the link at the top) but will be mostly dedicated to various media purchases I make.  However, some might find it interesting as we move forward.

Alright, so here are the sales –

https://majornelson.com/2020/11/16/this-weeks-deals-with-gold-and-spotlight-sale-188/

A general warning, be sure to check previous pricing if possible….some of these I believe have been cheaper (or the same) in the past and these kind of sales usually are for the casual and not the one who has been hoping for “X” game to go on sale.  With that said, the Oblivion prices for the DLC are probably the best I have seen at a mere $2.99 for Shivering Isles (and $1.49 for Knights of Nine).  Lots of Tom Clancy and lots of Fallout are also here.  But as I say many times, if you don’t have the Fallout GOTY/Ultimate discs, something is seriously wrong with you (or you are just not able to collect physical media perhaps).  Anyway, just go slow, make a list of what you want and then do some research before finalizing your purchases.  Have a good week and enjoy.