Okay, first thing’s first. In DL’s absence for the month, I’ll be hosting October’s Mario Kart 8 on the Eighth. This month’s theme? Shells, because “shell” rhymes with “hell,” and look; it’s not like I can just make us play on nothing but Twisted Mansion.

Breath of the Wild was very good with that. Mechanics are mostly intuitive, as are the controls - for instance, you’ve got one dedicated that always functions as an “aerial” move, whether jumping in the air, on a cliff, or just pulling out your parachute The only particularly cumbersome technique is shield surfing,…

A desire on the part of Warner Bros. Interactive executives to have players caress their genitals?

Yeah, Pokémon Picross took over a year for me to finish, and while it never took over my life, it was this incredibly consistent presence - the only time I didn’t play it were the two days I was in the hospital, and it felt so comfortable coming back to it.

It’s pretty much what Derrick said, but the one thing I’ve found disappointing is that unlike Pokémon and Twilight Princess Picross, there doesn’t seem to be a giant 64 part super-puzzle. Other than that, it’s pretty much Picross.

While I wonder aloud what game to which Gerardi is referring, I’m going to start this off by one bit of housecleaning: due to DL unfortunately being unavailable to do so in October, I’ll be taking over the next Mario Kart 8 on the Eighth. I’ll provide a screen capture and details for it on next week’s WAYPTW and…

I’ve not played either version of Destiny, and really few online-required multiplayer games in general, but these seemingly onerous demands do stick with me as a major issue with game design. I get that there are specific experiences that require this kind of time commitment, and pulling it off could result in an…

I feel like every Games Done Quick event has at least one record broken - the Symphony of the Night one last SGDQ, for instance. Not that it’s something to regularly expect, but it’s fun when it happens. And yeah; it’s really lovely to see this community around gaming be so fundamentally good, with only the occasional…

It’s proof positive that the best - well, at least the most cohesive - RPGs are the ones with a small, manageable cast. While the requirements of “Mario and at least one Rabbid” do cut down on the possibilities, sadly, it’s great to combine everyone’s powers in really exciting ways. At times it almost feels like…

Actually, I...already have it. I’ve just kept pushing playing it back and back. It’s probably high time to finally start the thing.

And thus, the main “campaign” (even after hearing the term used to describe the “story mode” way back for the first Halo, I’ve still never gotten accustomed to the term), for the wonderful Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle has come to an end. It’s been a really fun game, not just through its great combat and atmosphere…

He reviewed Breath of the Wild for the site, on Switch. I can imagine feeling afraid of breaking the small joysticks in a heated battle, though.

I’m happy the conversion seems to be good. I missed DOOM the first time around, and it’ll be nice having it on Switch, both for the potential of portability and, if I’m being honest, the crazy novelty of an Id Software title on a Nintendo console again. As much as I loved the indie support Nintendo got on the Wii U…

Speaking as a librarian, I say we could definitely use far more games about the Information Sciences. Even using mechanics in that vein would definitely do a lot for investigation and mystery games.

This was a really rough week for me. A lot of psychological pain and angst, and it was hard to find much comfort there. Thankfully, while it wasn’t a total cure and did lose its effectiveness over the week, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle has been helping me. I finished the third boss - the opera singing Phantom -…

The leak about it being an XCOM ripoff was the first thing that made me think more positively about the concept. Because okay, a crossover between those two sounds awful...but it’s such a weird idea, that it had to be really good. It’s too damn weird to not be.

Getting away from the discussion of Another Metroid 2 Remake, I’d like to talk about the game’s relative quiet. Anthony discussed this last year in regards to the wordier opening of Metroid Prime, and while I stand by PaganPoet, Jakeoti, Merlin, and DL with our disagreement on how it affected the game, I also can’t…

So I’ve been playing more of the game, and while I still stand by my quote, I will give the game this: while the non-combat sections do feel like you’re engaging with the world through a barrier (mostly because you are), the game does have one really great tactile element. And that’s the jumping system, when…

*C’mon, man; just remember this time. It's the first Kinja MK8OT8TH, and you gotta be there. Don't forget this time...*

Everyone else has lauded this (excellent) post, so I just wanted to say good luck out there during the storm.