Mister Jack

Bone is getting a Netflix show! I am ecstatic about this. Bone is probably my favorite graphic novel series of all time but it's struggled to ever get a proper adaptation for close to 30 years now. They tried to make a movie but the executives wanted to "kiddify" it and fill it with pop stars and other garbage so that never happened. Telltale made the first two volumes into games then never continued. Now it seems like it's finally going to get the adaptation it deserves.

I would actually put Joker in the lower end of good, although I never got around to doing so. A thing I have seen a lot with criticisms of the film is the notion that this Joker doesn't feel like a threat to Batman or that there's no good way to tie it into the DCEU. Even if that's true, I tried to form my opinion based on this film as a standalone movie rather than as the beginning of a franchise. I know that can be hard with how much cinematic universe crap gets shoved down our throats these days, but if you judge the film's based purely on its own merits as a singular movie I think it's pretty decent.

Yeah, nah, fuck that. They expect me to believe that if Blitzchung had come out and said, I dunno, "trans rights now!" or something that they would have penalized him the same? I don't believe that for one minute. Suspending the casters is still a cowardly move when I'm pretty sure they had no idea what the dude was about to say. For god's sake they ducked under the table after he said it. Let's not forget the bootlicking apology their Chinese branch made and the fact that an American team recently did the same thing Blitzchung did and yet they were curiously not punished by Blizzard at all. Oh, and now this is rich. From the looks of it that apology post saying that the decision had nothing to do with China was posted from China.

My god, Iceborne adds so many improvements to Monster Hunter World that I don't know if I could ever go back to playing the vanilla version on another platform. That's not even getting into all the new content. There are QoL improvements in here I never even realized I wanted. Why the hell are actual expansions like this such a rare thing now? It may have cost more but there is way more bang for the buck here than almost any 15-20 dollar DLC chapter I've played in other games.

My third M510 mouse died yesterday. It sucks because the M510 is comfortable and has nice, big buttons on the side but the build quality is total crap. Fortunately I had a warranty on it, which I used to apply the cost to the M720. If you want a wireless mouse with side buttons that isn't 100+ dollars then Logitech is practically the only game in town whether you like it or not. I settled with this one primarily because it's supposed to be rated for ten million clicks. We'll see if that holds true, but for now I do like having an extra invisible button on the left side. I've got it programmed as a middle click for now since clicking scroll wheels can always be a little finicky.

THE HUNT CONTINUES

Aside from Spyro I had also been considering the Crash Team Racing remake when the price dropped but forget that. I also dabbled in Overwatch every now and then and I had played a lot of Diablo 3 with the intention of getting 4 when it came out but no. I may not have a lot but I can honestly say that I stick to my guns when I boycott something. I haven't bought an EA game since Titanfall 2 and I got that for five dollars. Maybe it's only a drop in the bucket but I can still feel good about not compromising my principles. Of course, as gross as microtransactions are, Chinese pandering is still far, far worse.

Can anyone recommend a good wireless mouse? Something that will last for a long time and has at least two extra buttons on the side? I've been using the Logitech M510 for a while now which is frustrating because it's comfortable and works very well for a while but it keeps fucking breaking! I've been through three of these things now and only kept using it because it was always covered by warranty, but I think I need to start looking at alternatives. I'd like to keep it under $100, but I am willing to spend a little more if it means I can get something that doesn't fall apart in a year.

That sounds fucking great. I would love to see Overwatch get banned in China over this if it gets big enough. Even if Blizzard tries to take a half-measure by simply deleting Mei, one of the most popular characters in the game, it would still result in an absolutely enormous scandal. Yes, please. Make Mei into an icon for Hong Kong independence. Make memes into dreams.

So what do you guys make of Activision-Blizzard banning that Hearthstone tournament winner from Hong Kong who called for HK independence during his victory interview? Because if you ask me, it kinda makes me sick. American companies bowing down before Chinese censorship is already a big pet peeve of mine, but most of the time it was just something annoying and minor like removing or altering characters or plot elements in films and video games. This is much more important than that, though. This is about actual oppression of the people of Hong Kong and Blizzard decided to bend the knee for those Chinese dollars. It's so pathetic and cynical and I've pretty much resolved not to buy any more Activision-Blizzard games unless they get their act together, which isn't very fucking likely. I wasn't buying many in the first place, granted. I think the last one I got was the Spyro trilogy? Still, I'm washing my hands of them. Enjoy your Chinese blood money, Blizzard.

Curious about what you mean by this. I just saw it too and I thought it was pretty decent. I didn't love it, but I'm guessing I probably enjoyed it more than you did, even if I agree with some of your other points.

From Tom Holland's Instagram

Final season. I'm glad, actually. Originally the creator said he was going to keep the show going for as long as he had ideas for it, but that always sets off a red flag in my head. The last season went in such a way that I feel like the best thing to do is to wind things down and give it a good ending rather than dragging it out for the sake of it.

Spider-Man is back in the MCU Go back to your lives, people. Nothing more to see.

Ninja Gaiden (NES) Jesus fucking Christ, this is by far the hardest game I've ever beaten in my life, but for the wrong reasons. I've been playing this off and on for half a year on the NES Classic, trying to finally finish it just so I could say I did. The thing about this game is that the first five stages aren't even really all that hard. At least, they weren't for me. Reasonably challenging, yes, but nothing I couldn't handle. Then you get to stage 6 and everything goes to hell. This is the game that forced me to confront the fact that Ninja Gaiden just isn't very well programmed. There are way too enemies who will instantly respawn once you kill them, and they will keep respawning until the end of time. Whenever you get hit you just so happen to get knocked toward the nearest pit regardless of which way you were facing when you got hit. But the thing I absolutely cannot forgive is that if you die even one time to the final boss (who is a mother fucker) on stage 6-4 you get sent back to stage 6-1 even if you still have lives left. They don't even have the courtesy of refilling your health when you enter the boss room! This, by far, is why it took so long for me to beat this damn game. Not only will you probably have to beat stage 6, one of the hardest levels ever made, multiple times, but you need to get all the way to 6-4 with health and preferably items to spare if you want to even stand a chance. This game is crazy stingy with its items too, and naturally if you die a single time you not only lose the items you're carrying but the energy you've collected for your subweapon is chopped in half. Oh, and fuck this jump straight to hell. This might be the hardest platforming jump in all of gaming because that knife thrower and that stupid bird NEVER STOP RESPAWNING. The only way I could consistently get past it--and I probably had to get through it about 30 times--is by glitching the knife thrower off of the screen before making the jump. Even then you still have to kill the bird mid-jump with perfect timing. Beating Ninja Gaiden is a nightmare and if it didn't have unlimited continues I probably wouldn't have been able to beat it for the rest of my life. Sheer perseverance got me through this one and I doubt I'd even be able to repeat it, but at least I can say I've beaten it now.

Not with those convex face buttons they didn't.

Nice. I'll probably wait after release for a bit to make sure the ring isn't some flimsy piece of crap and then pick it up at some point.

Well if the bundle isn't crazy overpriced I might actually get this, more for the fitness reasons than the game itself. I actually lost somewhere between five and ten pounds doing Wii Fit on a regular basis (I forget the exact number) and if I can get those kinds of results here then that's a steal. I don't have enough space for any kind of workout machines and gym memberships are too expensive. I can't even really go jogging because I live in a bad area. The most I'd be willing to pay is maybe 79.99 though.

Watch them charge sixty dollars for something you could probably DIY at home for twenty.

I could be down if the price is right. I don't think I want to pay 60 bucks for it if this is all it is, though.

Aeris is now Aerith again. I was wondering how they'd handle that.

It Chapter 2 So this one veers a little closer to just being okay than it does to being great, but I still think it manages to edge its way into this thread. The child actors came back for some new flashback scenes and they were just as good as they were in the first one. The new actors for the adult versions do an admirable job as well, and Bill Skarsgaard turns in another impressive performance. The acting is the strongest part of this movie. The writing is a bit uneven, though. There's a character who adds pretty much nothing to the story, but he's in there because he was in the book. Sometimes there is comic relief during parts that are supposed to be scary and some of the CG is less than impressive. It also feels just a little bit too long. They probably could have shaved off maybe 15 or 20 minutes and still been okay. Make no mistake, there are some rough edges with this film, but I still had a good time and I'm glad I saw it. I think people who liked the last one will like this one too if they keep their expectations in check.

They'll probably use the RE2 Remake engine for it. I mean, they went to all that trouble to put it together. A co-op game in that style could be pretty fun.