November saw a mind-blowing 76 new releases across all platforms! It seems like every publisher once again wanted to make sure to hit that precious buying-window for Christmas. That doesn't make sense anymore considering most of the stuff is only available for download anyway. What if the only thing under the tree is a gift card for your favorite online store? But old habits die hard, as they say.
Today is the official Extra Life Game Day, so obviously, we'll be playing way too many co-op video games, and hopefully raising more donations for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals! Come hang out with us on our Twitch channel, and more importantly, please shoot us a donation!
The point 'n' click adventure genre isn't especially known for innovation. The main gameplay gimmick is in the name, after all. Once in a blue moon, however, some developer comes along and tries something different, like way back in 2004 when the Spanish developer Alcachofa Soft released their title Mortadelo y Filemón: Una Aventura de Cine, which featured LAN/online co-op for two players (the Steam release changed it to local co-op only). Was it janky, and did it suffer from soft-locks due to accidental sequence breaking? Yes. Was it still an awesome and unique experience? Definitely. We don't know of any other point 'n' click adventure ever trying the same before or after that, until this month when COWCAT added 4-player local co-op (!) to their already unique "Punch & Click" Adventure, BROK the InvestiGator. What a very nice surprise.
I'm sure many of you know the saying "Never change a running system". And it is still great advice. But sometimes you are forced to change. Like for example when your hoster wants to decommission the old hardware and switch you over to a new server. In theory nothing special and even beneficial. Yes, it was a bit unfortunate that we had to make that merge during the week of Tokyo Games Show since the Database Master couldn't do any work during that time. But on 9/23 everything was moved over and he was able to clear the backlog in a couple of hours. All seemed good at the end of the day.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem debuted in theaters over the summer, receiving critical acclaim and launching an extremely successful toy line. Given the popularity of the film (not to mention that of TMNT: Shredder's Revenge), it comes as no surprise that a video game tie-in is in the works. And who is more likely to deliver that game than Outright Games, the English developer responsible for licensed titles like Paw Patrol World and Baby Shark: Sing & Swim Party? Alright, so the Mutant Mayhem game is likely to be targeted at kids, but more TMNT games are always welcome!
Let's face it: The big thing in August was Baldur's Gate III. There is no way to sugarcoat it. This month saw 30XX finally leaving Early Access on Steam, the surprise releases of the QUAKE II-Remaster and Age of Empires IV for Xbox, the addition of local co-op to the founder of a new genre (Vampire Survivors) and even the long-awaited (?) return of a much beloved (citation needed) German video game icon (TM). But none could overshadow the (fully earned) success of Larian's juggernaut CRPG. Considering how stacked this month was, not just in terms of co-op titles, that's quite a feat.
Ah, July... such a calm month compared to the "Not-E3-craziness" of June. The database master "only" added 98 new entries to the database, many of which were older titles we were still missing, like all the shoot'em ups by famed Japanese developer Triangle Service.
We're huge fans of the Steam Deck around here. Valve's portable gaming device is only slightly larger than a Nintendo Switch, but it packs a massive punch and can run countless Steam games smoothly. Heck, I recently installed a 2TB SSD in my Deck so that I can take more games with me on the go. JSAUX is a company that produces numerous Steam Deck accessories, the latest of which include two RGB docking stations and an RGB backplate for the Deck itself.
Yes, it's Prime Day, so Amazon has tons of killer deals available right now. With so many sales going on at once, it can be hard to find just what you need. That's why we're spotlighting the HyperX gaming gear that's currently marked down for Prime Day. The dale includes three headsets, two condenser microphones, a mouse, and a mechanical keyboard - all marked down from $20-40, today only.
Oh boy, what a month! The eyes of our Database Master are strained from watching all those showcases, and his fingers are sore from entering everything relevant into our database. The result is a stunning increase of 271 new entries. For comparison: June 2021 only saw an addition of 179 entries. So the amount of co-op fodder announced definitely increased this year, even if we factor out the "normal" releases we are adding each month.
This year's Xbox Games Showcase event featured a number of game announcements but relatively few surprises. One welcome surprise, however, came right at the end of the event. Phil Spencer announced a new version of Microsoft's popular Xbox Series S console that will come in black and feature a 1TB SSD. That's a lot more storage for only $50 more than the regular Series S!
Turtle Beach is back with a new headset in their Stealth lineup, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro. This time positioning itself as a premium option in the wireless market to compete with the likes of Astro Gaming A50s and the Steel Series Nova Pro. Having tested over a dozen headsets in the past few years, it's becoming harder and harder to see what truly sets these apart from each other.
