The 2024 World Series has come to an end. I’ve been looking forward to the Yankees in a World Series for a decade and a half now. I didn’t think I’d get to see it with the poor relieving pitching the Yankees acquired after trading for Juan Soto. But, after seeing the hitting power of him, I began to accept it, and watched the Yankees move their way to a pennant victory. It was a hard fought series at least it seemed for the Yankees as the Dodgers dominated them in just about every way. There might need to be major changes for the Yankee ball club if they want to see the World Series in 2025.

The Yankees did good overall this year. I wouldn’t say they did great since there were quite a few 90+ game winning teams in league along with them. They did clench the winning record lead, but it wasn’t easily obtained. The Dodgers looked more dominant in their league, and it’s hard to admit that Shohei Ohtani may be a better player than Aaron Judge as a Yankees fan. He didn’t have the hitting prowess as Judge, but he goes neck and neck with him in that category, and he’s better in other fields of his game like base stealing and let’s not forget he’s a good pitcher. The Yankees had been trying to acquire Ohtani for quite some time, but he’s locked into the Dodger ball club for the foreseeable future with his $700 million dollar contract. We won’t see a generational talent like Ohtani ever again in our lifetime. We get a few Judges every generation like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa from previous generations. We get someone like Ohtani every century. It’s going to be hard for the Yankees to come up with a solution for the Dodgers next season because Ohtani is not the only imposing force on that team.

I didn’t watch a lot of Dodgers games because I was mainly focused on the Yankees, but what I saw in the World Series made the Yankees seem like they were outclassed. There’s always talk about Ohtani, but then there was Freddie Freeman who is truly the World Series’ MVP. I was waiting for his hot streak to cool off after hitting so many homeruns to let the Yankees catch their breath, but he never did. Although Giancarlo Stanton wasn’t on the level of Freeman during the series, he really stepped up to the plate and became a clutch player. I was not expecting that from after having such a lukewarm season. It was vice versa for Aaron Judge, however. I was expecting him to eclipse his homerun record this season, and he almost managed to make a triple crown again. But, he did not show up to the plate this postseason again. He’s the Alex Rodriquez of this generation. Both players put up great numbers during the regular season, but when it comes time for the postseason they end up choking. I wish the Yankees can recruit more clutch players in the postseason, but that’s difficult for any general manager to figure out for any ball club.

The Yankees biggest weakness is their relieving pitching. They gave up a lot of good relievers to acquire Soto, and it did pay off. It got them to the World Series. Yankees have the most money in baseball and can probably recruit some decent relievers to their team. Soto is a free agent, and there’s talks of paying him a $600 million contract. I don’t know if even the Yankees can afford that with Judge on the team. But, if does decide to leave that would loosen up a lot of change for the Yankees to recruit some better pitching. But, the Yankees need Soto. Them getting to the World Series after 15 years being absent is a testament to that. With generational talent like Ohtani, and Freeman who is enhanced by postseason time, the Yankees need a power hitting team along with not good, but great pitching to back them up. The Yankees may also need a new manager. Aaron Boone has made some big mistakes during the World Series. He doesn’t make good decisions when it comes time to change pitching. Brining in Nestor Cortez after being off duty for over a month is what really sparked the onslaught from the Dodgers. There were other times where I thought he should’ve left a pitcher in and taken some out.

My hopes for the Yankees are that they get better relieving pitching. The starting pitching is good, not great. But, I don’t think any team in the MLB has overall great starting pitching. The Yankees have superstar Gerrit Cole, and the Carlos Rodon as their top pitchers. But, the rest of the pitching squad is decent to good with somewhat weak armed, but good control pitchers like Cortez and Marcus Stroman. I’m not holding my breath expecting a top pitching roster like they had in the late 90s that brought them three championships in a row from 1998 – 2000. It doesn’t seem feasible in this era of baseball because I haven’t seen it in quite some time, and I’m not sure of the reason. The injuries weren’t as bad as some recent years. If the Yankees can stay healthy, keep Soto because there isn’t that much talent like him out there to look for, and somehow recruit some better pitching, they’ll see the World Series again.

This this is the best Yankees I’ve seen in a long time. I could say they are overdue for a championship, but after seeing the Astros dominate them so many times in the postseason I was losing hope. I was relieved to see the Astros not make it passed the wild card. Then seeing the Yankees get manhandled by the Dodgers, it might make one think that the Yankees time in the sun is done. But, maybe this is the rebirth of the franchise and we’re starting to see a resurgence of the Yankees we haven’t seen since 2009. The Yankees can win another World Series, but not without a Juan Soto.

Video games are something I’ve started out with as a toddler back in the mid 80s with an Atari 2600 playing Pac Man. I’d play the games caring nothing about the intrinsic value of any of these plastic cartridges would hold. Eventually a video game store called Funcoland knew something that the general public didn’t. These video games of ours will maintain some type of value. Later on in the future they’ll be renamed into GameStop and EB Games, and they’ll start removing older games and replacing them with current generation games. But, GameStop has come to realize that a lot of these older games are worth more than today’s games. I never knew video game collecting would become so valuable to so many people. Gamers who had given up their childhood gaming habits for, understandably, responsibilities now want to relive their childhood. I’m far gone from the nostalgia craze that may have left a long time ago in my 20s with me being almost 40 now. I’m more into current video games, but I stopped trading in my video games a long time ago after feeling ripped off for getting pennies for my Nintendo games at a Funcoland when I was eight years old. I still remember feeling the griminess after being almost giving away some of my favorite games away. Ever since then I haven’t wanted to give up my games. I have amassed a collection over 800 games, and I have few that are worth quite a bit. Here are my top 5 most expensive games:

1. Shantae and The Pirate’s Curse (sealed) ($564.30): I don’t remember exactly why I bought this game. I think I was in the crossfire between forum dialogue and reading gaming magazines touting the greatness of the Shantae series. I do remember paying the actual retail price of this for probably $30 -$40 because I would have not paid $500+ for this game since I’m not a fan of the series, and have never played one. I did test my luck by buying a few more Shantae games to see if they would appreciate in value, but collectors and resellers are already privy to what Shantae can do in the market of game collecting. Many have a copy of Shantae games these days.

2. Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra (sealed) ($298.33): Back in my teenage years, playing JRPGs was fitting for someone my age since many of the protagonists were around my age. I bought every JRPG I could afford working at Stop & Shop living with my parents including this game. I’ve only played a little bit of the first in the Xenosaga series. When I heard the game was over 80 hours I became intimidated by the amount of time I would have to dedicate. And this is the time when I started to realize I’m not going to be able to finish all the games I have. So I started to leave a lot of my PlayStation 2 games I had sealed, and I thought I’d eventually get around to them. That never happened with Xenosaga III. It started to appreciate in value over the years, and I decided to just keep it sealed. I’ll never grade it because I do believe there will be a remaster thus causing depreciation in value.

3. Final Fantasy XIV Collector’s Edition (sealed) ($228.75): The price of this game on EBay is selling between $7k - $8k. But, I’m going by price charting. This may be the most expensive game in my collection if I go by EBay prices. I bought this game as soon as it was released. I was so excited to play it, but it was such a fiasco that Square Enix took the servers and rebirthed Final Fantasy XIV to the successful MMORPG it is today. I played the most up to date version for a little while, but I didn’t want to get too involved with the game because I had more responsibilities in my life to take care of like school and work. This game may be the most expensive thing in my house, and I may never sale it.

4. The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II (sealed) ($199.99): I bought this game at retail price hoping to get into the Trails of Cold Steel series. I never really liked the look of the character designs so it never really drew me in to play it. So I kept collecting the other games in the series because I had a hunch that these types of games would appreciate in value. They’re JPRGs, highly acclaimed, and their niche. That’s a recipe for a video game likely to appreciate in value.

5. Transistor (sealed) ($180.70): I love the come up story of Greg Kasavin going from video game editor to a video game designer of Super Giant Games. I played Bastion, and didn’t like the game all that much, but it was cool hearing narration during gameplay since it was considered a novelty back then. I never opened Transistor and probably never will because my support for Super Giant Games goes as far buying the games, and most likely never playing them. I did buy Hades which is also made by the same developers, and plan on getting Hades 2 just to show suppport.

According to price charting, my collection is about the price of a used mid ranged car that’s about five years old which is around $22k. My intention wasn’t to amass a collection this big, but to buy the games and hopefully get around to playing them. That doesn’t seem like it’s going to be possible with work. Retirement will be when I tackle a lot of these games. I may have retired from collecting with the forcing of the digital age upon us. I might buy the occasional video game here or there, but I don’t think I’ll be buying as many video games as I once did back in my 20s and 30s. However, writing this article has awoken a bit of a desire to at least go looking at some of the prices of others games that have potential to appreciate in value.

Rich Massuci from ReviewTechUSA deleted his YouTube channel a few days ago because viewers called him out for neglecting his daughter and not sending her to bed on time. It was caught on stream, but I never saw it myself live, but did catch a clip of it. He didn’t go off on his wife, and handled the situation calmly, but I could tell he knew this may have been the start of the end of his YouTube career. I believe it’s been a long time coming. He’s been on YouTube for over fifteen years, and had a million subscribers. But, he’s the not the same perons from Review Tech that started out years ago, and there have been signs for years evincing that.

I remember watching Massuci’s videos around the time I was about to graduate college, and he was starting to make a name for himself. I received tips on how to get good deals on Black Friday, and finding out about the latest news he regurgitated from other news outlets with his own take on the matters. Most of the time he was very insightful, and I had a hard time disagreeing with him no matter how hard I may have tried. He opened my eyes to a lot of views when it came to video games and tech. I learned a lot from his videos about what type of gadgets were worth the money or which ones were better than the other even though I had no intent on buying anything. I just wanted to hear someone speak about tech that I was interested in, and he was good at articulating his views and influencing a lot of people.

I’ve taken a break from his videos by unsubscribing because sometimes he did seem a bit too arrogant for me, and I would resubscribe again because he might pop up on my YouTube homepage and have something interesting to say again. When I did start watching his videos, I noticed he was getting sidetracked into YouTube drama. I don’t care much for it, and I detest when YouTubers do this, and it’s probably to attract more viewers. He constantly started making videos disparaging YouTubers like DSP constantly. I get it he might be a horrible person, but I don’t care about Massuci’s personal vendetta against any of these YouTubers. I was hoping he would keep it strictly about tech, but he did and unsubscribed again. He will eventually pop up in my YouTube feed again, and he’ll have something interesting to say, and I resubscribe again, but as I’m going back and forth with this, I’m noticing the drama becomes more over time, and that seems like what a good percentage of videos are about. I understand that a lot of viewers sadly crave ridiculing whoever they can so they can feel better about themselves, but even the most famous of YouTubers aren’t immune to this either.

Influencers like Massuci are gaining more reach, and have more eyes with scrutiny than ever before. Maintaining an image may require popular influencers to hire public relations specialists once they become big time and are able to afford one. It sounds unecessary to those who still mainly watch TV shows are on cable, movie theaters, or streaming apps like Netflix, but for those of us who watch YouTube more than anything else like me (and the numbers are rising), it seems highly reasonable. Some celebrities have a hard time maintaining an image themselves and that’s what their whole career is based on. It seems that there a lot of influencers who become famous are destined to tarnish their image with a faux pas. A lot of them make it big and don’t last long due to not being able to handle the pressure. In Massuci’s case, a lot probably had to do with him smoking weed. I know it’s becoming one of the acceptable forms of recreational drug use sometimes even more than beer, but the effects from cannot be ignored.

Massuci became more eccentric as the years had gone by with his plastic birds that accompanied him every video, and streaming with his shirt off. I’ll admit some of the intros with his plastic birds were funny, but more often than not they were just weird. I didn’t bother watching any of his streams mainly for the fact there was a chance the obese middle aged man would be live half naked.

I think Massuci’s career is finally done. Deteriorating mental health, and three kids to take care may be too much for him. I can’t say I’ll miss him since I haven’t resubscribed to him after my feed was being flooded with videos of him berating other YouTubers. He’s lost touch with his original base. I was hoping to escape drama on YouTube by avoiding cable TV, but with humans, I guess there’s no escaping it. That’s just part of the territory when dealing with anyone. There’s good and bad with everything, but in Massuci’s case everything was going sour. I don’t think he was too harsh on his wife. I’m sure every mother and father goes through these situations a lot, but when someone’s being viewed online by hundreds of people, even in the comfort of their own home, a pristine image must be kept up. They have to be the perfect charismatic influencer, and it has to seem like your life is perfectly in order. There are fans of his that are compassionate and will understand that is a blunder that he might’ve been able to recover from, but there are haters out there that have and will blow this out proportion and already have. They see him with his millions of subscribers, his powerful gaming setup, and a wife and three kids. A lot of people do not have this. I haven’t watched Review Tech USA in years, but when I heard the news that he deleted his channel, I wasn’t in total shock. The drama he was brining to himself by going after other YouTubers certainly will not help him recover.

The PlayStation 5 Pro was announced, and it looks like something I could be interested in, but at the same time it feels like It’s telling me to go PC next generation. With the mid life console upgrades every generation I probably should have a PC updating my specs every few years instead shelling out $700 for a console upgrade. At this this point I might as well go strictly PC since a lot of the exclusives are already going to PC eventually. The price of this upcoming console has influencers complaining, and I have yet to see any of regularly watched YouTuber post a video about anything positive about the PS5 Pro. I think it may be time for a lot of us console centric gamers to finally go PC and ditch the consoles. It’s something a lot of us have already done, and I’m considering as well. The PS5 Pro is not the way to go.

The price of the PS5 Pro is the main factor as to why a lot of gamers do not want to upgrade. It felt relieving when we saw the $500 price tag for the original PS5 making us hope to forget about the PS3’s $600 price tag which probably caused the PS3 to be the least successful PlayStation Sony has ever released. The barrier to entry for the PS5 Pro may cause new adopters to be stuck in a decision as to whether to get the original PS5, get the PS5 Pro, or wait for a price drop for it. If I were to just now get a PS5 Pro I’d be stuck at indecision myself. Already in Japan the sales of the PS5 have plummeted after the announcement of the PS5 Pro. I would say it might have been a poor business decision by Sony, but the PS5 Pro’s released date is in less than two months. So they’ll bear the brunt of the declining PS5 sales in hope that gamers are putting off their spending in hopes of upgrading to PS5 Pro for the holidays. I believe the PS5 Pro will give a boost in sales.

Another inconvenient feature is the online disc drive. I have dozens of PS5 discs. Having a mandatory online disc drive is a huge inconvenience. I really need to get smart and stop buying so many PS5 discs because when the server shuts down, these discs I paid hundreds of dollars for will become coasters. It’s a hard pill to swallow as I continue buying physical, and being the responsible adult that I am, I don’t even make time for the majority of games that I have. Not only is the online disc drive a step back in convenience, it cost $80. Along with the $700 price tag, it’s becoming very pricey. It’s obvious Sony is trying to force digital only games upon gamers, but I want to continue to resist by not upgrading to a PS5 Pro and sticking with my original PS5 that comes with a disc drive. I hate to imagine if my internet goes out, and my game shuts down just because I decided to stick with physical media.

There really aren’t any big upgrades to the PS5 Pro. Influencers in YouTube videos are mockingly looking at the slight difference in fidelity between the PS5 and the PS5 Pro and finding nothing. Mark Cerny showcases the “leap” in graphics like it’s a brand new console or the next generation. He’s not convincing me that it’s worth the $200 price increase he’s trying to sell me. I was hoping for an 8K resolution upscaling, but it doesn’t come with that and I’ll just have to hope for the PS6 to come with that. There’s combination with “fidelity” and “performance” mode that’ll allow the games to perform and look as good as they can on that system. But, it’s not worth a $200 price increase. I can see maybe $100. I would like to wait for a price decrease to even consider a PS5 Pro, but by the time that happens, PS6 will be right around the corner.

Journalists are predicting that the PS6 will release in four years. It’s not wise to buy a PS5 Pro when the next generation of consoles is right not too far off. I’ve spent thousands on the PS5, and I’m not even anywhere near done with what I have right now. I have nearly 200 PlayStation 4 games I haven’t even opened. I’m already a generation behind. Holding off on upgrading to a PS5 Pro is the smart decision. My PS5 games look fine the way they are. Sony is trying to milk every little penny out of its consumers, but we need to speak with our wallets by not buying into the minute $700 upgrade.

Sony has always had their mid console life cycle upgrades for each generation, but this seems to be the worst, and biggest mistake that they’ve ever made. It’s the cost of the PS5 Pro which is the biggest issue for most gamers. Personally, my biggest issue is the attachable online disc drive. I’ve been an advocate for physical media even with pressure to go digital. I like being able to trade in my games for money and discounts on other games I want to buy. There is no pressing reason to buy a PS5 Pro at the moment. My games may look a little uglier than they would on a PS5 Pro, but I think I can handle it.

Nearly 40 years later, the world receives a sequel to Beetlejuice. A lot of horror films coming out this autumn are dead serious and gory. The Beetlejuice films are gory, but have levity to them. I’m not much of a horror fan, but I did take some time out to watch the Beetlejuice films. And it’s something that I’m looking forward to especially with some issues I have going on in my family right now. I kind of needed the levity and not dwell on death without a bit of lightheartedness. If anyone wants to see their dreary horror flicks, they’ll come this fall, and we usually don’t have to wait till then to watch these films. These types of movies sell so nowadays so we can find them in theaters all year round. But, if you’re looking for a lighthearted twist in this genre, check out Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

One of the biggest shockers of this film was the clever plot twists. Though, they weren’t original and borrowed some tropes from other movies, I was able to be surprised by them because some were not used in decades. I can tell the influence from other films is heavy. To avoid going into spoilers I will not delve into them. Seeing the plot twists kind of made think there should be a series akin to the cartoon from the 80s, but I don’t see that happening as there looks to be more focus on maybe keeping this franchise alive a little longer instead with another sequel.

Michael Keaton returns with another lively performance. Maybe it’s just me, but he doesn’t seem as animated as he did back in the 80s since he’s in his early 70s now. But, it was still another infectious performance by him. He’s the same type of character I’d expected to see, and there really didn’t need to be much changed except maybe from the groping of women in the previous film, and the subtracting of the F bombs to keep this movie a modern PG-13 rating. Back in the 80s, it was allowed in a PG movie, and it’s amazing how times have changed. It’s probably a good thing because I cannot imagine a rated PG movie being allowed some of things from 80s would be for today in 2024.

As I alluded into the first movie review, I wish the film has delved more into Beetlejuice’s history. In Beetlejuice Beetljuice, there is a bit of a backstory. It doesn’t delve too much, and it’s more of a focus on other characters that have been in his past. But, I think that’s part of the plan for this franchise is to keep Beetlejuice somewhat of a mystery. I’m starting realize that as I’m writing these reviews, and that’s probably for the better. Some things are best left untold and maybe giving little tidbits of his life in other films as more installments are released. Based on what I’ve seen in this film, it looks like this franchise might not be done yet, but then again there are some situations in the movie that happen that made me think this franchise might be done.

The special effects were well done again, and some of the same old effects were from its predecessor. I can imagine it might’ve costed more to use old effects from the 80s than to use modern effects from today, but they were used, and I felt that it gave me a sense of nostalgia from the 80s. I thought it looked great at first, but it does seem out of place in this 2024 film. This movie was mainly to attract people who’ve grown up watching Beetlejuice from the 80s, and having Jenna Ortega was more so to attract a younger audience. But, seeing some of these effects used from back then seems like they were made by students from a special effects school. I understand Tim Burton was trying to do, but it doesn’t seem to have the desired effect he hoped for other than trying to have older viewers reminisce of times from the past.

The most disappointing part of the film is Winoa Ryder’s acting. I’ve never been a fan of her much growing up, and never thought she’s been that great of a an actress. There was a lot of overacting and a lot of her performance wasn’t believable. Jenna Ortega on the other hand did a great job, and was the typical moody teenager descending from Ryder’s character that I had expected. But, Ryder being one of the more prominent stars really made her awkward performances stand out. I don’t know how many times she tried to seem surprised by every little thing, and it never felt convincing.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s main target audience was from people who have grown up watching the film. When I as in the theater, I saw mostly elderly people and maybe one twenty year old couple. But, I do tend to go to movies during the day when I find the free time to do so. It was on Tuesday during a matinee so that’s prime time for a lot of retirees to venture out into the day when it’s not too late to see a movie. If anyone’s a fan of Beetlejuice, this film is something that I advise not missing out on. Though it may look like Ryder’s past her prime in her acting career, there are stars like Ortega and Catherin O’hara who still vibrates with energy in her performance that really add luster to this gloomy film.

Rating: C

It is now 2024, and I recently finished watching the original Beetlejuice in preparation for the sequel. I didn’t watch Beetlejuice in 1988 because I was four years old, and was afraid to watch it. The movie has a dark sense of humor that I don’t consider all that funny, but mostly creepy. That’s what I think the director Tim Burton is mainly aiming for. The movie has a “PG” rating, and it’s amazing how times have changed. The movie shows depiction of dead people via suicide, and that would not be acceptable in this day and age at least not for a “PG” rating. It would’ve most likely gotten an “R” rating with Beetlejuice dropping “F” bombs. I was shocked to see what was considered “PG” back in the 80s. Despite all that, Beetlejuice was a good film for its time, and even by today’s standards it holds up in some aspects.

The special effects are sight to behold even in 2024. They make use of clay animation, and actual costumes which aren’t much in use nowadays as CGI has replaced a lot of that. From the detail of the costumes to the prop designs there was much work put into the look of the film. There isn’t much that would stand out as obsolete in this day and age. This is where Tim Burton’s bread and butter come from. I’ve never been too fond his stories in his films, but I’m usually at awe at his dark, macabre designs that aren’t too gruesome, but at the same time will creep anyone out. Everything looks great from even the simple house designs with simplistic backdrops.

As far as the story goes, it was well done, but I’d wish we knew more about the main characters from the beginning of the film. The movie is only an hour and half long, so understandably there isn’t much time to delve into it. The length of the film is kind of a good thing as it doesn’t drag on, and the action and humor never seems to be overdone. There isn’t much room for filler so the movie gets straight to the point as to where the plot is supposed to go. I don’t want to go into much detail to avoid spoilers, but it’s a touching story, and nothing too deep or profound. It goes into the paranormal, and supernatural which is lightened up by Michael Keaton’s performance of Beetlejuice.

Michael Keaton’s performance of Beetlejuice is what steals the show. Too bad there isn’t that much of him, and it’s mainly focused on the Deetz family. To give the movie a touching story, ordinary humans must be focused on so the audience can relate, but I wouldn’t have mind if the story delved more into Beetlejuice. He’s the funniest character, and it feels rather dull when he’s away. Winoa Ryder’s character was mainly there to be the cutesy rebellious goth like teenager. But, gladly, Beetlejuice offsets her somber mood. There’s so much energy put into Keaton’s performance. There are some scenes where there’s a lot of unwanted touching by Beetlejuice and women. Today it does seem a bit off putting.

My main gripe with the film is the overuse of the music. There’s one track in the film that was used many times. I’m guessing they didn’t have the budget to make use many songs. But, although it was overused, they did make great use of it. The dancing performances during the song were infectious, and found myself smiling throughout them. It reminds me of my day as a child when I use to watch Disney films and there were musical scenes and I would dance and sing along. I didn’t quite do that with Beetlejuice because I’m a boring and serious near 40 year old adult. The film probably should’ve made more use of music, and maybe Tim Burton should decide on making a musical for Beetlejuice. It wouldn’t be such a bad idea. I would pay to at least see Beetlejuice on broadway. It would be great to see Keaton among the cast. It’s only a dream, but he’s in his 70s, and I don’t think him traveling doing musicals would be good for his age.

Beetlejuice is a fun romp around the afterlife. It has a dark sense of humor and lightens the mood when it comes to dealing with death. I saw dead people with knives in their heads, and dismembered body parts. But, while watching I never thought how gross, but how funny it looks with all the quirky designs of the undead walking around in the dead realm. This is a good movie to watch near the beginning of fall or around Halloween. It’s kind of put me in the mood to watch more horror films, and I think I might watch another one coming next week. If you have any friends of family that are into dark, moody, but also humorous films such as this, this is a good recommendation. I’ve never been much of a fan of Tim Burton’s films as a child because I was young, and was really afraid to watch them. I probably didn’t like how it made light of death when I was going through deaths in my family at the time. After I watched this film, I saw the sequel the next day. I will go into further detail in my next review.

Rating: C

Concord recently shut down after only being available to be played for two weeks. The internet wasn’t well receiving of the game when it first was showcased. I knew this was going to happen in some way, but not as quickly as shutting down in two weeks. I thought maybe it would’ve gained traction for a year, and slowly die out over the next year or two. It just goes to show that this video game market is getting tougher for developers. The competition is fierce, and if you don’t have the right marketing or something to stand out amongst the oversaturated market of video games, that game is doomed to fail, and even sooner than before.

It’s sad to see a game shut down so fast after seeing that the developers put their heart and soul into this game. They needed something for it to stand out amongst the other battle royale games. And there wasn’t much. With the constant announcements of game developers being laid off nearly every month, it seems the developer Firewalk Studios might be heading in the same direction. Even the games that are even somewhat successful in the public eye are being shut down and the developers are eventually laid off. So what is a developer supposed to do? Failure certainly doesn’t guarantee a stable developer team, but neither does success.

This is a lesson for developers that have been long coming. If they’re not going to innovate, they’re going to fail drastically like Firewalk Studios has. The only developers that aren’t obligated to do so are the ones with established franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Fortnite. They can keep rehashing the same material with minute changes because they are a trusted brand. The upcoming developers trying to grab a slice of battle royale pie are going to need to do something extraordinary to stand out, and I’m glad that is the case. I’m tired of every dev team copying the same formula, and it’s gladly not working as the gamers reject it. Sadly, this may prevent other developers from even trying to make new big budget AAA games as well.

I’m not much for free to play games as I feel they are predatory with their overwhelming amount of mictrotransactions. So the $40 price tag for Concord did entice to be on the lookout for the game once it released. It gave me a sense of security for some reason that this game would not be as predatory. But, I tend to buy $70 games that still have those micronstransactions maybe not in the amount of a free to play game. But, for those who are used to playing free to play games this was a no brainer and they wanted nothing to do with this game. It’s somewhat bold that Firewalk Studios tried to release a pay to entry battle royale game when a lot of them are free to play. It was a foolish move that cost them dearly. I’m not the target demographic that they’re trying to reach because a lot of people that are middle aged like me don’t play video games anymore.

Concord was trying to be the next Overwatch. When I first saw the trailer for Concord, I knew immediately what they were going for, and so does anyone who follows games regularly. There was nothing that made it stand out. It was kind of sad to see as it showed that the writing was on the wall. If it weren’t for Sony’s backing, this game would’ve died out quietly and no one would be talking about it. A lot of money was put into this game, and there isn’t much to show for it.

I’m starting to think maybe battle royale is dying, but the truth of the matter is games like Overwatch and Fortnite have the genre in a chokehold, and is not letting any other developers make even a dent on the market. I can go to work and talk to my coworkers about Fortnite. I can’t do that about Concord. No one who isn’t a hardcore gamer is talking about that game. Even with Sony’s marketing Concord still couldn’t slip into the zeitgeist. There isn’t any room for other battle royale games. Sure Call of Duty has theirs, but I can’t go to a bunch of kids in school or anyone on the street and ask have they heard about the Concord fiasco. None of them would know what I’m talking about.

As I alluded into a previous blog entry, the characters in Concord were not as interesting as I’d find in other hero shooters like Overwatch. There was porn made of some of those characters in Overwatch. I don’t think I’m going to find porn of the middle aged main heroine from Concord. There isn’t enough hype around these characters for artists to even consider doodling some images of them.

Concord is a lesson for developers that they must take heed to if they want to have a successful game leading into a successful franchise. Innovation doesn’t seem like a smart financial choice in the AAA market as it is risky. But, at the same time if a developer wants to go up against a more established franchise it’s going to have to do something drastically different. Or maybe the publishers don’t have to have the developers do even that and be savvier with marketing. Hopefully will start seeing more innovation outside of indie games due the Concord fiasco, but I highly doubt this will be the last time another developer tries to push out another mediocre battle royal hero shooter.

I’ve recently gotten back into manga, and I normally don’t write a review on this type of media because they’re often in series and are lengthy which I do not have the time to. But, No Longer Human is one book, and I’m able to give a brief review on it. Junji Ito is one of my favorite magankas, and I have been reading his work off and on since I was in college 15 years ago. I have read most of his work, and will continue to do so because he does not disappoint.

As usual Ito’s work has well designed art. He has his own unique style that’s even more distinguishable and recognizable than probably the most famous mangaka ever Akira Toriyama who created Dragan Ball Z. If you’ve read any of Ito’s work you will know right away when coming to read any of his work what his style looks like. I especially like how he designs women. He gives most of his female characters youthful and innocent looks when some of them can be the most evil characters in the book. And it seems like the more beautiful they are the likelier to be eviler.

Though Ito is a great artist there were times where there were some scenes that were overdone. Demons were used repeatedly, and I could’ve sworn there were chapters of just that at times. I get that there was supposed to be a sickening feel meant to be achieved, and it was accomplished, but it did get tiresome. And there were a lot of sex scenes in the book that seemed to be overdone as well. Those were major gripes of the manga, and there wasn’t much else to complain about other than that.

What I like most about the manga is that it touches up on a lot of hot topics that readers of newspapers will about almost see daily in the news like sex and drug abuse. The main character goes through these things at an early age, and anyone reading this can see how it affects him later into adulthood. It goes to show anyone that manga is not just for kids and teenagers. After reading this manga, I became somewhat more sympathetic towards people who are sexually abused and drug addicts.

No Longer Human is a tragic story with a tragic ending that readers typically do not see in this form of entertainment. It was a breath of fresh air to read a manga that isn’t just about happy endings and having to deal with magical monsters and saving teenaged girls. No Longer Human is a beefy manga that goes into great detail as to what the character is going through. It doesn’t let up on the grittiness, and it puts the main character through a lot without letting up. I was rooting him. I kind of wanted to jump inside this world and say stop drinking so much, and get your act together.

Near the end of the manga it is revealed that the author, Osamu Dazai, had similar experiences in his life, and this story might’ve been a suicide note before he took his life at the young age of 38 years old. I’ve read other stories of authors that have taken their lives after creating their work. It has a pungent effect that sticks with me after reading the book and thinking I might’ve been inside this author’s head, and this is what his or her inner world was like before going off the deep end.

No Longer Human may have been a suicide note, but it does have a deep message to it. The book was written more than 70 years ago, but a lot of the issues are still relevant to this day. It touches on issues on sex abuse and its lingering effects into adult years. Mental health is another issue that is focused on in this book. It’s a good book for anyone wanting to get an idea of how these issues can affect someone. It may be even so effective to deter others from engaging in drug use if they have or have not been addicted to drugs in the past.

Junji Ito is a great mangaka on his own, and with the combination of an author it makes his work seem even better. Ito’s work has always been dark, but having a novelist like Dazai to illustrate for gives his work a bit more detail and better dialogue. I hope to see more collaborations form Ito. This is a book a highly recommend for an Ito fan, or just people looking to get a glimpse on how substance abuse and sex abuse can affect someone. We may see all the sexual glory going with musicians and movie stars, but it is really all so glorious? No Longer Human may have that answer.

Rating: ***1/2

Gamescon 2024 kind of snuck up on me this year. It’s not an event I look forward to most of the time because I think it usually takes place in Germany. It’s hard enough as it is for me to watch video game press conferences as it is due to working 2^nd shift, but I try to at least keep up with the news afterwards by reading up on summaries which I did. A lot of the games being mentioned in this article have been announced a while ago, and there isn’t anything much to look forward to that I’m looking for.

Dune Awakening looking to be a cash grab based of the success of the last two Dune films. I don’t know if I want to play it. It seems like the game is having a bit of an identity crisis. One of the developers said the game is like a survival and political survival when it comes to end game, and it’s also looking to be somewhat of an MMORPG. It’s looking to be a jack of all trades master of none type of game. I don’t think I have time for an MMORPG like game. I don’t want to fork over a monthly fee if it’s something I can’t commit to.

Indiana Jones looks like another mundane shooter rife with cutscenes to detract away from the action because this game is meant for casuals. And what casual actually wants to be challenged continually throughout a video game? They want to feel like they’re in a movie. But, I may be wrong as video games have become more mainstream and maybe casuals prefer actual video games now. Then again, it really has to do with what type of video games they’re into. Some of them might have been brought up playing games likes “The Quarry” “Until Dawn” and “Heavy Rain” where games like those are more like movie games.

Marvel Rivals looks like another cookie cutter battle royal game. I understand that’s what’s hot now and this what the kids are going for and I’m no longer the demographic publishers are seeking out. But, it’s infuriating to me because I rather see these Marvel characters in a beat em up fighting Thano’s minions or Dr. Doom’s. I don’t want to see the heroes pit against each other in a battle royale with a shallow storyline. There really isn’t much story to it that doesn’t seem forced. I guess publishers figure they can stick a Marvel name to anything and it will sell, and I hate to say it, they’re right.

Batman Arkham Shadow is a VR game I had a slight interest in. But, I also wish the publisher would’ve allowed this Batman game to take place in a new setting. The Arkham city is stale, and I’m tired of seeing a place that I thought we were done with almost a decade ago. I guess this is a way to attract gamers who supposedly have more of a disposable income since the developers figured that the gamers who played the original Arkham are grown up with stable jobs, and can afford the expensive VR and might want to revisit Arkham in a new world. I crave new games, so this game is not catching my interest.

I don’t know when gamers are ever going to get tired of Dragon Ball Z video games. Dragon Ball Sparking Zero seems to be another game that looks mediocre at best. One of the main talking points in an interview with one of the developers was costumes. Seems there isn’t much to talk about. This is supposed to be a spiritual successor to Budokai games. But, I’ve never been a fan. I’m hoping for more DBZ games like Dragon Ball Fighters. Also Dragon Ball Sparking Zero looks like a PlayStation 3 game.

The publisher’s plan was for Borderlands 4 to capitalize off the predicted success of the recent release of the Borderlands movie. It was a fiasco, and it may have hurt some potential sales of Borderlands 4. But, I think it’ll sell decently enough if the fans can forgive the Borderlands movie. I’ve never played a Borderlands game. The cell shaded look was something that really never really grasped my attention, and the whole collectathon gameplay of guns was somewhat interesting, but looked like it would get tedious.

It appears I don’t have many good things to say about Gamescom 2024, but I hope to be proven wrong. I want all video games to be enjoyable. I want there to be endless options of great video games to choose from which is the case now. Maybe I need to adapt my taste to the way video games are now. I’m no longer the target demographic so if I want to stay current with video games I’ll have to get with the times. But, my backlog doesn’t seem like it’ll ever ben finished with or without purchasing any new games. I don’t really need to care.

Alien: Romulus has been a hit critically and commercially, and it looks this is the rebirth of the Alien franchise. I’m sure there will be sequels, and the youthful cast was meant to attract a younger audience so they’ll be hooked for years to come as the onslaught of different iterations of the Alien franchise comes in TV, video game, and movie form. It’s not the best Alien movie out there. But, I am surprised at the reception it’s receiving among fans and critics alike because I don’t think this movie was that great. But, I’ll elaborate on the good of the movie first.

There were moments in the film that put the characters in corners to escape the aliens, and they found brilliant ways of avoiding them. Many spur of the moment decisions were probably the best part of this film. I won’t go into full detail to avoid spoilers, but I haven’t seen this many clever get out of danger solutions since the original trilogy. Romulus is well written in that aspect. Maybe the majority of the movie should’ve had them mainly focus on figuring out how to outsmart the aliens.

The Alien franchise never seems to fail with set design in order to creep out its viewers. The cocoon-esque and pupae designs that have been brought down from decades of the Alien franchise never fail to make my skin crawl. I’ve been seeing these nests, eggs, and metamorphosis for decades and it doesn’t get old to me. There were some minute changes, but nothing that is too noticeable. Sometimes designs should be left alone and leave it for new viewers to see. It’s especially creepier to them since they’re not even use to seeing anything like this before.

As good as it is to see that Ridley Scott decided to stick to what he knows best about prop and set design, he could’ve left out the old catch phrases used from the original Alien movies. If anyone who has seen them there’s one that is used that’s instantly recognizable. I almost rolled my eyes in the back of my head when I heard it in Romulus. But, I’ll admit it did elicit a smirk on my face that I cannot deny.

Even though the designs from previous movies were used, there were new designs for different types of monstrosities used. It was one my major gripes for Covenant, and it’s the same for Romulus. There isn’t much detail put into new designs, and it’s something that could’ve been easily come up with. The main goal is for the aliens to be scary, but these new designs are just simplistic and scary. The original alien designs have lots of details to them, and they are so well made that it’s something aspiring artists like I once was wanted to emulate. When I look at some of the new designs, they look ugly, but not cool or something that probably anyone would want to take inspiration from.

One of my last complaints of the movie is the sense of wonder that Covenant brought to the movie that Romulus lacks. As the travelers were spacefaring in Covenant looking to colonize elsewhere I was filled with wonder as to where they were going. Covenant is sort of the Star Trek of the Alien franchise while Romulus is the Star Wars of it. Covenant was more about exploration, and Romulus tried to be cheeky and humorous like Star Wars, and the humor didn’t really work. There was an awkward non reaction in the theater when those old movie quotes from the original trilogy were brought to the 2024 film. I’m not sure if the production team is trying to steal some of Star Wars fans, and make it seem like the Alien franchise is the cooler, mature sci fi while having the tongue and cheek humor, but it’s not going to work. They should leave that for Star Wars where it belongs. I hope it failed horribly enough that they don’t make any more attempts with that type of humor in the franchise again. The humor in the original Aliens movies was rawer, and probably wouldn’t cut it with today’s audience and probably why we get the lame Star Wars esque jokes in a rated R movie like Alien: Romulus.

Romulus was somewhat of a letdown, and comedown after watching Covenant only a few days earlier for comparison. I’m hoping there’s a change in tone in the next Aliens film because there will be another with or without Ridley Scott. But, maybe that might be a good thing for someone with fresher ideas to take the reign, and maybe work more on the prop designs for new ideas. But, I hope the next installment doesn’t go full CGI. It seemed the franchise was going in that direction in Covenant. It seems like the franchise was trying to attract new viewers and old viewers to it. But, it’s probably wiser to focus more on the dedicated fans since a lot of the younger viewers do not want to leave their homes to see movies anymore, and it’s not just people in their 20s either. People in the mid to late 30s like me prefer to stay home, but I’m somewhat of an anomaly, and I did attend the showing with my boomer uncle. Overall, I say if you’re looking for something terrifying this movie will do the trick. I haven’t been this creeped out by a horror focused film in a while.

Grade: C -