Close but no cigar

For me Rollercoaster Tycoon 1&2. But you could probably throw most Sim Games into here like SimCity 2k 3k or 4.

I know, I just hope that they don’t point to it and say “this is the reason we don’t make 2D Zelda games” like they did with Chibi Robo and that god awful 3DS game, or Star Fox and that god awful Wii U game.

We do, but they aren’t that good of a deal, especially since you can get the same discount… if not more, if you buy used. And you can sell the game when you are done rather than being stuck with digital.

That said, outside of Nintendo, who rarely if ever discount their games, most games on modern systems get heavily discounted months if not a year after they come out. You are a fool if you buy the latest Ubisoft Game new since it’s usually $15-$30 before it’s been on-sale for a year. Even Sony first party IP, I got most of them for $10-$20 a pop new or digital, since I bought in at the tail end of the PS4 generation.

Been waiting for a new 2d Zelda game since link awakening was rereleased. So far it looks interesting. The only issue I can see with this game is that it to is going to be $79.99 CAD and from what I’ve seen it’s so not going to be worth that. Hoping for a $49.99 or $59.99 CAD price tag, but this is Nintendo.

Hope this includes the original ROMs.

I blame YouTube more than the channel, at least their content is well labeled such that you can tell which content you’d like to see at a glance.

In retro spect, Nintendo E-card reader being called e-reader is rather confusing. Though would’ve been fun if I got an e-card with Pokemon Manga on it. 🤣

I am just happy it turned out well… and my e-reader case had easy access to the cover fabric. That’s 1 point for making your own case.

We’ve already seen how this plays out in court with Sony vs BLEEM. I really hope Nintendo gets the books thrown at them, cuz I am getting really sick and tired of their “All illegal emulators stifles innovation” attitude. Especially with the fact that their fragile games are starting to break down and needs to be backed up for users to continue using their games.

They are pricey but cart readers like the GBxCart, Open Source Cartridge Reader, or simply modifying or running an R4 your Nintendo DS/DSi/3DS can help you backup your physical games. Which might I add is legal under archival laws in the USA (117) and backup laws in Canada (29.24).

Most kindles and kobos with color temp front lights are your best friend.

Kobo Clara 2e or the Kindle 11th Gen should work.

Favourite game I played in 2023… None really stand out to me, mostly because there were no new games which I wanted that stood out, I hadn’t played before, or were new.

I had an inkling for Metroid and being able to play Dread and go back into Fusion was a unique experience.

Experiencing and getting bored with Outer World was also nice. Funny thing is I did the same thing with New Vegas so I guess it’s par for the course with Obsidian games for me.

First time playing through and beating Arkham Asylum. Was testing on Linux and got sucked in, was a fun game, and I want to try City when I get a chance.

Was also in the mood to replay Antichamber too. Haven’t touch that game in forever and I am glad I did. One of the few games I’d call the Gameplay Atmospheric.

Also got to play The Cosmic Shake, a wonderful through back to PS2 era 3D Platformers. I think this is the only new game I played this year.

Yeah I can give more context for that. Memory is hazy, but we had our day split into 4 periods, which our classes were held. 2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon noon. For half the school year we take 4 classes, like English, Math, Chemistry Religion, and Gym. Then the other half of the school year we take another 4 classes like Civics, Physics, and two of our choice.

In Gr. 9 and Gr. 10 we only had the option to choose 1 extra course, I remember taking music. In Gr. 11 and Gr. 12 it was mostly chosen by us outside of the University track classes or the College track classes.

The issue is Religion was technically a “optional course” that we had to take. I was in Ontario when I was in school. According to the provincial law, you can’t force a student to take religion which is why we were never told. Or the option was selected for us.

The problem is that if a kid wants to take Physics, Chemistry and Biology, but also business and coding, they’d have to choose to not take one of them. Since the school will “encourage” them to take Religion, though I think with the right guidance councillor will help them find a way. Legally they can’t force them, but then why are they there, and you won’t graduate with a catholic school diploma.

I feel a lot of my issues stemmed from more of the staff encouraging the behaviours of cliques, rather than the students being naturally cliquey. Kids and kids and will do terrible things to each other. I feel it’s up to the adults in a situation to give a guiding hand.

Now I was given an out in my last year to back to public school. Not sure what it’s like where you are.

Hey internet stranger. Here is another internet strangers 2 cents on Catholic High Schools based on my personal experience.

TL:DR Education is good, but the school might make it so they can’t take the classes they want or need for Religion Class (unless they mess up). And at my school there were cliques that socially isolated me and many others, with unchecked bullying which felt encouraged by the staff. I am happy I completed it, but I’d wouldn’t want my kids to go through the same thing.

This happened over a decade ago, but the school I went to was both good, and very, very bad. The pro was why you are considering it. The education quality is much higher than the local public school. I was prepared for University much better than those I meet at the University I went to, who went to public High School.

The con was two fold. First some education options were denied to other students due to “optional” religion studies class. Technically a school can’t force a high schooler to take religion where I went. But the check box for that course was always checked before I got the class sheet. Which meant that I couldn’t choose what optional courses I wanted if it overlap with that religion course.

On a side note they messed up 3 ways in my last year. They couldn’t get me in a gym class for gr 12, so I had to goto a gr 10 class, then I took a CAD course which I wanted and a coding, but by the time they realized I wasnt taking religion, it was too late. I was given a speal on how I couldn’t get a religion high school diploma, but just the normal one. It was fun especially since.

The second big con. The school was extremely cliquey. Like debilitating so. I was from another community, my bus ride was an hour away. So in Gr 9 I tried to make friends… But the cliques were already made. And I as well as many others were socially isolated. I didn’t find the misfits hiding away at lunch in the media classroom until like gr. 10/11. There was another crowd in the art room. This attitude sadly felt encouraged by some the staff, and bullying was out of control, it often resorted to physical violence more than once. I stayed off of the radar but I hated those 4 years. If it wasn’t for my activities outside of school I would’ve been in a really bad state.

With that said, there was another (3 in total) Catholic high school in my local area, which my extended family went to. Apparently the one they went to was so much better.

Retrospectively, I understood how much of a benefit it was to go there. I am happy I was able to stick it out. But I would do a lot of research before putting my kids into a Catholic high school since I don’t want them to have a repeat of my time.

Technically you can voice chat with friends over discord the Nintendo Switch online app.

But yeah I use anything that isn’t their service for voice chat.

peer pressure. I fell for it in my TF2 days in high school. A buck there a few bucks there, all for a hat with particle effects that I never got. All because one of my friends I was playing with had one, and I wanted one too.

I learned a valuable lesson, but I was also 15/16 and had the ability of self reflection (and wanting to get Skyrim for $5 instead of a key). Can’t expect this level of self control from most teenagers, let alone a 10 year old.

What might be a good idea is to try Game Pass for a few months and see what they settle on. Then for Birthdays or Christmas, get them the games they played the most. Not sure how parental controls are like on it, but I hope they exists.

That being said, outside of Nintendo, there aren’t many Online games which don’t demand their users to pay for cosmetics with fake in game currency. See CTR Nitro Fuelled, Fortnight, Call of Duty, Overwatch and Minecraft skins.

With that said if changing your system isn’t an option, Minecraft Bedrock Edition the only game I am familiar with. There is a skin store, but you can’t earn in game currency from just playing (from my knowledge). So if they don’t have access to the credit card, they won’t be tempted, plus the base game has enough options that you can customize your character well enough.

If you can get a switch (and friends have one already), Splatoon 2/3, Mario Kart 8, and Animal Crossing are all friendly non-microtransaction laden games.

I’ve wrestled with Mobile games for years. As a player, I love the idea of playing games on my phone. But most phones games outside of flash like games (Angry Birds) weren’t fun.

So I tried to make them myself.

After 5 years of trial and error my conclusion was thus. Phones are a bad platform for games. Not because they aren’t capable, they are extremely capable. But because they have no proper inputs.

Games are built for the common input method. PC games have a keyboard and mouse mode. Console games are built with a controller. And mobile games need to use touch.

The problem with touch, is that it’s a bad input method for all games. Very good for simple visual games, but for the rest, you are touching a textureless, featureless, tiny surface, with no tactile feedback. This means that anything more complicated than angry birds or bejeweled will be difficult to play if it doesn’t play itself.

It’s possible to make games for phones. But due to the design constraints, the game needs to be simple, or not time dependent. Strategy games, puzzle games, board games will work, but action games, or shooters are doomed to be worse than their competitors on non-mobile platforms.

There is also a piplup one I saw at EB Games recently

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/ddba16b8-d217-43f7-ad1a-94cfb96259ec.jpeg

Wish they could’ve made a remake with them in the new Zelda engine, but I think having a way to play these games is better than not having one