Steam Calendar Keeping Things Current

There are too many important things happening in the world these days, you wonder how a gamer could keep up with all the new titles coming out that are relevant to that person. I mean, I certainly struggle with that these days since gaming, as much as it is a beloved hobby, is not necessarily existential in nature when it comes to overall importance... perhaps, so sometimes it gets pushed to the back burner. Well, I know that this feature has been out for a while I believe, but I have been noticing that these days, I am getting more and more reliant on using the "Personal Calendar" section of Steam to keep me afloat in a sea of never-ending game releases, at least on the PC gaming front.

I tried maxing the game count to 500 and that spiked my anxiety level so 100 is more than enough.

Gaming Collection: Of Value and Access

If you ever wondered when a gaming collection would be considered "expansive" or perhaps even "complete", the answer to that is probably "never". I suppose I can use my own Game Library as a case in point. I have a lot of games. Perhaps too many games? Perhaps not enough because I have seen others with a lot more than me, either exclusively on Steam or across platforms. Sometimes I look around the room and thought that I had a nice little Game Room with plenty of physical gaming punch, but it would take mere seconds looking on YouTube to find others who have an ungodly collection that make mine look like a baby's playpen compared to a sprawling university compound. Video gaming is still an active industry and there are plenty of games, indies or otherwise, coming out left and right and if you are that deep into the hobby as I am, sometimes it feels like there's hardly any room to breathe. So, it takes some level of self-control to manage my library growth at a steady rate.

Culdcept The First that just came out was a rare day 1 purchase for me.

From Stranger to Family in Less Than 1 Day

While there are people who want access to a specific game, there are also those who want access to it all. So, apparently, I was just some random Steam-add not worthy of any note for a long time until one day, this person just happens to finally click on my profile and notices my game collection and probably thought... Well, well, wouldn't it be nice?

What is family?

Getting Punked by Cyberpunk 2077

I first played Cyberpunk 2077 on my Personal Computer at the time of its launch back in 2020. Apparently, I have never gotten past the prologue in my 3-4 previous play attempts ever since then. I finally did though recently as I plan to maximize my time with the game. I like that terminology now when it comes to participating in the activity of playing a video game: "maximize" my time with a game. Not "finish" a game but maximizing it. If you have been gaming as extensive amount of video games as I have, "finishing" a game is a complicated concept. I know a lot of people think these days that checking off all "task unlockers" - achievements, trophies, call them what you may - is the tell when a game has been "completed", even though these things usually ask you to do the most menial, meaningless things while playing those games. Even after say, you have completed all the contents of a game, it doesn't mean that a game is "finished". The shmup genre is an example of this. Narrative heavy games can be replayable too, given some time. While some games are replayable or they offer options to continue playing them, they sometimes feel like they overstay their welcome. Fallout 4 is an example of this: After I completed the main storyline in that game, I have yet to attend to all of the remaining quests available plus the game's downloadable contents. I have lost interest after a certain point, yet I feel like I need to further maximize my time with the game. My video games, to me, are not mere things to be "finished". They are there to provide me with the content I want on demand. When the time is right and the mood blossoms, I may indulge and thus maximize my time spent with them.

Oh no... It's Keanoooo!

Steam Winter Sale 2025 Feels a Bit Off

With the recent arrival of the Winter Sale, Steam's sales events for me have progressively felt less and less celebratory each time they show up. I know this is mostly due to the fact that I have a lot of games. I think that perhaps I am beginning to reach some kind of saturation point when it comes to further enriching my Game Library. Perhaps it's because I am now also progressively getting more and more invested in physical tabletop gaming, even though this newer hobby is slower in its growth, thanks to the fact that it's being controlled effectively by my lack of storage space. Then, there is also my admiration of the Epic Games Store, which has been offering free games nonstop to the point that any game that I am interested in that also has an Epic version will be immediately removed from the Steam wishlist and transferred into Epic's so that I can potentially just get the game offered for free or reward Epic with its eventual purchase - Epic is certainly doing a whole lot more when it comes to value than Valve does these days.

Since nothing is permanent, why do we even bother?

It's Really Not That Hard...

It's been what, 3 years since someone begged me for a Steam game? Look, I am not here to talk smack about people's financial conditions or their inability to support their gaming habits. I spend money on video games (and board games recently) because these are really the only two things I have interest in in my life these days. If you have seen my pictures or watched my videos, you have probably noticed my fashion sense over the years and make the accurate conclusion about my spending priorities. Anyway, it really irks me when people are doing low effort things, you know, like asking a zero-viewer live Twitch channel to pay for their horrible channel art or say begging for money in front of a store that clearly has a "now hiring" sign, or asking me to purchase them something out of the blue after being on my Steam's friends list for a while without any prior communication.

You are also only working part time at hustling for games apparently.

Random Gaming Star: Essa

This feature will appear whenever I encounter a startling, memorable character in the games that I play. The characters don't have to bear any significant impact on the games as long as they are able to make a positive and/or a negative impression on me. Also, bear in mind that I have never been a fan of spoilers so those things will be kept to a minimum. Enjoy!

Case File #3: Tyranny (Personal Computer)

The Steam Awards 2024 Nominations

Here are my The Steam Awards 2024 nominees. Please share yours in the comments. Happy Thanksgiving to my readers who are in the United States. I hope there are plenty of reasons for you to be thankful for this season in the face of all the potential adversities and darkness out there in our lives.

From Heroes to Just About Anything Else!

It's been a while, I know, and with my return, I have great news to share with you! I have been Heroes of the Storm free for close to a month! Yes, HotS... That dastardly delicious game that is so easy to get into and so hard to let go. To its defense, know that HotS is one of the best games I have ever played, but I have other games to play too you know, and I am not going to live forever - a fact that a lot of people just don't understand apparently since they are preoccupied with how others live their lives instead of focusing on their own. How did I manage this? Well, I am just sick and tired of getting matched against premade groups as a solo player. It's match after match after match after match in every mode. After dealing with this issue for a long, long time, I was just... Done. I sure hope that other solo players will follow suit so that the premades can finally get a taste of their own medicine. They only love the game when they are matched against solos, so when they have to actually work hard to win a game, it's over for them. Perhaps 5 years from now, us solo players can come back to the game to find that the premades have moved on to better things in their lives outside of circle-jerking each other raw day in and day out (even at the wee hours of the morning). But I really doubt that.

HotS is not listed in the last 7 stream categories on my twitch channel? What?!

Living the 2024 Gamer Strat

After you have been on this planet for a while, the whole "New Year" thing doesn't seem that exciting anymore, or is it just me? The arrival of a new year just signifies a closer proximity towards the end of all existence to us as individuals. It's a scary thing, isn't it? The fact that we know not about the availability of existence before we get here, and now that we are experiencing it, we dread the fact that we will return to that state. Oh, don't get too depressed: there's always video gaming! Well, the new year is off to a mediocre start for me. For one, I thought that my love life was going to get really exciting but that had fizzled out as quickly as it presented itself to me. Still, there is much to celebrate with this new year cycle. With the ever-expanding Game Library, I have recently stepped on the brakes hard on getting new games. I didn't accumulate as many titles during the recent Christmas season compared to previous years because, well, I am all caught up pretty much and two, I also want to live that gamer millionaire life by truly enjoying the things that are already here. I have also come up with a game accumulation management strategy that I had been developing for the past couple of months and so far, I have benefited from its positive effects!

The key to my salvation.

The Steam Awards 2023 Votes

Here are my votes for this year's Steam Awards. Many of my nominees didn't make it to the list of finalists but that is always to be expected. I didn't nominate for No Man's Sky this year for the "Labor of Love" award - and apparently many agreed because it didn't make it to the top of the list - because even though the updates keep on coming, Hello Games has been too focused on the multiplayer element of the game, which I am not a big fan of.

Gaming Year in Review 2023

It's been quite here; I am aware of that. You know that I am still gaming like crazy if you keep track of my Twitch channel, but outside of that, life has been somewhat busy, and I am dealing with some personal issues as well. That's life for you. One day you realize you are here, then you suffer, then you disappear. Sorry, things are somewhat frustrating right now but I'm doing my best. I have been livestreaming my official recaps for my gaming activities across platforms this year. I want to post those videos here. This article will be updated with more videos as if there are more to add. 2023 has been a busy year personally, especially since it involved a very exhausting move for me back in June. I just want things to settle down so I can enjoy my life a little more. Maybe in 2024. Hope your 2023 has been great and that it will be better next year.

Twitch Recap

The Steam Awards 2023 Nominations

I know that it has been rather quiet here on this website. it's just that things have been a little bit busy in life. I haven't stopped my gaming livestreams however since it is a much easier thing to do compared to writing. But hey, here's something new. It's that time of the year again when there is an uptake in turkey consumption - I don't know why, they are so dry - and Steam gamers get to splurge on game purchases while nominating titles for The Steam Awards! Here are my selections. Please drop your nomination links in the comments section, I would love to see them!

PC Games: Zombie Edition

My physical personal computer games, you know, those that usually came packaged in gigantic boxes, have not been properly stored in my Game Room for the past two places that I have lived in. All this time, they have been thoroughly displaced: at one time, they hid in an office closet amongst other non-gaming supplies for 2 years and at another, they were all boxed up for 3 long years. I knew that my latest Game Room Ver. 5.0 is smaller than the previous, but I surprised myself that I am actually capable of properly storing these PC games in here. It took some creativity in space management, and of course, some of the larger gaming items still cannot make it in here - they will eventually find a permanent place somewhere in the walk-in closet of my bedroom, but I am so happy that these forgotten games can finally exist again in my daily gaming life in prominent fashion.

All of my physical PC games (well, almost all) in one place and out in the open.

The Deck Is Not a Reason to Be a Dick

The Steam Deck is great. Let's get that out of the way. Personally, it's a cool portable Personal Computer that I can carry with me when I am going to be away from my home for a while. The fact that it is basically a small form PC outside of its gaming capabilities makes it such a useful tool for everyone. What the Deck shouldn't be, however, is a litmus test for every single game being released on Steam. The problem is, like all good things in life, there are plenty of people out there apparently who is now primarily gaming on the Steam Deck and thus, bringing some delusions and malcontent into the celebration. The Deck is not supposed to be the ultimate gaming rig. It can act as a gateway, especially for console owners or Switch fanatics, to dabble into PC gaming. It's certainly a point of envy for Sony who recently announced their PlayStation Portal streaming tablet - yucks - when you can already do that with Steam Remote Play on any old tablet and controller. Steam even has a certification process on the playability of a game on the Deck with a classification system. The fact that the device is indeed a PC, it still doesn't stop people from trying and experimenting on games that are not officially supported on the Deck, which is fine. It becomes a problem when the said individuals then take their frustrations onto the Steam store, writing horrible reviews for games just because they are not playable on the Deck, even though these games are not verified to be played on the system to begin with.

An example of a misguided review on a game that,
on this date of publication, is not Steam Deck verified.

Review: Bit.Trip Rerunner

 

Bit.Trip Rerunner (2023)

Developer: Choice Provisions, Gamecraft Studios
Platform: Personal Computer

Induction Date: 09/25/2023

Bit.Trip Rerunner is an odd remaster. It's sort of a revamped version of Bit.Trip. Runner with completely recreated levels plus the music from the entirety of the Bit.Trip universe presented with their own playable stages in the new visual style and presentation. You would think that it would make sense for the developer to just improve the entirety of the series into this new collection since they all come in a variety of play mechanics but seemingly, the developer only want us to experience the musical journey in the vein of the Runner gameplay style: that is, an auto runner where the correct actions that are needed to be taken to complete a level are synchronized to the rhythm of the musical track.

Take me to the finish line!

All the Lies: A PP Tale

Lies of P, the new action game from Neowiz, does have a really strange title. Well, the whole game is uh, crazy? It's the delirious retelling of the Pinocchio fairy tale? I guess we will see if it makes any sense at all when I finally get to play this game soon. What's more interesting though is the representation of P's face. It looks like recently, the developer has updated P to look more masculine. When I first heard about this game and looked at the close-up of P on the cover art, I really thought P was a lady. I didn't even know that P stood for Pinocchio at that time, I just thought those crazy non-native English speakers were just trying to find intriguing ways to title another one of their games. I know we are all used to the Final Fantasy series by now because it's so popular, but you know that title doesn't make any bit of sense in relation to any of those games.

Notice the difference? The original look on the right and the "reworked" face on the left.

Patience and Radiant Silvergun

I can't believe it. Radiant Silvergun is actually making its way to Steam, courtesy of Live Wire. Which is pretty funny, I suppose, since Treasure brought Ikaruga to the platform but they are just so unwilling to put in the work to publish Radiant Silvergun by themselves. This could mean that ESPgaluda II may also arrive on Steam in the near future since Live Wire released that game alongside other Cave shmups on the Nintendo Switch.

Hopefully, "coming soon" means in the upcoming weeks?

Steam Has Turned Into a Church

There are a lot of meme and copypasta user reviews on Steam. As I have mentioned previously, the Steam review section is probably the worst part of the service, compared to the dignity and professionalism accomplished on Epic Games. A majority of these reviews, though stupid, are mostly there to garner immediate attention from others in an attempt to achieve some kind of 5-second Internet fame or accumulate Steam Points from the gullible. Sometimes, though, you find something more sinister. Like the one below:

Now imagine someone quoting from other "holy books" and spamming them as game reviews.

Free Games with Prime Obsessed with SNK

If you are a gamer who is a current Amazon Prime member, I am sure you must have noticed that Amazon has been releasing a lot of SNK games for free through their Prime Gaming program. For those who are not familiar with this, basically, you get to claim a number of free games every month that you get to keep in perpetuity even if you decided to cancel your Amazon Prime membership at a later time - unlike rental programs like PSN Plus and the likes. These SNK games I mentioned earlier are titles from the golden era of the arcades and though you can get most of them in some form or another out there in the gaming marketplace, it's nice to see that Prime Gaming is seemingly focused in trying to get all of these titles available through their digital distribution service, for free nonetheless for Amazon prime users.

The Amazon Prime membership is definitely worth it thanks to the addition of these SNK games.