Month: October 2021

About 2 1/2 years ago, I wrote about the final batch of 360 and original Xbox games going backwards compatible. I thought I had closed down that chapter of this site and that’s when the site started changing into more of a blog and review site. I wasn’t bagging out weekly reports anymore, and honestly content has never quite been the same despite my efforts otherwise.

Well, October was an interesting month for backwards compatibility. There were a couple of articles that I am linking here for you to read about.

Strange MS Store activity could suggest new backwards compatible OG Xbox games

A lot of news to absorb here, the first being that we should be getting actual official news on new titles in November, just a few days away. The second being that titles from OG games are popping up on the Xbox store which usually is an indicator that they will become BC.

Dead or Alive 3, Dead or Alive Ultimate, Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers, Gladius, Gunvalkyrie, Advent Rising, and Chicken Little were found in the MS Store in their original form as placeholders which used to be a sign that BC was coming for those titles.

The Dead or Alive games are always exciting (outside of the obvious male reasoning) but Gladius was an interesting tactical rpg that I will certainly look into.  Advent Rising and Gunvalkyrie were third person shooters that probably don’t get a lot of love but are worth looking into.  The two least worthy titles are probably Full Spectrum Warrior and well, Chicken Little.  Chicken Little could very well be just a red-herring and that Xbox was testing something.  Hopefully the others are legit.

And then this article today:

Two more Xbox 360 titles spotted on Microsoft Store with backwards compatibility IDs 

The first game mentioned was The First Templar, a hack and slash adventure that from the looks of it was a decent amount of fun and even had a piece of DLC in the Arena.  It is available both digitally ($14.99) as well as physically (an used copy should run you about $10).  As someone who plays a LOT of hack and slash, I’m really surprised I haven’t at least given it a try.

The second game is Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?  which I hope is something of a joke.  Not that I don’t support all BC because I do…but come on.  It’s not available digitally at the moment and physical copies vary wildly in price from $10 to $25 and higher.  Are people really paying rare prices for Jeff Foxworthy gameshow adaptations?  Anyway, I’ll probably try to grab First Templar at some point.

Hopefully this is a continuing trend and I am excited about the potential come November.  While most would agree that these are some odd titles, I don’t expect the actual releases to be all that mainstream.  All of the truly mainstream and sought after titles are already backwards compatible.  I mean, sure I am still wishing for Saboteur, Max Payne 3, Gun, or the Two Worlds games, but at this point of the game I would be just happy for a new batch of titles to discuss.  Stay tuned as I will certainly follow this and report as soon as I know more.  Take care and enjoy.

I am starting to get back in the groove of things. I want to write again and while it’s probably not where it was say a year ago at this time, but I’m trying to realize that writing only helps my mood. When I don’t write, my depression kicks into high gear and I’m really a bother to about everyone I care about. I know it seems silly, but it’s the absolute truth.

That aside, I should be doing a review for the remastered blu-ray set of Superman: The Animated Series soon. I reviewed the dvd set about 10 years ago and while some of my old comments will carry over, presentation and extras will need to be re-evaluated. Most people know I am way more of a Batman guy, but even I will admit that the Superman Animated Series was very well done. Furthermore, this will be my first introduction of the series to my son who loves just about anything that’s superhero related. So that alone will be the worth the effort I put into it.

Other news, I dropped Hulu recently (my son wasn’t happy but he has plenty to watch) due to the loss of the Food Network, ID, and other networks. I naturally subscribed to Discovery+ which became their own streaming service. It probably didn’t help that Hulu raised their prices as well. So far, so good on the service, it has a huge selection of material (I did not realize BBC and Animal Planet also have material on the service) and I’m only have a minor issue with some of the subtitling. But no longer am I subject to the random seasons that Hulu seemed to have of my favorite shows.

On to video games, and the last couple of months I’ve been going back and visiting older games that I never completed. We aren’t talking AAA titles here, but remasters like the Dig Dug series or Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe which I were able to complete after all of this time. I finally beat the heart on Slay the Spire with the Watcher which was the last class I had not done it with. (Was quite proud of that victory). I even went back to Ziggurat, had a successful run and knocked down three more achievements.

However, a couple of those games that I did go back and visits did not wield any success as I tried Crysis 3 again only to fully realize what my trouble was six years ago when I played it last. I basically suck at any first person shooter not named Doom and Wolfenstein but never seem to learn from my mistakes. I also went back and tried the remaster of Galaga and while I did net one more achievement, the challenge stages are much too difficult to 100% as they require a ton of repetitive button mashing (something I was never really good at). So back those two titles went to probably not be seen again for a few years (at least in the case of Galaga, Crysis 3 I am probably done with).

As to what I’m playing now? A combination of two games for the most part. I am playing a game I’m sure a lot of people recognize in Hades which is my current rogue-lite game of choice. I’m not sure if I would put it in the elite company of Slay the Spire and Ziggurat but it is a great deal of fun and I did finally beat it for the first time very recently. I am not consistently winning yet (in fact I still have only won once), but I am getting to Styx a lot even with weapons that I was having trouble with initially. While I am nowhere near the level of player that I have seen on Twitch doing these runs, I am having fun with it which is what’s important.

The second game I am getting through is a game I finally started earlier this year in Murdered: Soul Suspect. I mean the game is seven years old at this point but it does take a bit of dedication and persistence to find all of the collectibles which in my opinion is the game’s only major flaw. I have found 179 collectibles I believe and I just started the museum. I realize I am in the home stretch of the game and hope to complete it by Thanksgiving. A younger Michael would probably go back and play it again on 360 but I have way more things to play. The only game I really am double boxing at the moment is Scott Pilgrim which calls back to my River City Ransom roots.

Anyway, we’ll cut it there for today. Expect to see more of me as I ramp back up my writing/blogging and get out of my funk. It’s better for everyone involved. Enjoy.

It’s been two months since I last posted anything on this site. It came down to one very simple reason, and something I wasn’t sure I would be comfortable sharing on this site. It’s personal after all and while I do talk about some personal things on here, I should be sharing anecdotes about films, video games and music. While I have done all those things in the last two months, there is nothing I really feel like sharing about it, at least not yet.
Continue reading “Musings and Nonsense for October 6th, 2021” →