I ACTUALLY GOT A PS4 (#215)

The title really says it all, doesn't it?

That's right, the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of major things that have happened to me since my badly-timed departure was that I got a Playstation 4 Pro, and quite recently, too - it was just a few days ago, on December 25th - Christmas, of course. It's the second Playstation I've gotten this year too; as I've talked about here before, I got a PS3 for my birthday in April to play several Sonic games and Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and 2.5, and since the next game in the series is out this very month (Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue - yes, that is the actual official name, I swear), I decided that it would be worth it to get a PS4 in order to be able to play the newest, most HD-est game in the series when it releases in just under three weeks - I think it comes out here in the UK on January 24th (just checked, it does). Also, I'll of course be able to play Kingdom Hearts 3 when it releases possibly this year or more likely next year. It's now been over 10 years since the release of KH2 but it's okay because fans have had plenty of games to tide them over since then and bridge the gap to the next major instalment in the lovable Disney/Square Enix adventure. I wanted to talk about how cool this is because in 2015 I made a post about how I really wanted a PS4 to play KH3 when it released even though I doubted that this would ever happen, and it appears my dream has come true. It can be found right here.

The Pro isn't massively different to a regular PS4 but is worth buying
for people who don't already have a PS4 as it offers enhanced frame rates,
processing power and graphical capabilities - it can display 4K resolution
(only on a 4K TV).

Axel can be seen with the red hair to the right. He's
one of my favourite characters :)

Following up on my growing interest in the Final Fantasy series that began several months ago... I got Final Fantasy XV (that's Final Fantasy 15) as the first game to go with my PS4! I also got a game called Infamous: Second Son that came with the actual PS4 as a bundle but I haven't played that yet as I'm waiting to finish FFXV first - today I got to chapter 6 out of 15, and since I would like to possibly do all of the side quests and collectables if I can put the effort in, by the time I complete it it will likely be right when KH2.8 comes out at the earliest, so it'll still be a while until I play Second Son. I've heard of the game though, I believe it's pretty good and will write about it on here when I do play it. Anyway, I've been enjoying FFXV a lot, and some of my favourite things include travelling around the world of Eos in the main characters' car, the Regalia, riding the cute yellow Chocobo birds (that have been a staple in the series since FF2) over fields and plains while listening to the addictive music that plays, and listening to the fun conversations between the main characters. In fact, following on with the style of my old blog, Hedgehog Reviews, I might even consider doing a review of it in the future, like another 'My Thoughts On'. Please don't take that as an exact promise since we know how bad I am with those, but who knows.

The bromance is so real, believe me.
From left to right: Gladiolus, Ignis, Noctis, Prompto.

I also began playing Final Fantasy XIII (13) on PS3 around two months ago but am only around halfway through and won't be continuing for a while since I'm mainly playing PS4 games and stuff. I will go back to in several months though, and I also have XIII-2 to play afterwards. I'll get Lightning Returns (XIII-3) in the future as well, but like they say in Wreck-It-Ralph, for now I need to take life one game at a time. Anyway, thanks for reading, it's good to be back, and below I've put a list of PS4 games that I'm hoping to get, most of which aren't out yet. Even though I'm getting a lot more into Playstation than I used to (I recently picked up an issue of Official Playstation Magazine), I like to truly believe that I'm still a Nintendo gamer at heart, and I am excited for Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the Nintendo Switch; it's just cool to be able to explore series that I never had the consoles for before. Anyway, here's the list. Some of these available not only on PS4 but on, for example, the Switch as well, so even if I don't get them on PS4 I'll still get them on the Switch probably.

Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 HD Extremely Long Title Prelude Epilogue Prequel HD
Kingdom Hearts 3 (of course)
Yooka-Laylee (I like Banjo-Kazooie)
Sonic Mania
Project Sonic 2017
Untitled Spider-Man Game
Batman: Return to Arkham (I have Arkham Asylum on PS3 but this has both Asylum and City remade in updated graphics so it's more worth it than just buying City on PS3)
Batman: Arkham Knight
Batman: The Telltale Series (maybe idk)

I think that's it.

Thomas

Edit 09/01/2017: Another post will come soon. I just finished FFXV (the story at least; I might go back and try and complete all the sidequests). The ending was beautiful and made me cry so hard. Also one last thing I should mention is that in post #211 I showed a picture of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD for PS3 which I got at CeX. However, I haven't played it yet and I'm actually going to return it and get the PS4 version instead as I hear it's actually quite different to the PS3 version and improves a lot. So yes, I will get that for PS4 eventually.

Happy 2017 Catch-Up (#214)

There is so, so much that has happened since about the beginning of August and I'm probably going to struggle to remember even half of it... so expect more posts like this in the future talking about the things I've been up to in the past three to four months. I've decided that I will make a series of different posts each talking about some of the things I've been up to in the video game, film and TV show world, not only so that I won't have to make one long, massive post about a gajillion different topics but also so that I'll be able to fill up some post numbers (I know, it's cheap, I guess). So the next post after this will be about one of the things I've been doing since I last ended the blog around August (I probably need to stop doing that in all honesty).

But I think first I should say: Happy new year! Personally I find it so hard to believe that we're now in 2017 and it's nearly been two whole years since I first posted on this blog! Well I guess technically it's only been about a year and a half... but still! That's a really long time. To anybody reading this, I hope you have a fantastic year and let's hope it's better than 2016... we all know that year sucked for many reasons.

Generic fireworks because hey why not.

Thomas

I Know. I'm Ridiculous. (#213)

(This post was written like two months ago, around September when I was playing Ace Attorney 6.)

Guess who's back? Sigh... I know. You must all hate me. For the second time in under a year, I have officially ended this blog and then come back to it several months (or, in this case, mere weeks) later to simply say 'hey guys, what's happening, it's me and I'm making posts again'. Keep in mind that as I write this it's around 10pm (on a school night, no less, and I should really be in bed) and this is just one of those stupid, spontaneous, mind-bogglingly crazy ideas that genuinely just sprang into my head. I was kind of inspired by myself (as egocentric as that sounds).

Recently, due to the release of Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice, I have been getting back into the Ace Attorney series after not playing any of the games for nearly a year. In fact, I remember talking about playing Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright on this blog around a year ago, a little bit after my hundredth post. I was feeling really nostalgic for last Summer when I played all of the games for the first time (apart from Dai Gyakuten Saiban, which is only in Japan and by the way has just had a sequel announced) and as with LvW I wrote on here about a lot of my experiences with the series. In fact, the third post I ever made was right when I started the first game, which feels like an eternity ago and I barely remember the incredible way I felt as I first started this objection-filled adventure. As I said, I was feeling nostalgic so was reading on here around posts #90-#100 when I was talking about my top ten favourite cases in the series. And I just felt inspired. As seen in my posts before I ended this recently I'd been feeling pretty unmotivated and lazy in life sadly but looking at some of the things I wrote a year ago really reminded me of the interesting, descriptive paragraphs I may still be capable of writing if I can only rediscover that lost passion.

How I have missed the feeling of a cold whip to the neck.

This probably sounds stupid to many people but one main reason I ended this in August was because I said I wanted to focus on my YouTube channel and it's extremely draining and stuff to do both a dedicated blog and channel. I still stick by those words and now realise that perhaps YouTube isn't my speciality and although I may occasionally upload videos I probably won't be doing Let's Plays (apart from maybe a short game or two once in a while). I did actually pause my Mario 64 LP halfway through and I do want to finish that at sometime in the future, but I won't push myself or it'll end up forced and crappy. So what I'm saying is, after possibly making the wrong choice in which of the two I want to really dedicate myself to... I am now correcting myself, and choosing this blog. I mean, I've written over 200 posts which is probably one of the most productive things I've ever done honestly (some are pretty damn big too) and the blog just hit 11,000 pageviews... that may be nothing to some people but it means a lot to me. So yes, I'm not deleting my YouTube channel or any of the videos on it or anything... but well, I'll just see what happens with that in the future.

As with post #151, I'm planning to make a post not long after this detailing some of the things I've been interested in during the past two months or so that I neglected to mention even before I stopped posting last month. However, I believe that the only way this will properly work is if I feel no pressure to post frequently and stuff so from now if I don't post for an extremely long period of time it just means I'm having a bit of writer's block or really don't have time (I am in my last year of high school now in the UK so, y'know, exams suck n'all that).

If anything, maybe this will get me to try and write more in English class. Besides... 212 posts is an ugly, random number to just suddenly end a blog at... right?

Thomas (I need to sleep now.)

Moving On (#212)

Hey. So, last November I made a post about how I was deciding to end this blog since it was becoming a bit much for me to spend time writing long posts about things and how I often could barely think of things to say. However, after about four months of no posts, I decided to come back to this and write about news again, and more often my life in general, even though I often couldn't find the motivation to write posts.

Well, as you've probably noticed, that's been happening really badly recently. It's been over two weeks since I made a post, and even though I was on holiday for a week, that's the longest I've ever gone without making one apart from when I ended the blog. And that's not very good. I really, really, genuinely hate to say this, but... maybe it's time for me to say goodbye again. I know that sounds really bad, especially considering that I promised that I would try my best to work harder this time, especially with the really great amount of views I've gotten on here (over 10,000) but I have to admit something and be totally honest with you here. Like I said, I just struggle so much with finding the effort to write posts, even small ones that shouldn't take that much time, but I just keep putting it off and not wanting to. I'm really not sure why but it's just a major problem for me. I think part of it may be that whenever something important related to video games or movies that I'm interested in is announced, I instantly feel the need to make a post about it, but again I just can't motivate myself and then I end up never doing it. Some example of posts I've wanted to make in the past month or so that I just never could get myself to write include my plans for playing the Final Fantasy series which I talked about a little in post #211, how much I've been deeply enjoying the Kingdom Hearts series recently, the Justice League and Wonder Woman trailers that came out weeks ago (which are basically old news now anyway) as well as the Rogue One trailer that came out a couple days ago, the fact that last week I watched the original Ghostbusters 1 and 2 for the first time, the fact that I've really gotten into DC comics lately, and loads of other stuff.

But, for now, I think I should just officially end this blog again because making no posts in nearly three weeks is just ridiculous, and I have to apologise for that. Perhaps, like last time, I will return to this blog in the future. This definitely does NOT have to be a be-all end-all. I just feel it's better this way, especially since sometimes I'll be playing a video game I'm really enjoying and then remember that, oh crap, I haven't posted in way too long but I just can't find the effort to. It's like a vicious cycle.

However! This part is very important. This does not have to necessarily be the complete end of it all. I've talked before about my YouTube channel which I started making videos for a couple months ago, and now that I no longer have to focus on this blog, that is going to be my main priority. But since I'm not going to be using this blog, I do have plans to possibly make some videos in the future about the types of things that I've talked about on here before. My main ideas include top 10 lists, maybe some kind of reviews or just videos talking about video games/movies, stuff like that. I also have plans for a video that will come out at the end of this year if I decide to make it, about all the video games I own, which will be like a better version of the fiftieth post on this blog that I made over a year ago. I also have completed short let's plays on my channel and am nearly halfway through a playthrough of Super Mario 64. There are quite a lot of other games I'd like to make on there in the future as well. If you're reading this, and you're into video games at all, or if you've just enjoyed this blog in general, I would really appreciate if you would continue to support me by checking out my channel right here. I don't mean to turn this into some sort of massive advertisement, it's just that one of the reasons I'm deciding to move on from my blog is so that can get more attention and if it doesn't become at least a little successful then ending this will have partially been for nothing.

Anyway, whether you continue to follow me through my YouTube channel or if you'd rather not, I deeply thank you for reading this far into this post. Everybody who has every visited this site has my deepest thanks, and like I said, this blog has become a little popular. I think one of the first things that comes up on Google when you type in 'Official Nintendo Magazine Tribute' is one of my posts, so that's really cool.

Thank you all so much!

Thomas

Be Back In A Week: The Sequel (#211)

The title is a reference to a post I made around this time last year. So yeah, tomorrow I'm actually going on holiday for one week. Maybe it will be good, maybe it won't. Who knows? But anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow and I should be arriving back next Saturday, on August 6th. This means that unfortunately I will be missing Comic Con, since in the city where I live Comic Con is the 30th and 31st of July which is tomorrow and Sunday. I am pretty sad about this but I suppose there always is a next year. Actually, wasn't the world supposed to end today or something? Oh, who cares. If you're interested, I uploaded a video on my YouTube channel about my little 'break', which you can watch here. It's only a minute or so long.

Since I've not made too many posts lately and I won't be making any for at least a week now, I guess I should use this opportunity to talk about some games I got today! Me and one of my friends have been going to town a lot in the past couple months, mainly to get comic books. We also visit CeX a lot. Last time we were there I saw a copy of New Super Mario Bros for £18, which I think I've mentioned before, but New Super Mario Bros was the first game I ever remember playing, and definitely the first I ever owned, over 8 years ago. I didn't have any money on me at the time but since I had some left over from savings, I went there today by myself because I wanted to get NSMB to play on the car journey and to keep me entertained since I won't have much else to do. Also, I lost the game a good few years ago (I think I had two copies of it for some reason but I guess I lost both) so I wanted to get it again for the pure nostalgia. I went to CeX and unfortunately they didn't have the game. I had lots to spend though and I did find The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS! I've been interested in playing that for a while now since it's kind of a sequel to Wind Waker and since I wanted something to play on DS while I'm on holiday, I'm pretty satisfied. Also I can use my mobile data for a guide since I like to use those for Zelda games.

I got three other games as well. For Gamecube, I got Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, a game that seems extremely random but my friend recommended it to me if I ever saw it in a store because apparently it's a good game even though it's not known very well (also it's made by SEGA, specifically Sonic Team so good enough for me). Also, for PS3, I got Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster and Final Fantasy XIII-2. I've never mentioned Final Fantasy on this channel before, and I'm just getting into it now. See, lately I've been wanting to try some big RPG adventure style games, and I've always had a bit of a curious interest in the series. Also, I've been playing Kingdom Hearts 2.5 which I got a few weeks ago, and Kingdom Hearts is kind of a spin-off of the FF series. Last time I was at CeX I got FF XIII, and although I haven't played it yet, I plan to soon, and I also got Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3 since my friend recommended it and I read a comic related to the more recent Batman: Arkham Knight. So, apart from Phantom Hourglass which I'll start tonight, I have a load of good games to play over the next month, which means I'll have stuff to play for the rest of my Summer holidays and most likely the rest of the year since I'm pretty sure the FF games are pretty damn big.

Anyway, when I get back, I'm planning to make a post about my plans for the FF series and how I'm going to play it. But I should probably actually play one of the games first :) Below I've included a photo of the seven games I talked about in the paragraph above.

My gaming life is lookin' good!

Also I plan to take a big paperback book of the Amazing Spider-Man: Brand New Day comic book arc that I got recently. It has around 20 issues of Spider-Man to read! And I might take Luigi's Mansion 2 for 3DS. I played through the original again recently with my friend and I've been playing the 3DS sequel quite a bit too.

Sorry for the weird camera angle!

Wait, last thing! I saw this masterpiece at CeX today.

You're not a true gamer if you haven't played this
magnificent piece of art.

Okay guys, see you in a while!

Thomas

Sonic 25th: TWO NEW SONIC GAMES! (#210)

Two days ago, on the 22nd of July, Sega held a four hour livestream celebrating Sonic's 25th anniversary, as a tribute to the greatest hedgehog in gaming who has now been around for a quarter of a century. Sega have been hinting for a long time now that there would be some kind of major Sonic news in the livestream; I know because I follow them on Facebook and Twitter, and they post lots of memes. Seriously. However, I was unable to watch the livestream because I'm pretty sure the time that it started here in the UK was like midnight and I didn't want to stay until like 4am, so I just decided it would be best to wait until the next morning. Well I was so excited to find out that during the stream two new major Sonic games were announced, and they look so great!

First of all is Sonic Mania. It's basically a game in the style of the old Genesis Sonic games like Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic and Knuckles, and Sonic CD for the Sega CD. I think some famous zones from these games will be returning, as we can see a little of Green Hill Zone in the trailer, but there will also be completely new zones! I like to think that this will be the true Sonic 4. Not that the official Sonic 4 was that bad but I feel like the physics in that game were weird and this will be much more like the old games. There's also a new move called the drop dash. Sonic Mania will release Spring 2017 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. I'm planning to get a PS4 for Christmas so I can play Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and Kingdom Hearts 3, so I'm good. Check out the trailer here!

The second of the two games is simply titled Project Sonic 2017 as of right now. In the trailer, Sonic is standing in a burning city surrounded by massive robots which I'm assuming Dr Eggman is controlling (but who knows, maybe they'll surprise us?) and Sonic is about to be hit by falling debris when none other than Classic Sonic swoops in to save him! That's right! It's an actual sequel to Sonic Generations, one of my favourite Sonic games! We don't know much so far, but it looks like you'll be able to play as both again in their own levels unless maybe Sega could merge their gameplay and have them play together in levels? This game will release for PC, PS4, Xbox One and the Nintendo NX. Watch the trailer right here.

Also, although I'm not getting LEGO Dimensions, it was still awesome to see a trailer for Sonic's appearance in LEGO Dimensions! Click here to see.

Personally, I'm very excited for both new games because it seems that Sega finally know what us fans want in new Sonic games. I think I'm most excited for Project Sonic 2017 though.

Thomas

Captain America HYDRA Twist Explained (#209)

I have to apologise for uploading posts so rarely in the past few weeks. I know it's kinda ridiculous that there were times when I was uploading several posts a day and now I seem to be struggling to post even every two weeks, it's just that I have had a lot of stuff to do lately as usual and obviously I am focusing a lot on my YouTube channel since I'm really into that now and I've uploaded over 50 videos.

Anyway, this post is basically an answer to the post I made like a month ago about the possibility of Captain America being an agent of HYDRA. So, a couple weeks ago, the second issue of Captain America: Steve Rogers released, and I got it the day it was released because, of course, the first issue got me deeply invested into the series, and I was very interested in how Marvel were going to explain this snake-headed twist. Spoilers, obviously.

So, first of all I want to say, I WAS RIGHT. Kind of. The explanation was that a sentient cosmic cube called Kubik, in the form of a young human girl, was tainted and taught by the Red Skull that HYDRA is basically perfection. Of course, she is a naive child so that would explain why she believes the Red Skull's ideals and doesn't really question the idea that HYDRA is good and the way that things should be. Recently in the comics Steve Rogers' youth was restored by Kubik just before the Captain America: Steve Rogers series started, I believe. Now, when Kubik was restoring Cap's youth and power, since she believed that HYDRA is perfection, she made Cap a HYDRA agent by making it so that all of of Cap's memories involved him being a prominent and faithful member of the terrorist organisation. So this is where it gets a bit confusing; Cap technically isn't an agent since he didn't originally follow HYDRA, but technically he is because he believes himself to have always been a follower and is continuing this lifestyle. It's a little hard for me to explain, but Digital Spy explains it well here. So how do you feel about this, do you think of Cap as an agent or not? I'll definitely be getting the next issue, #3, when it comes out... next week, is it? Wow that went pretty fast.

Also, I know I said this would be probably uploaded in the next three days... oops...

Thomas