Ahead of my end of year post that’ll appear (hopefully) early January, first we’ll close out with gaming goings on from December. Looks like another month with nothing completed too.
Games played during December
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Switch
Like any good December, the majority of my gaming this month has been multiplayer. Wish I’d started practising in November though. At least Mario Kart remains a good time even when you’re not winning…
Puyo Puyo Tetris – Switch
This Christmas featured a good amount of Tetris, and a lot of the Puyo Puyo Tetris multiplayer variety. Such a great multiplayer title, and a great way to round out what has been a year of Tetris really.
December Pick-ups
Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom – Switch
I have been interested in Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom for a while. It got a substantial 50% discount in a December sale on the Nintendo eShop so decided it was finally time to pick it up. Haven’t played much yet, but it looks incredible running. Looking forward to getting stuck in.
Halo Reach – PC (Game Pass)
Yes of course I’ve played this before, but was very interested in trying the new PC port. Remains one of the best games in the series, and looks great in this version. Looking forward to them adding more of the games to the PC version of the Master Chief Collection.
Cities Skylines Add-ons – PC
Humble Bundle had a strategy bundle up during December, and although I already owned most of the games, it was worth a purchase for the various Cities Skylines expansions I hadn’t picked up yet.
Demon’s Tilt – Switch
I was already feeling spoilt when the Xbox One version of this excellent pinball game appeared on Game Pass. I didn’t realise a Switch version was coming until the day before it released. It was a day one purchase for me, particularly since the developer’s gave me a code for the PC version so I could do this Demon’s Tilt preview. For one of my favourite games of the year, I was certainly happy to throw some money at them for a Switch version.
Now I just need one of those flip grips, so I can play with a vertical screen.
Dicey Dungeons – PC
First of two games gifted from my Steam wish list by a good friend. I did mention this briefly on my EGX Rezzed blog post, now glad to be able to play the finished game.
Islanders – PC
The second of the Steam games I received for Christmas, I don’t really know anything about other than the description from the store page. It looks great though!
Streaming / Podcast Recording PC
I had been considering putting together a second PC that I could dedicate to recording and editing the podcast for a while. It also occurred to me that the same hardware would be suitable for handling streaming if I decided to try that. Fortunately my partner’s work were auctioning off some old hardware and I picked up a 2017 Dell laptop on the cheap. I’ve since doubled the RAM up to the limit of 8GB, and added a 480 GB SSD*. It is now pretty nippy and should be up for the task.
I didn’t really know where to start with things like audio mixers and capture cards, but have gone for the below based on some bits I’ve read, and will see how I get on. I went with the HD60 rather than the HD60 S thanks to the former’s hardware encoding. This should shift some of the load away from the CPU in the older laptop.
Mixer: Behringer Xenyx QX1002USB*
Capture Card:https://amzn.to/39qGFRx*
Of course I don’t actually know what I’m doing with any of this yet, but I’ll figure it out. Maybe.
Retired during December
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night – Xbox One
I’ve retired this for a while due to not getting as much time on the Xbox as I’d like. I’m presently in two minds about grabbing the Switch version despite the performance issues just so I can play it more regularly. We’ll see.
Various editions available here* from Amazon
*As usual, these links are affiliate ones, which may earn me a small commission if you buy something.