Over the last three and half hours, an argument has been raging in the official Evercade Discord server over whether or not the latest firmware update "broke" a device that effectively allows you to use your own SD cards with the Evercade. There have been some extremely harsh and unpleasant words spewing forth from the people who had invested in this device, and a complete unwillingness to consider why a small company like Blaze might not want to make it easy for people to make use of such a device.

The standard go-to argument in favour of devices like the one in question is "because homebrew". But the fact is, these devices are also used for widespread piracy. And with a platform like Evercade, which is reliant on the support of the companies it manages to secure licenses with, that's a huge problem. Whether or not the device in question can be used for homebrew development is beside the point, really; the fact it indisputably also enables piracy is something that could potentially put future licensees off supporting the platform.

Mostly I've just sort of watched in bewilderment as a small number of people got really, really angry that the handheld console that has always been marketed as having fully licensed, official, curated collections of games rather than being a simple ROM machine does not, in fact, want to encourage the use of any device which might turn it into another ROM machine. We've had people yelling about "China" and "censorship" and all manner of other absolute nonsense, and it would be hilarious if it wasn't so very, very depressing.

On the one hand, I get it. A new device appears, it's cool to see what can be done with it. On the other, Evercade has been pretty clear about exactly what and who it's for from the outset, so I don't really understand the need for supposed "homebrew" developers to get their pants in a bunch over this. After all, becoming an official developer for the platform is a simple matter of emailing Blaze, or coding something for one of the emulated platforms on Evercade and then going via a group like Mega Cat Studios.

For the most part, the people yelling about this haven't been making themselves seem like the sort of "customer" anyone would be in a great hurry to support. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if, by tomorrow morning, they appear to have been quietly ejected from the Discord. I certainly wouldn't miss them.

People, eh? Why do they have to ruin everything?

I played through The Coma today. It's maybe about 5-6 hours in total, which I tend to feel is the optimum length for the type of game it is. It didn't feel like it outstayed its welcome at all, and I enjoyed the experience as a whole. Its sequel Vicious Sisters is a considerably more polished game in many ways, but it's super-interesting to see where it all started. While Vicious Sisters doesn't require knowledge of The Coma to appreciate — I played it first — it is a direct follow-up. I'll be interested to revisit it now I have the context of the first one.

I like horror games. I'm not particularly big on blood, gore, violence and that sort of thing, but I do very much appreciate that horror games these days tend to be the natural evolution of the adventure game genre for one reason or another. I guess the core "solving a mystery" aspect fits well with the horror theme — and if you get into supernatural horror, said mystery can be super weird and cool!

I especially like horror games that aren't about fighting. The Coma and its sequel are good examples, as is Corpse Party. For me, horror becomes immediately less scary if you can fight back. There are exceptions, of course — the violence is pretty core to the Silent Hill games, for example, particularly the second — but I tend to find "spooky scary things" and "I'm a badass with a rocket launcher" don't gel super-well together. Or, rather, that's not quite true; I've enjoyed many a Resident Evil in my day. But they don't feel like "horror" in the same way as something like The Coma or Corpse Party. Perhaps it's the distinction between "monster movie" and "horror" or something. I don't know. I haven't studied it in detail, but I like to think about such things.

Anyway, The Coma was a good time, and now I have something suitably spooky to write about for Halloween week. As I say, I might try and bang out a replay of Vicious Sisters this week too — particularly as I got the "bad" ending back when I reviewed it — but that'll all depend on time, motivation and… well, just those two things, really.

Hope you've all had a good weekend! Back to the grindstone tomorrow. Booooo!

Halloween is coming up, and I haven't played a spooky game yet this year. I think I'll probably try and bang out The Coma and a replay of its sequel over the course of the next few days, so I have something spooky to write about on MoeGamer for the week of Halloween. There's also the short;Play video of Mad Rat Dead coming up; that isn't really "horror" as such, but it's definitely got some… weirdness going on.

I haven't played the first The Coma game yet, but I enjoyed the second. Those who have been following along will recall that I reviewed it for Nintendo Life a while back — you can check it out here. It was an enjoyable, very stylish horror game that told an interesting story and managed to feel a bit different from your average horror game. Part of that was it being Korean rather than the more common Western or Japanese takes on the genre, but also things like the side-on perspective and the overall structure really worked well for it.

If you're interested in The Coma and its sequel, it's worth noting that Play-Asia have a double-pack of them available for Switch — you can grab 'em here. If you decide to grab it, do it through this link; that's my Play-Asia affiliate link for it. It won't cost you anything extra but if enough people do it it'll help the site out a bit.

I'm going to start making use of a few more of these around MoeGamer — likely on the game pages, to provide people an easy means of buying the games I write about — as that is something that seems to have worked out well for other people I know with minimal inconvenience, and without the obtrusiveness of banner or popup ads and the like. I'll also look into other sites that offer affiliate programmes such as Humble; it's an avenue I haven't really explored yet, but as I say, I know several people who have made good use of them.

Anyway. Expect something on The Coma hopefully in the next week or so, and the sequel if I manage to get through it again. I said a while back that I might do a video playthrough of one or both, but doing that considerably increases the time it takes to get through them, so I'm probably not going to have time to do that, unfortunately. Plus as short-form horror games, I'm kind of in favour of letting people discover some things for themselves, anyway 🙂

For now, though, time for bed, I think. The spookums begin tomorrow!

I got it all done, and before the weekend, too. That leaves a weekend free for just sitting back, relaxing and enjoying some video games. I haven't had a good Atelier Lulua session for a few nights, so I'm going to spend some time with that before I head off to sleep this evening, I think.

I have spent a little time with Mad Rat Dead over the last couple of days; there's a short;Play coming up on it soon, and I've played a bit more today. For some reason I got my copy a bit early from NISA's European store; the official release date isn't until the 30th, but I'm not complaining; the game works and this gives me the opportunity to get the aforementioned video ready in time for the week of release! Nice. Not often I get to be "timely".

For the uninitiated, Mad Rat Dead is a platformer from Nippon Ichi with a bit of a twist — it's all rhythm-based. If you think Crypt of the Necrodancer as a side-scrolling platformer, you'll be partway there, but as you might expect the shift in perspective means a shift in gameplay focus, too. Rather than strategically engaging foes in rhythmic combat, here you're rhythmically negotiating rather perilous environments that, in some cases, would be a pain to get across in a regular platform game, let alone one where you're expected to keep to the beat!

So far the story has provided hints of being pleasingly fucked up, which I was sort of hoping for. The guy behind this is the same dude who made the Yomawari games (which I haven't played, but know a little about) and so I was counting on there being a bit more than meets the eye to what is going on — and that most certainly seems to be the case so far. I can't really say too much more at this point as I'm only a short way into the narrative. But expect something about it all on MoeGamer on the near future — as well as a look at the opening stages on short;Play next week.

Aside from that, I've been enjoying the new Evercade cartridges. Tanglewood is a pleasantly chilled out time and Xeno Crisis is the complete opposite. Plus it's a genuine pleasure to be playing Dizzy games again — even if they're not exactly the versions I remember. Mind you, I still have copies of the versions I remember, so it's actually nice to see the NES versions and how they differ from the home computer versions.

Right then! Lulua is calling, so I will bid you farewell, and wish you all a lovely weekend.

Today was not quite as productive as I was hoping. I spent a significant proportion of the day waiting for a call back from someone, and not getting started on recording until pretty late in the day because I didn't want my phone going off in the middle of a session! Ah well. This simply reminds me of the many, many reasons I completely avoid interacting with people via the telephone whenever possible.

And while I've only finished recording two more videos (so far, I might try and squeeze one or two more in before bed) I have done the research and recorded the intros for eight more, so all I need to do is record the gameplay for those eight videos and I'm all good. And I have several days to do that!

Haven't found the time to look too much into the Intellivision stuff I was talking about a few days back as yet, but a bit of reflection on it told me that I don't necessarily have to hurry on this. The Amico itself isn't out until next April, after all, and while it would be nice to have something up and ready to go sooner rather than later — to be part of the whole pre-release "building excitement" thing, particularly as Intellivision itself is getting rolling on that now — there's no rush. On top of that, that's something I can gradually work on during/after my normal working days and release when there's something to show. Getting ahead of schedule on my planned videos, meanwhile, is the perfect thing to do during this week off from the day job. So that's the focus for now!

I'm mostly justifying this to myself. You don't care, I'm sure. Anyway, that's the situation! And with that update provided, it's time to go and enjoy a late-night bagel, a late-night (decaf) coffee and consider whether or not I can be arsed to record anything else this evening. Have a pleasant night!

I got the five videos I hoped I'd get done recorded today, so I'm on schedule to achieve everything I want to do this week. There's still editing to do — plus all my usual writing — but I should be good to get everything done. It's amazing how well-motivated it's possible to be when you're doing something you actually want to do — even if that thing you want to do is hard work in itself.

I'm proud of what I do, and I've said numerous times around the place that I genuinely wish I could make it my full-time occupation. I don't know if that will ever happen, but I do know my work — particularly on the written side of things — has been attracting more attention than ever before over the course of this last year, and even the average number of views on my videos has been up considerably over the course of the last few weeks. Those are steps in the right direction — as I frequently note, I don't do this "for the numbers", but if I do ever want to make a "career" out of this, if it's possible, then a decently sized audience is a good starting point if nothing else!

Anyway. Enough reflecting on things that may never happen; I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now, and as I've said before, continuing to do it as my main "hobby" — besides gaming itself — most certainly keeps me sane amid the crushing, soul-destroying tedium of modern adult life. I'm extremely grateful that people like you (yes, you) are coming along for the ride and enjoying my stuff — and delighted that more and more people seem to be stopping by every day. I'm sincerely looking forward to finally completing a big project like Atari A to Z Flashback or the Atelier MegaFeature and being able to go "look, this is what I've been working on, I hope you enjoy it from start to finish". The sense of satisfaction I anticipate feeling at that moment will be worth more than anything.

Anyway, the new Evercade carts are here, so I think I know what I'm doing before sleep tonight…

I got up pretty late today, so I was worried I wasn't going to be super-productive. Instead I've managed to record ten full videos today (five Atari A to Z, five Atari A to Z Flashback) so I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself.

I was delighted to discover that a game I was dreading covering on the series — RealSports Baseball for 2600 — is actually a hilarious experience due to some of the very worst AI I've ever seen. I mean, on the one hand, I can understand it because of the 2600's limitations, but the sheer idiocy of the computer opponent in that game should be the stuff of legends. You'll see in a few weeks when the video goes up!

My loose plan for the rest of the week is to try and get five more episodes of all the current series in the can. On top of what I've already done, that means five episodes of Atari ST A to Z, short;Play and Evercade A to Z left to go, which is very much doable. Ten in a day is definitely doable, as today showed, but to give me a bit more time to do other stuff I think I'm going to just record five at a time on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; that will leave me free to write, play Atelier Lulua and do some other bits and bobs, too.

Tomorrow's non-writing, non-video job is to attempt to clear all the cat shit out of our little outsidey bit, which is not going to be a fun job. Hopefully that will decrease the number of irritating little midges that keep finding their way into the house, though — we'll see.

Anyway, satisfied with all that I've achieved today, now I am off to bed. Have a good evening!

This evening we actually managed to get a group of friends together to play a board game — something we haven't done for a good six weeks or so. With what looks like another full lockdown looming, we wanted to take the opportunity to actually socialise, so we did — at admirably short notice, which is very unusual for this group of friends.

Anyway. The game we played was called The Quacks of Quedlinburg. I'd not heard of it before, but I haven't really been keeping up on board game news for a while now as there's seemed little point; with how infrequently we were all able to meet up, my collection felt very much like it was going to waste and I actually got rid of a good few of them. I still have a fair number of what I consider to be "essentials" though. But I digress.

The Quacks of Quedlinburg is a push-your-luck game about drawing potion ingredients out of your bag and hoping you don't add too many "cherry bombs". If the value of your cherry bombs exceeds 7 in a round, your potion explodes and you're put at a bit of a disadvantage come the "evaluation" phase and are only able to claim income or victory points; conversely, if you wisely choose to hold off adding more ingredients, you're able to claim both victory points and income, the latter of which can be used to add more ingredients to your bag, thereby "diluting" it and making it a little less likely you draw a cherry bomb.

The specific ingredients each have their own functions, some of which play off other ones, and there are a variety of different "books" detailing ways the different colours work, meaning each playthrough of the game can be a little bit different from the last. Mechanically, it's pretty simple — there's a lot of luck involved — but there are some interesting decisions to be made, particularly with regard to which ingredients to buy between turns, and whether or not you should keep pushing your luck, bearing in mind the odds of drawing something that will cause an explosion.

I really enjoyed it; there was enough mechanical interest to keep everyone engaged and occupied, it played quickly and no-one ever felt they were running away with the victory at any point. There are obviously plenty of different strategies and approaches depending on the ingredients you have available, and it is immensely satisfying when your combinations of ingredients work well together.

All in all, I'm looking forward to playing it again; hopefully we'll get another opportunity soon!

Spent some time recording some two-player gameplay for some upcoming Atari A to Z Flashback episodes today. Given the general uselessness of my friends even before the whole pandemic started, I've taken to recruiting my wife Andie to help with this.

Andie is very helpful and supportive with this, but I always feel a bit bad when I ask her to play something she obviously doesn't enjoy. Thankfully, both games we recorded today were a ton of fun, and we were pretty evenly matched. It's always nice when this happens — and it always makes me look on the game in question more fondly as a result.

The games in question today were Outlaw and Pong Sports, aka Video Olympics. I've never really played Outlaw all that much in the past, but it's super-fun in two player. The single-player target shooting variations are a bit dry and boring, but in two player it's a blast, with a variety of different ways to play.

I really like Pong Sports, too. While it's essentially little more than what you'd get on one of those standalone Pong consoles from the '70s, the fact all these games are together in one place and support up to four players makes it really fun. I also really like the variants that unfold from a "side" view and have gravity — the "Basketball" game may not really resemble actual basketball but it sure is fun!

It's always nice to (re)discover old games like this that really do hold up today. I've talked a bit before about "The Davison Cup" I liked to hold around my birthday (before the current nonsense happened), where I'd invite some friends over and we'd play a tournament of many and varied multiplayer games — including a bunch of Atari 2600 stuff. Next time we manage to do this — assuming that ever happens — these two are definitely going to be part of it.

Been spending most of today playing Atelier Lulua, and I'm a big fan. As I mentioned briefly the other day, the game has something of a feel of Atelier Iris about it, and that feeling is only getting stronger the further I go and the more the game opens up.

Specifically, I'm getting the feeling I got from the first Atelier Iris where there was a main plot that I should probably go and do at some point, but a lot of the appeal came from dropping in on my favourite shopkeepers and seeing what was going on with them, or doing some sidequests that were ultimately of little importance to the main narrative, but which still had some nice interactions between the characters to enjoy as a reward.

Thus far I've been enjoying seeing Lulua getting to know Totori and Mimi, and Totori having grown very gracefully into full adulthood. There's none of the sense of "exhaustion" she has in Atelier Meruru, and she manages to radiate a sense of responsibility and trustworthiness without sacrificing her natural gentleness — and indeed it seems that over the years her confidence in showing her playful side has grown somewhat, too. This is especially apparent any time we see her interacting with Mimi, who is, as always, a delight.

An interesting aspect of Atelier Lulua is that a significant proportion of it involves figuring things out for yourself from clues rather than being told explicitly what to do next. I really like this, as it fits well with the way the narrative has been going so far, and adds something of a "puzzle" feeling to the game as a whole. There are also lots of optional objectives with very worthwhile rewards, so the game has been keeping me busy and very happy for the 12 hours or so I've been playing so far.

Looking forward to writing about it, but there's a little while to go before that happens yet!