Impressions - June 2024
Impressions of the Month
Newsletter and Updates
I still am not happy with the output of articles I’m putting out each week. I know the excuse can made about how my schedule is much tighter than most, but I don’t want to use that excuse. I hope to get to three articles a week at least eventually, and I’m hoping July will be the month that happens. The last week of the month was particularly annoying as my internet modem died from a power surge in a bad storm, so I had to wait for the replacement.
For next month, I’m going to try to quicken the pace of my Strachey’s List series. I like making those, but the time to format them can be a little tedious. I also want to finish off my Side Vault Disney rankings series to get it over with. I also plan to start releasing more opinion articles, and I still want to do a really good write-up on the state of mobile gaming and what it means for the industry. I’m still interested in expanding 1UP Vault, lots of ideas on my mind, so we will see how things look by the end of summer.
The other thing I’m considering is redoing my older reviews from the newsletter with the new review format I came up with recently. If I can get a good cadence of time to write, it’s something I want to do. And lastly, I want to organize the substack better and make discovering older articles easier.
What I’ve Been Playing
I started Starfield again, and the new update has been a game-changer. It really is the way the game should’ve been released at the start. I still have issues with its planet traversal, and you’ll still bump into planets with nothing interesting to come away with, but when you do find that moment, it hits really good. My plan is to play it throughout the year and then try to roll credits on the main campaign before the ball drops in New York.
I also just finished Tales of Kenzera: Zau, a nice small experience. What I love the most about it is the story, themes, and music. I do think the gameplay needed more, but I was personally happy with it overall. It will be my first review of July. For my summer games outside of Starfield, I just downloaded 2023’s Lords of the Fallen from Game Pass and Still Wakes the Deep. If I finish those before September, I will finally jump in and play The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. So, I got things mapped out pretty much for the rest of the summer.
Nintendo Strikes Back
I wrote an article about the games that most excited me from Xbox’s Showcase and Summer Games Fest (Read Here). Overall, I thought Xbox had a solid A- event; the only reason I wouldn’t give it an A+ is because I did feel it was missing something, but that’s completely subjective. South of Midnight was my game of all those pre-Nintendo events, but I knew Nintendo had a direct coming up. I expected the direct to be okay with remasters and a potential remake since Switch is obviously in its final year. What I didn’t see coming was Nintendo delivering one of their better directs.
Some of the standouts for me were The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (Zelda playable!), Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, Fantasian Neo Dimension, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D, and, of course, Metroid Prime 4. Metroid is my all-time favorite video game franchise, so I went nuts when Metroid Prime 4 gameplay came on. It looks so good, and I suspect it will be a cross-gen launch title for the Switch 2. I’m standing by my prediction the Switch 2 will be revealed before the year is over and then launch in spring 2025. Nevertheless, it seems Nintendo Switch will be going out with a bang, and that PS2 sales record could be broken.
Happy Birthday to Elena!
To end things, I want to wish a happy birthday to my daughter, who will turn five years old at the end of the month (June 30th). We will be going to Disney Springs in Orlando, which will be the first time I’ve been in any type of Disney property since 2021. The plan is to walk around and eat at T-Rex Cafe. Here’s wishing, praying, and hoping for many more years for her!