Highlights - XCOM

Lately I’ve been playing a hell of a lot of XCOM: Enemy Within. And I’ve noticed I didn’t have content planned for most of this week partly because of that. So for today’s Highlights, let’s talk about the planetary defense turn-based strategy game known as XCOM and why we love it so much. 

BulletPoints - Link to Better Games

When you’re someone who is considered a Nintendo fan, you have to learn to accept certain things as part of the package deal. You have to learn you need to overlook the poor naming scheme of the consoles. The names are only getting worse, and in the way which it becomes harder to find said device (see New 3DS) online because Google doesn’t fully understand New 3DS means the new New 3DS console, not just a new 3DS console.

Majestic Twleve - Favorite Faces From The Simpsons

Lately I’ve been a bit on a Simpsons kick. And while I don’t think I could accurately list all 12 of my favorite episodes (because picking a solid twelve of near 600 episodes is almost as difficult as picking a solid twelve of near 700 Pokemon) I can certainly pick characters that I enjoy seeing from time to time. If a character you like didn’t get mentioned, don’t feel bad, there are plenty I would love to have listed, but these are the supporting characters (so not the main family) that I really have enjoyed throughout the series. 

Trailers On Trial - Blood Running at Sonic Speed

Welcome back to the series where we dismantle and analyze the latest trailers for game and film, Trailers or Trial. We’ll be going into a format change here soon. But before we do, let’s discuss the latest trailers for a couple of upcoming games. This week we have an actual trailer, not a teaser, for Sonic Runners and we also have a story-trailer for the much anticipated Bloodborne. 

Reloading - Stupider Ascending?

Children, gather around. It’s time for another review of a film (because Uncle Aaron still hasn’t gotten his Majora’s Mask for 3DS because Nintendo, Amazon UK, and his credit card company can’t agree that the transaction was made even though I clearly did it). Instead of getting a review of a game that’s largely irrelevant, you’ll be getting a review of Jupiter Ascending instead… which will largely be irrelevant when this comes out because it’ll have been two weeks old and very likely out of theaters. Hooray!

Three-Way Podcast #39 - Big Ol Sausage in the Mouth

This week, the crew discusses Amiibo, racist doughnuts, Monster Hunter, and things that may eventually exist... possibly... Half-Life 3 Confirmed? Tune in for all that and more on our Three-Way Podcast. Tune in next Wednesday for another live-stream attempt.

Highlights - Portal

Welcome back to Highlights, the series where we talk about memorable moments from memorable games, movies, comics, books, shows, and more. Today we’ll do what I’ve wanted to do for a few posts now, video games. And I think we can all agree this one has memorable moments worth discussing. Portal.

BulletPoints: Wall Crawling Menace Co-op'ed by Marvel

A recent news report announced that Spiderman would be joining the ranks of the Marvel characters in a recent deal construed by Sony and Marvel. While Fox has yet to weigh in on the issue in regards to X-Men and the Fantastic Four, we can spend the time speculating on whether this news is good or not by skimming over some of the relevant facts, of which, we actually know very little.

The Majestic Twelve - Custom Character Ideas

This was originally going to be a “Top Twelve” characters I want to make for Dark Souls. But as I wrote, I thought, why should I just do my favorite ideas for custom characters in one game? But then I realized I don’t want to do multiple posts on the topic because it’s basically just me going on about character ideas without much context other than that. So here is just a compiled list of my favorite “Create-A-Character” ideas from a variety of games. Some of them I’ve already attempted to make… others I am in the process of working on it. Enjoy. 

Trailers on Trial - Evolve to Guillermo Del Toro

Welcome back to trailers on trial, where we break down trailers for games and movies to see what works and what doesn’t. When all is said and done, we pass a verdict as to whether we buy into the hype of the trailer or decide it just wasn’t interesting. Today we’ll be discussing Crimson Peak and the launch trailer for Evolve (because why not be somewhat topical). Enjoy! 

Reloading: Project Almanac (Spoilers)

By the time this review is released, I’m willing to bet the film has been removed from most theaters in an effort to make as much room for the 50 Shades of Grey craze that is all but inevitable. That being said, I wouldn’t do a delayed-review of Project Almanac if I didn’t think it worth discussion. It’s not a spectacular film and it won’t do anything to rock your world. But it was actually entertaining and is one of the few “found footage” films that I can say does a good job with the concept without becoming a nauseating mess. So, yeah. Rather than talk about 50 Shades, let’s talk about Project Almanac.

Three-Way Podcast #38: After Sex Donuts

It's Valentine's Day and we all sound like idiots. We talk about Zelda, Spiderman, Pubic Hair, and things you can do for Valentine's Day, including listening to our lovely podcast (which is embedded below for your convenience). 

Highlights - Earth's Mightiest Moments

In my attempt to fill out the release schedule of posts but also to add variety, here’s a new post series I want to start doing. It’s like a mixture of Reloading and Majestic 12, and we’re calling it Highlights. Unlike a full review, I’m just going over moments of a particular game, movie, book, show, or comic that stand out to me. These are moments that are fun, memorable, weird, interesting, or have some significance to me and why. And it’s listed out, but we won’t have twelve different items (that’d be too much).

To kick things off with the inaugural episode and to get ready for Avengers: Age of Ultron, let’s kick things off with Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. You expected me to do the movie instead, didn’t you? 

BulletGanon - Amiibo Crisis 2015

Amiibos… Plastic little figures with specialized chips in them to interact with your games. The effects they provide vary from figure to figure and game to game. And while I really do like the idea of collecting little figures of your favorite Nintendo icons (because, really, will there ever be a chance for a Marth, Ness, or Villager figure after this?), I can’t help but feel like Amiibos are ultimately a bad thing. Perhaps it’s because I’m jaded on the fact that a Ganondorf Amiibo still doesn’t exist and, at this rate, may likely never see the light of day. But I like to think my opinions on Amiibo aren’t entirely based on selfish desires to own a figure of the true dark lord of our times. #istandwithganondorf 

Majestic Twelve - Boss Battles of Dark Souls 2

Earlier this week, we put up our review for Dark Souls 2, which you can find right HERE. Assuming you've already read the review or played the game, the following shouldn't be a surprise. Here are the top twelve bosses we had fun fighting in Dark Souls 2. If they didn't make the cut, I either managed to skip them somehow or they're in the DLC and I haven't gotten to DLC (at the time of writing). Let’s get started! 

Trailers on Trial: Poltergeists Persona-Fived

Welcome back to Trailers on Trial where we pass judgment on the snippets of film or game footage released to build up hype. Will the game/movie of today live up to said hype or do we even care with what we’ve been shown? Today’s defendants are the new Persona 5 trailer AND the remake of Poltergeist (2015).

Reloading - Dark Souls 2

It took me damn near a month to complete the game… then I delayed posting this review a week because my schedule was entirely too full. But I’d rather have a full schedule than delay everything constantly. So here’s the review some of you have been waiting for… Dark Souls 2.

Three-Way Podcast #37 - Dicks as Multitool Confirmed

We bring up a second podcast this week in order to get us up to date with news. And you get more entertainment in one week. It's win-win! Enjoy out latest episode of the Three-Way Podcast where we talk about everything from movies to the NSA to sex in Witcher 3 to Monty Oum. 

Highlights - Red Vs Blue Reminiscing

Here’s our second new post of Highlights, a series that points out worthwhile moments in games, shows, movies, comics, books, and more. Without further delay, let’s get into the highlights for one of my favorite web series, Red Vs. Blue. 

Three-Way Podcast #36 - Chin Deep in Meta

Hosted by Aaron and Nicole, we introduce the world to Ryan and Angel as they introduce us to the incredibly deep world of meta gaming. 

Majestic Twelve - Best Fan-Made Amiibo

We talked about it on this week’s podcast and in an upcoming BulletPoints. Amiibo are annoying to a degree, but the custom amiibo scene is actually quite incredible. So I figure, let’s take a moment to recognize the brilliant craftsmanship and dedication it takes to make these cheap looking Amiibo’s look like works of genuine talent. I’ll do my best to include names. If you are the creator of an Amiibo we showcase and you’re name was omitted, please let us know in an email (evacstation@gmail.com) and we’ll make the edit as needed. Let’s get started.

BulletPoints - Waiting for DLC to Evolve

Have you heard of Evolve? It’s an asymmetrical 5-player co-op/versus game in which four friends face off against a big monster on one of several different maps. The concept itself is cool, basically turning the Tank battles from Left 4 Dead into a full game. On top of that, the game looks visually impressive and trailers make it seem fun to play. But why can’t I get more excited for this game? I’m losing my shit over Xenoblade Chronicles X, Splatoon, GTAV for PC, and Might No 9. But, while everything about Evolve would normally flip my triggers, I’m just not entirely bursting my pants with joy. 

Majestic Twelve: Favorite Pokemon

Once again, we find ourselves talking about a game that can be played competitively but our list isn’t subject simply to the rules of competitive play. This will be the start of our best and worst lists for POKEMON. Kicking things off, we’ll be talking about the top twelve BEST Pokemon in the series These are just solely my opinion and not all reasons behind them are based on competitive play but also personal preference or any special/significant meaning beyond the stats. Because Pokemon are more than just numbers… to me anyway. It was the first game I ever owned and beat and that’s something special in ways that can’t be expressed with just statistics and tiers. 

Trailers on Trial - Five Nights at Teddy's?

Welcome back to Trailers on Trial (we settled on a name of sorts). Last time we discussed Fant4stic and this time we’ll be talking about Ted 2. Oh, boy. (And something else too). 

Reloading - The Boy Next Door (to Michael Myers)

Were you expected a review of Taken 3 or American Sniper? Well those probably aren’t happening. The former because I still have yet to see it and probably won’t in the near future. The latter because, again, still not particularly interested. How did I end up going to see The Boy Next Door? A series mostly fortunate events led me to seeing this with a friend where we both had a night off and wanted to actually go out. Was it my first choice of movie? No. But it’s also January and aside from Taken 3, there aren’t all that many options. Go figure.