Opinion – Page 115 – Savior Gaming

Netflix Cancels Luke Cage and Iron Fist

Recently it was announced that Netflix canceled both Luke Cage and Iron Fist, and many are worried that Jessica Jones may be next. (who knows by the time you read this it may already have happened) There are plenty of ideas as to why this may have happened, lack of interest maybe. I however feel it’s a different reason. See in late 2019 Disney will launch its own streaming service and in a world that already has two major services in Netflix and Hulu and many other smaller ones Disney will need a way to draw in customers.

There are a number of ways to this, for example they will obviously have plenty of their own Disney movies but they also own Star Wars and the Marvel. What better way to bring in customers to a fledgling streaming service than with the already established Marvel shows being revived or the entire MCU being available at launch?

I also would not be surprised to see them open the Disney vault and put their classic cartoon movies on there like Bambi and Aladdin. Disney is a power house and has a huge amount of resources to draw from and they will likely abuse that fact. For the time being losing your favorite show sucks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they come back. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Our Favorites Day 21, Aliens

aliens

Aliens started it all for me. Because of this movie, I was terrified of a 8 foot Xenomorph grabbing me in the bathtub to lay eggs in my chest- thanks ma and dad. Seriously though, this is the only real movie I’ve ever seen to perfectly blend tense horror and asskicking action. Also, the Queen Alien reveal is one of my favorites of all time. I had action figures, replayed the levels of Alien Trilogy and even got suckered into the game for which we do not speak ( Aliens: Colonial Marines ). Hell, I even quote this damn movie 20 some years after seeing it. May the gaming gods not lay eggs in your chests.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (2006)

All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is a horror, slasher, killer movie that starts out okay enough. It has some potential. Many was apparently some less than beautiful girl who suddenly became hot over a summer and got the attention of the all boys in school. After being invited to a party and insisting on bringing her long time friend. After one of the jocks hits on Mandy and gets a little to touchy her friend shots him with a squirt gun and a small fight follows.

Later her friend Emmett ends up on the roof with the Jock and convinces him to jump on an attempt to impress Mandy. He misses the pool, cracks his skull and dies. Yes I realize this chain of event makes very little sense that two high school guys that got into a fight over a girl would suddenly become friends, try to help each other get the girl. Only believable part is a drunk kid missing the pool.

The movie fast forwards a bit, Mandy and Emmett aren’t friends anymore because honestly who would stay friends with this psycho? This is when for some reason that is never actually explained there is a party at a ranch. This is where the death happens, which honestly is pretty underwhelming. Worse yet the story itself is essentially everyone is obsessed with one girl, the killer is exactly who you think it is with a small twist at the end and even that twist is essentially easy to see coming. The movie is entertaining, but far from good. Check it out, but don’t expect a life changing experience. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Our favorites Day 20, The Fly

the fly

I’m a comic book and sci-fi nerd so this should be no surprise but I love this messed up tale of a science experiment gone wrong as one of my favorites. The ongoing transformation of Jeff Goldblum into the Fly is deeply disturbing and I can’t recommend this at all to the weak stomached. Scenes stick out to me like him melting the guy’s hand with his bile or the end where the creature put’s the gun to his head or Geena Davis giving birth to the giant maggot. It’s one of the best remakes ever for good reason. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Ron White:If You Quit Listening I’ll Shut Up (2018)

Ron White is back with his 2018 stand up,and honestly i wasn’t expecting much. Not that I don’t love his work it has just been a few years and he is now over 60 years old and how long can a guy make jokes about being a raging alcoholic? Turns out at least one more show. Ron is as funny as ever covering such topics as the death of his ex wife’s divorce attorney, gay marriage, and building a new house.

The show starts off with a quick flash back to his past shows which is a nice trip down memory lane. He also makes a few reverences to the past in the show, but happily this isn’t a nostalgia act. It isn’t his best show, but it is interesting and you will laugh. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Suikoden Series

The Suikoden series is one of my all time favorite series. The series involves the 108 stars of destiny and true ruins. Each game tells a different story of a different ruin, but they all have that much in common. The combat is a typical turned based as you can see below in Suikoden 2.

This is in no way meant to be a review or an exhaustive explanation of the series. No that would require me to take each game one by one as they each deserve as they each have their own strong and weak points and they each have their own individual stories, tho it is worth pointing out that many characters do appear in multiple games. This was simply a quick over view to point this out. For years there has been a movement to get this series going again, literally it’s called http://suikodenrevivalmovement.com/. Well recently in a random and surprise move as reported by numerous websites and you can easily go there and verify it yourself, for the first time in 4 years the Japanese Suikoden website has been updated. For more on that visit https://gearnuke.com/konami-relaunches-suikoden-portal-website/.

This is exciting for fans of the series because it signals Konami may be interested in reviving the series. The only other real explanation is possibly a hack job but I have my doubts on that. Regardless for fans of the series there is some hope, best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

For those that are interested in the games and helping us out,here are some links for the Suikoden game series on Amazon.

Our favorites Day 19, Alien

alien

Savior specifically told me I wasn’t allowed to do all 6 Alien movies for our Halloween special. While I love the series as a whole, there are of course 2 that traverse the boundaries. What can I say about Alien I haven’t already said: legendary creature design, tense atmosphere, some great body horror and a heroine for the ages. The first movie was the last I’d seen of the original 4 and as I kid I didn’t really appreciate it but like a fine wine I found it better with age. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Affleck and Cavill probably done as Batman And Superman

As reported by cinemeblend and really common sense at this point. There has been no shortage of rumors floating around about either of them being done with their roles and it seems that may be true. Ben has had his own set of personal things going on and Cavill is in a similar boat and even had a small thing recently on social media as well. This obviously isn’t definitive but it would very much seem to be true. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Our Favorites, Day 18, The Thing

the thing

There are few remakes I ever consider worth watching, let a lone being better than the originals. John Carpenter’s Thing remake is the magic of a simple premise pushed to the Nth degree. I’ve played the Resident Evil series as well as the DeadSpace trilogy, both of which took a lot of inspiration from the Thing in a means of body horror. Images like a human head ripping itself off, growing spider legs out of it’s neck and crawling on it’s own or a body rip itself open full of shark like teeth and tentacles. Besides the amazing bodily horror, there’s is a fantastic sense of paranoia. There is no real telling who the creature is and isn’t, even til the very end. This and tomorrow’s entry were gross out favorites of my dad’s he shared with me as a kid which is why I’m adding it to my list of must sees this Halloween. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Why DLC/Microtransactions Aren’t Going Anywhere, and it is our fault.

In gaming today you will basically certainly see the debate about DLC and in-game transactions. Is it good, is it bad? Should it count as gambling? Shouldn’t companies sell complete games? In my day we got the entire game and alternate costumes were awarded for doing stuff! These are all things we have heard before. Hell many of us have probably said them. But why do these things exist? We all know its money.

There are good aspects to it tho. For example games have been $60 for years and haven’t gone up in large part because of DLC and in-game transactions. It allows companies to continue to profit off a game after release and more importantly profit off used games as well. This allows them to deal with the very small, if any profit margin from selling games at $60 when they should probably cost $70 or $80.

Another good aspect is stories can continue, The Witcher 3 for example had DLC that extended the life of the game for over 100 hours probably. It allows new weapons and enemies or even game modes to be introduced. Don’t worry, I understand there are bad things and I will get to them next.

The down side of things however is it also encourages companies to bombard you with offers for stuff or even to leave things out and sell them to you later. Not every company does this, but to say it doesn’t happen is insane and naive. Another issue, as we have seen in Assasin’s Creed Odyssey, is them selling you experience boost to level up faster and it is not the only game this has been seen in. I have heard from numerous people “Yea but it is a fun grind so its ok” but that is hardly the point. The point is they intentionally designed the game to sell you that experience booster. Just because some people are cool with that grind doesn’t mean it wasn’t designed that way or that others aren’t going to buy it.

They aren’t the only company that does stuff like this, they basically all do it. EA is pretty much always getting the brunt of these joke because of their over indulgence of doing things like this. You also see a ton of games selling skins and loot boxes to the point you can’t even turn many games on without them saying hey come buy one, in game advertising is becoming rampant.

The truth of the matter is this will never go away, and the reason for that is honestly ourselves. The fact is we spend billions on this stuff a year, and that is why it exist in the first place. Simple economics is, if there is a demand for something someone will supply it. If there is no demand, the supply will try up. Now obviously you will never convince millions of gamers to stop buying things they want, so you will never get rid of DLC or microtransactions.

Clearly some companies have gone to far, and I do miss the days when I bought a game and got everything in one neat little package, but this is the world we live in and it does help keep the cost of games down. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.