Last time I wrote some 'Thought's on' I wrote about mobile gaming. This time around I thought I'd write some thoughts on the Steam Deck.

 

Why did this happen? well recently I had a short break from work and in that time I dug up my old hand held consoles like my Nintendo DS, DS lite, 3DS and my PS vita. It was pretty fun to play and bought back a lot of nice memories. 

 

Handhelds are really practical since they are so portable and is one of the reasons I love them so much. I can go travelling and entertain myself on the flight or when visiting family, and I’m bored. Sure, mobile phones now have some great games and handheld and console game ports, but it doesn’t beat having a real controller rather than using touch screen controls. 

 

The most recent home console and handheld made by Nintendo, the Nintendo Switch, really appealed to me has I could have console sized games, but I could take them on the go and be able to finish them rather than having to wait till I get home. Sure they had indie titles too, but this just added to the appeal has I got the old school style games I liked from the last few handheld eras.

Valves Steam Deck

When Valve announced the Steam Deck I wasn’t that interested in it. But post launch has it got into the hands of others and I saw the reviews I found that I started to get interested in it mainly has I started to learn that the Steam Deck could be used has a handheld or be connected to a monitor or TV in the same manner has the Nintendo Switch.

What’s the appeal?

I think one of the main appeals to me is that the system is based on an open platform allowing different OS’s (Steam OS based on Linux seems appealing to me) and can be used with emulators, etc. Whereas on my older handhelds I would have to use some sort of custom firmware, this machine could have something tailor-made for it, meaning I could revisit a lot of old games on this. 

 

And also rather than having to start from scratch with my game collection like I’ve had too with every generation of handhelds and consoles I have access to my steam library, it really saves me on money and games but not all games have controller support. 

 

Saying that, a lot of my games I own on Steam are quite old, so can run on low-end hardware quite easily. I also play a lot of Visual novels and side scrolling games, so the Steam Deck would really be tested by this hardware wise.

I wish I could get one…

As much as I want a Steam Deck, I just haven't pulled the trigger one one...yet and I'm not sure why.

What are the alternatives?

Aside from the Nintendo Switch, which is the right form factor and has the unique Nintendo Games you come to love, I took a look at some alternatives. 

These were: 

• Ayaneo Next Advance - features an AMD Ryzen 7 5800U CPU, AMD Vega 8 GPU clocked at 2GHz, 16 GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and 2 TB SSD and more powerful than the Steam Deck but way too expensive for me. 
• GPD Win 3 - The GPD Win 3 takes Steam Deck and Switch's basic layout, and adds a full Blackberry-style QWERTY keyboard, so you can type with your thumbs. It’s a bit smaller than the Steam Deck, with a 5.5-inch, 1,280-by-720 touch screen, but it packs an Intel Core i7 16 GB RAM, and a 1 TB SSD. It uses Intel Iris 12 integrated graphics, which might be less powerful than the Steam Deck. 
• Ayn Odin – An ARM-based Android device with loads of potential, and low prices across full line. It uses an eight-core, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor; 4 GB of LDDP4 RAM (8 GB on the Pro model); and 64 GB of onboard storage (128 GB on the Pro model).

Out of the ones I checked out, the Ayaneo Next Advance and GPD Win 3 were way out of my budget, and the Ayn Odin was pretty expensive for an ARM device and would mean I can't access my steam library (but I could find emulators). 

There are some newer alternatives coming out as these alternatives were released around the same time as the Steam Deck.

My own alternative

I ruled out all the alternatives for cost reasons and the Steam Deck due to availability, and instead created a Steam top. Basically, I used an 11-inch laptop with Steam installed has a substitute and carried an Xbox controller in the laptop bag. Not exactly has portable has the Steam deck, but it's about the size of my tablet. 

 

If I need anything smaller, I have a phone (ARM based) I installed games on and have a blue-tooth controller to use with it. 

 

I might blog about my experiences of what I did, and how things faired in the future.

Following on from my last anime musing piece I wrote before, I thought I’d pull together some small thoughts I had on a collection of Anime I watched in 2020.

Why 2020? In some ways, I’ve been on a semi hiatus and haven’t watched a lot of anime in a long time. Sure, there are a core few I watch, but I haven’t kept up with seasonal anime but have book-marked them to pick up at some point.

Here’s my small thoughts on 5 anime I recall watching in 2020:

Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari (The Rising of the Shield Hero)

The Isekai genre has grown a lot in recent years. I was looking for something a little more serious rather than comical and came across Tate no Yūsha no Nariagari (The Rising of the Shield Hero). I wasn't aware of the controversy surrounding in the past it, but really enjoyed it.

The plot was really interesting for me and the serious tone to things helped me enjoyed it more. The development of the characters was great too and how they changed and evolved over the series. For me how certain actions affected things around the Hero's was great to see too.

I also loved how Raphtalia was towards Naofumi. I really ship these two together. They both really care about each other. And Raphtalia really supported Naofumi when he really needed it. She was definitely the best girl! I'm so glad this anime got a season 2 & 3! And the new season is out soon.

 

Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks)

I don't know how to feel about Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara (If Her Flag Breaks).

I went into it thinking it was a slice of life, comedy, harem anime.

What I got was something slightly different, with the Matrix and Inception included. I’d say it pretty interesting and unique, without giving away any spoilers; I say it’s worth taking a look at especially if you want your expectations to be turned on its head.

Toradora!

I’m sure this deserves a bigger write-up, and somewhere down the line I will probably get around to doing that. But for now I’ll jot down my thoughts here.

I didn't know how to feel going into Toradora! At first, I felt a bit apprehensive at watching the show as I wasn’t a fan of how Ryuuji was being treated nor how much of Tsundere Taiga was, but I stuck in there and the show really grew on me and I grew to love the characters.

The character development was amazing, especially towards the end with Taiga. I also liked Ami and how she developed, too. The romantic aspects are quite believable too.

I really wish there was a second season, after story ova kinda thing, but sadly there isn't.

I'd have to say the best girl for me was Taiga Aisaka. She went through a lot. And she went from being annoying to someone really loveable to me by the end.

I'll have to visit the expanded media in the future, including the visual novel.

Ano Natsu de Matteru (Waiting in the Summer)

Ano Natsu de Matteru (Waiting in the Summer) was another one I feel like it deserves a bigger write-up.

I found it to be a great anime. I really enjoyed the plot to it.

It felt quite nostalgic to me with the snapshot of adventures in the summer in the yester-year. Summer love, romance and heartache.

The romance felt very real and took time to develop, much like in reality.

I must be very sentimental and soft-hearted as the story left me in tears. I will say though, Ichika Takatsuki is definitely the best girl! Not only that, but I wished this show had got more episodes or at least a few more OVA's. I'll be picking up the manga to relive the summer.

Kokoro Connect/ Michi Random OVA

In 2020 after 8 years, I rewatched Kokoro Connect and the OVA Michi Random. It was an anime that left a lasting impression on me till this day, and from time to time I'd think about it. It's had the right mix of slice of life, the supernatural, comedy but at times made you think.

It was surprisingly psychological and made you think a lot, especially after the things they went through. Character development was great. It's kinda a shame it never had a second season. I've always wondered how it ended. I'll definitely pick up the LN to finish the story.

I also loved the romance in this.

Inaba Himeko was the best girl, and she actually got who she wanted in the end. It made me really happy. She was probably one of the ones that made me like this personality type.

After-thoughts

It's a small round up, but I’ll probably continue my small thought’s series again soon, so stay tuned.

The best place to probably start is what is the meaning of the phrase ‘falling’ down the rabbit hole? It all started when Alice chased a rabbit, literally fell down a rabbit hole, and found herself in the strange world of Wonderland in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Going by this bit from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “Falling down the rabbit hole” was originally used to mean stumbling into a bizarre, disorienting alternate reality.
It is now also used to mean a person who becomes interested in something — fully immersed to a degree.

This was exactly what happen to me in 2020. During the later half of 2020 I was looking for some tutorials on how to use the open source application Krita when I came across a tutorial by Ninomae Ina’nis from Hololive EN.

 

All Holomyth/Hololive Characters and the distinctive likeness(es) there of are Trademarks & Copyright of Hololive Production and Cover Corp. Holomyth illustration by artist by Ninomae Ina’nis.

It was a strange to see what was an anime girl teaching me how to use the software but I was hooked from there. I started watching more of Ina’s video archives and watched her live streams and collabs and slowly learned more about Hololive, (including Hololive EN, Hololive ID) and got hooked on other streamers in those branches.

This eventually this spread to learning more Nijisanji another V-tuber organization via ZEA Cornelia an Indonesian V-tuber and member of Nijisanji ID. I ended up catching one of her chat streams by accident and got hooked from there as well and eventually found out about Lazulight the first wave of EN V-tubers from Nijisanji.

All Nijisanji Characters and the distinctive likeness(es) there of are Trademarks & Copyright of Nijisanji Production and ANYCOLOR, Inc. Original source of image Lazulight - Diamond City Lights official music video

The V-tubing trend

V-Tubers are online content creators using a virtual animated face in place of their own.
In the year 2020 during the pandemic when everyone was spending more time online than ever before, there was a boom in the popularity of V-tubers.

The idea of came about in the Japanese idol industry with the rise of Kizuna Ai, and there are a bunch of Japanese virtual idol industries like Nijisanji and Hololive, with the latter being one of the most famous ones on a global scale.

Both Hololive and Nijisanji idols have each formed and gained a fandom rivalling some of the other most intense modern artists. Most of these talents end up becoming popular because of their interactions with the fandom, through memes, skits, gaming, chatting and other stuff rather than what you think might be singing (they do all try to record their own original song though and do the odd cover).

Every idol has their own niche and appeal to a certain audience.

But what's the appeal?

I’ve never been into live streamers, and the whole watching real people play games on Twitch and YouTube has never appealed to me.

But why did V-tubers appeal to me?

It's hard to describe, really. For me, I suppose it’s the interaction and the fact there is someone real behind that anime avatar.

In the case of Ina in hololive, she is actually a priestess of the Ancient Ones. After picking up a strange book and then started to gain the power of controlling tentacles. But behind that avatar she is a normal person using some phone cameras to project an anime girl persona and staying in character, but the real her had similar interests to me such as art and video games that I like. She also comes across has quite a comfy streamer.

I think, personally, the content of the streams alone aren’t what keep me coming back. If that were the case, I would’ve been able to get into regular streamers (real people) long ago.

I think it's because of the fantasy world, being able to interact with an anime character unlike when you watch anime itself there is no connection.

The lore of the characters of these V-tubers portray and the universe they live in, but also the real life stories you get mixed in with their anime personas. The sense of camaraderie and interplay between the members is also what makes their streams seem more like an over-arching narrative rather than just isolated individuals.

Positive aura

I had a couple of rough years and during 2020 having the pandemic on to of everything certainly did kick me whilst I was down.

Despite having friends in my life that I could chat and interact with returning to work after a long absence, trying to maintain work, earning money and getting my life back together was a really hard thing to do.

A lot of things I enjoyed I didn’t have time to do any more, whereas in the past I would have watched a lot of anime, it was not something I could do now, work left me very tired, I couldn’t binge-watch things like I used too, my hobbies like reading, art and gaming sat an on the wayside whilst I had to struggle to re-coup my lost energy.

Watching V-tubers is pretty much pick up and play I guess in this sense, you get to remain in a world our familiar with (anime) but you also get to watch streams that are plain fun and sometimes silly, you can enjoy the reactions, the games that they play but the silliness and the stories.

It helps to get my mind off things, and you don’t have to worry much about storylines and plots, which sometimes when you are just too tired It's hard to follow.

Other side effects have also included me dusting off my art skills again. I long set down my pencil, so to speak, but Ina’s drawing streams have been incredibly useful and helped me to bring this hobby out of retirement. Sure I’m not going to be a great artist like everyone else on the internet, but the important thing is I enjoy it and can learn new things.

And that’s the main thing.

Since I fell down the Hololive and Nijisanji rabbit hole I’ve felt a bit more energized, happy and can get my way through my day. It's certainly a welcome reprieve to my life and helps me to avoid reality sometimes.

Is there anyone you would recommend?

This is a hard one, I think there is someone for everyone in the V-tuber universe.
Take a look at Hololive and Nijisanji, but don’t just restrict yourself to these fan bases, check out other V-Tuber groups and indie V-tubers too.

For me, though, I guess it's mainly dependent on my free time and timezone.

I currently watch from HoloEN: Ninomae Ina'nis and Takanashi Kiara as they stream when I finish work. But saying that, I do check in on the other HoloEN streamers when my free time lines up.
 

From HoloID: Probably all from HoloID but mainly Ayunda Risu, Kureiji Ollie, Pavolia Reine, Airani lofifteen, Moona Hoshinova and Anya Melfissa (I have them on sometimes whilst I’m working though for Anya it's more her late night streams that happen to be my evening time).

From Nijisanji in the first wave ID (3SetBBQ) it's ZEA Cornelia who streams in my afternoons and  Lazulight is Pomu Rainpuff though she tends to stream much later when I’m fast asleep, but there are occasions when the stream time lines up.
 

Give V-tubers a try, there might be someone you like.

With a new year upon me, I felt I need a bit of change.

2019, 2020 and 2021 were pretty tough years for me. Though things are getting better, I feel I need to break things up a bit and make this cycle a little different for me.
I’ve never been one for New Year's resolutions, but why is that?

1. I don’t think they work. They are wishes or dreams that are either too generic or don’t have a realistic action that is achievable.
2. There is no target due date when the goal needs to be achieved by. Quite often the goal to achieve something as now set date which means you could spend the whole year on it or just the last month to achieve.
   

Despite those thoughts I listed above I did have certain goals I did try to meet in 2021, and I would say I did achieve some of them in some capacity which of course I didn’t write about last time.

For 2022 however, after being inspired by my Oshi (推し) (well multiple Oshi’s) in this case I decided to put together a list of New Year’s Resolutions which were a lot more achievable and realistic.

It’s a new year, and a new opportunity to start a fresh and in a world that is very messed up at the moment I think we should try anything and everything as life is too short.

So here are my New Year’s resolutions for 2022.

...

1. Write more – Many years ago I used to write a lot, I wrote many articles for a corporate blog and made huge achievements. My articles were highly rated, got lots of traffic and were also shared in the larger community and republished by a large organization. However, times change, work changed, and I had less time to do that, both in a professional sense and a personal sense. This year, I hope to write more and publish a few things online more regularly.
2. Write stories – Outside of writing articles, when I was younger I wrote stories. What I would really like to do in 2022 is to write more stories. Or at least flesh out character profiles to add in an interconnected story.
3. Do art/Practice art – It was one of the things that got me through a particular dark point in my life, too, but it slowly fell on the back burner again. 2021 was a real turning point as my Oshi really inspired me to get back into it, and over the course of 2022 I’d like to set time aside to draw more.
4. Go out for a walk/go out – Something I’ve been guilty of over 2021 is staying in a lot. I think because of how messed up the world is at the moment and a poor immune system, I haven’t really gone out much. Though I went out when I needed to, I’d like to make it more regular, especially for exercise.
5. Read more – I used to read a lot of books when I was younger and had a library membership. Now I hardly have time to visit the library or read books. I’d like to make time to do that this year and expand my horizons whether it be books, visual novels, Manga, comics and more.
6. Learn something new – I’d like to learn a new skill, something I haven’t done before.

Reading these and looking back at my first two points, you might think they are generic and not measurable, but I think that’s where it comes down to you. In my case, I can achieve all of these, I just need to set the time aside and a target on either a monthly or weekly basis. 

Let's see how it goes, and I’ll revisit these at the end of the year.

Like a lot of people, I do have plans and ideas and even New Year resolutions for what I’d like to do in 2022, but I thought it would be a good opportunity with 2021 now behind us and 2022 upon us to sit down and reflect on a few things.

This time I take a look at some of the games I completed in 2021.

If I’m honest, the list is pretty small. I would dearly love to dedicate as much time as I did when I was younger to this hobby, but it's hard to find the time between being an adult, making a living and keeping on top of my health. The irony is when you are a kid, you normally don’t have the budget to get so many games.

I still found it enjoyable, and hopefully I’ll be able to chip away and my massive collection the next year too. So here’s a run down of what games I played and completed in 2021.

Halo 5 Guardians (Xbox One)

Halo 5: Guardians was launched in 2015 and is the well known first-person shooter video game franchise developed by Bungie and now 343 Industries and published by Microsoft Studios.

The game's plot follows two fire teams of human super soldiers: Blue Team, led by Master Chief, and Fire team Osiris, led by Spartan Locke and contained various multiplayer modes and the ability to customize your Spartan.

Funnily enough, this was a game I started way back when I first got my Xbox One but never got around to completing. I was playing this with a very good friend of mine, who in the past also completed the campaign mode of the previous Halo games with together.

2020 was the year we dusted off our Spartan armour and grabbed our guns and finally saw this game through to the end. Was it worth it? I'd say yes and no.

Completing a game was great, and I got to finally see the ending in all its glory, but at the same time it felt a little anti-climatic, especially with Halo 4 wrapping everything up in a nice kinda way the story here felt a little too open-ended.

Halo Infinite is out now, but I'm waiting till it gets the co-op multiplayer before I touch it.

Gears of War 4 (Xbox One)

Gears of War 4 is a third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One in 2016. It is the fourth main instalment in the Gears of War series, and the first entry not to be developed by Epic Games.

Like with Halo this was a game I started long ago and only recently got around to completing.

I’ve played the previous versions of the GOW (Gears of War) franchise with my Halo brother in arms and completed them with him. It was the same for Gears of War 4.

Much like Halo 5 the game play was amazing, and the story was great, and it was nice to see different faces, but I felt something was missing from this game. I suspect it was again because it was the start of a new series, so the story didn’t wrap up much, and it also felt a little anti-climatic and open-ended.

Saying that though, I have the sequel GOW 5, so it's something I’ll begin working my way through, and hopefully I can see how it matches up with GOW 4.

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Xbox One)

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 launched in 2019 is a little different from the other games here since it's an online-only action role-playing video game developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft.

It is basically a game as a service where it's online only and updated regularly, much like the Destiny and Warframe game franchises. You could also call it a pseudo MMO RPG.

This was the sequel to Tom Clancy's The Division (2016), and was set in a near-future Washington, D.C. in the aftermath of a genetically engineered virus known as "Green Poison" being released, and follows an agent of the Strategic Homeland Division as they try to rebuild the city.

I very much was a big fan of the first game and played it very thoroughly, trying to complete as much as possible from the story/lore. I enjoyed this game and basically played solo. The story was pretty fun, and getting to customize your agent is always fun too. I would say it felt very different, as the first game perfectly captured the atmosphere of winter quite well, but the change of location and weather did make the game feel a little too different for me.

It was kinda fitting to have played this and completed it in 2021 considering the ongoing situation around the world, it feels there are some parallels.

Apparently there is a new game in the series ‘Tom Clancy’s The Division: Heartlands’ but I'm not sure how I feel about the free to play nature of it. We will have to wait and see.

Crackdown 3 (Xbox One)

Crackdown 3 is an action-adventure video game launched in 2019 and developed by Sumo Digital and published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. It continues the series nine years after the release Crackdown 2 (Xbox 360).

This game is pretty much a sandbox game, think GTA (Grand Theft Auto) but where you play the good guys/police/agents and have superpowers which you can enhance by going around collecting orbs that upgrade your superpowers. You can also enhance your shooting by shooting, driving by driving and pulling off cool stunts and strength through hand-to-hand combat.

I absolutely love this game as I played the first and the second game years back on the Xbox 360 and later on had to get my fix from Saints Row 4 (which borrowed ideas from this franchise).

Much of the online reviews for this pan the game, but I enjoyed it.

This game ended up being a strange mix of myself and my GOW/Halo gaming brother completing it as the game allows for you to do co-op game play.

State of Decay 2 (Xbox One)

State of Decay 2 is a survival video game launched in 2018 and developed by Undead Labs and published by Xbox Game Studios. This game was a follow-up to State of Decay, a game I never played previously. This game much like the predecessor required players to build a community, manage resources and survive against the horde of zombies.

It was definitely fun to play, finding survivors, doing missions, helping out other communities to survive the zombie horde. I found the managing a community fun, though it was very different from what I had in mind. I was thinking about a game where you could build yourself and survive the zombie horde along or with others. In the end it was different from what I wanted but nonetheless enjoyable.

This too ended up being a game I played with my brother in arms as it comes with a good co-op mode, though sadly you can only progress one map/save file via visiting each other's worlds rather than having a shared one. Maybe a creation mode and shared world would be something for a future State of Decay?

Remnants from the Ashes (PC)

On the verge of 2021 ending Remnant: From the Ashes was the last game I completed with previously mentioned brother in arms.

Remnant: From the Ashes is an action role-playing third-person shooter developed by Gunfire Games and published by Perfect World Entertainment. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019 and recently for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S in 2021.

Unlike the previously mentioned games, Remnant: From the Ashes was a PC game rather than an Xbox game that I completed.

It borrows its mechanics from franchises such as the Souls series and combines melee combat, third-person shooter elements and allows you can wield up to two gun weapons, one main weapon and one side arm, alongside their melee weapon.

The plot is pretty interesting and takes you on a pretty wild adventure. It’s a mix of Souls and Diablo and you can find some good gear and depending on how you fight bosses you can get different sort of weapons or gears.

Every map is different too so if you play with a friend their world and maps are different too so more opportunity for more gear and more maps and bosses.

Final thoughts

Looking back, it seems like a lot of the games on that list were co-op games I completed, except for the Division 2. Hopefully in 2022 I might have more time for this hobby, but even if not I’ll squeeze in bits and pieces whilst I can alongside life and my hobbies. Maybe I’ll have a slightly different list which isn’t made up of 1st or 3rd person shooters for the end of 2022.

Here’s to gaming a bit more in 2022.

I wouldn’t call this a review as I’m sure there are more extensive and in-depth ones on the internet, but I’d say it’s more of a musing (a period of reflection or thought). You could call it random anime musings.

Back in 2020, there was a time when I had quite a lot of spare time, I had been pretty much through a lot and needed to heal when I came across the anime Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san (The Helpful Fox Senko-san) 世話やきキツネの仙狐(せんこ)さん.

Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san is a Japanese fantasy comedy manga series created by Rimukoro and was later adapted into an anime television series by Doga Kobo.

The plot revolves around Kuroto Nakano a young salaryman with a very unhappy and stressful life, and basically, his job is his life at the company for which he works. I’m sure a lot of us can identify with that, I had been in similar jobs, with one that nearly left me practically burnt out.

One day after overworking himself, he comes home and finds a seemingly young girl with fox ears and a tail cooking dinner for him – her name is Senko, an 800-year-old fox demigod. What is Senko doing on earth? She’s been sent from the spirit world to relieve Kuroto from his unhappy life and help him find happiness again.

It’s a simple plot, though it just starts to get more depth in the manga.

It is one of my favourite animes. Not only that, but it's such a feel-good and is quite a wholesome anime. It's a great watch to unwind and enjoy and relax. It's quite a healing anime. Super Senko time (+ guest kitsune) at the end is the best!

I could see a lot of Nakano in myself, which was quite scary. A lot of the advice that Senko-san gives can be applied to real life. After certain events, I've been through, I find myself wholeheartedly agreeing with the advice.

It's worth a watch, especially with a small, tight-knit cast and a wholesome op and ending too. I use to just like Neko characters, but I think tanuki/raccoons and now foxes/kitsune characters are great too, especially if they are kind and friendly like Senko-san.

•     Original Run: April 10, 2019 - June 26, 2019
•     Number of Episodes: 12
•     Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life, Supernatural
•     Based on the Series Created By: Rimukoro

 

It's been a whilst since I've had to write but recently I've been thinking about mobile gaming.

First, it would be worth noting I own a lot of consoles and games (I'm a collector in some ways and quite a sentimental individual) and have been gaming for many years now. Recently I've been playing a bit more on my mobile and this made me think and wonder firstly why this is and also what is the state of mobile gaming now.

For one thing, there are now more and more games that I want to play on the mobile platform. Why is that well for that we have to take a look at the existing portable gaming market.

The current handheld market

Currently, there is only one handheld occupying that space. It's the Nintendo Switch and its smaller cousin the Switch Lite. There are indie games on there and also big titles but for some people including myself I see it as a home console first that just happens to be portable and something I can carry with me when travelling overseas since it can be something, I start playing on when at home and then carry on playing when I'm away from home.

Despite the launch of the Switch Lite, both handhelds are very expensive for your average consumer and likewise the games and outside that there are no other handhelds.

The Nintendo 3DS and Playstation Vita are now retired (despite having stellar games made for both platforms).
In the past parents most likely bought their kids the DS, 2DS, 3DS to entertain them but nowadays this is unlikely to be the case. The easiest way to get into gaming outside of PC gaming which you can do using STEAM, GOG and other stores is gaming on your smartphone.

Thoughts on Mobile gaming

Gaming on your smartphone is probably the easiest way to game nowadays, more and more people are gaming on their smartphones whether it be IOS or Android games and big companies are now investing in this platform because of this boom.

The barrier to entry is quite low as any developer can develop a game for Android or IOS whether they are a lone individual or a large company and hardware is cheap especially Android phones.

In previous years big companies ported their games to Android from handhelds or older consoles such as the Final Fantasy games but more and more they are creating games for this platform such as Nintendo with their recent venture with Mario Kart, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp amongst other franchises.

On the other hand, there are also games that cost money to progress, Gacha games, games with ads, and endless runner/endless games, tower defense games and more. I'm not a fan of these games though with some Gacha game or games with micro transactions such as Fate Grand Order, SAO Alicization Rising Steel, SAO Intergral Factor, SAO Memory Defrag and Honkai Impact 3rd games I dont really mind.

I think it is still possible to enjoy yourself as long as you focus on the story and trying to complete it rather than trying to get every hero and spending money when you don't need too in order to progress or get further. Sometimes it is just worth playing these games for 5-10 minute short bursts too.

There have been some pretty cool games such as Pokemon Go too which combined gaming with real-life and managed to get me to game on the go. It's quite a rare occurrence.

The indie scene is thriving too especially with good games like Monument Valley and other rare gems so in some ways there is something for everyone, there are plenty of genres and plenty of games to suit you whether you are a 'hardcore gamer' or 'casual gamer'.
And outside of all of this, you can also emulate older handhelds and consoles on your phone (especially if it is android based).

I guess the smartphone is the device we carry everywhere with us, it's our camera, our MP3 player/music device, our map, it's basically a swiss army knife and it makes sense we can also game with it too.

In some ways, smartphones have come a long way now and even budget phones can play games with relatively good graphics like PUBG and Call of Duty compared to a few years ago and are now accessible to everyone from every background and every country including developing nations which some companies refer to as the next billion.

For me, I suppose if you look at it as smartphones are the spiritual successors to handhelds like the Gameboy and the DS lines from Nintendo. Phones are portable, and we carry them everywhere we go, we game on them and they have casual games much like the DS used to have. Likewise, it is the same with the games that come out graphically some games like Stardew Valley are the kinda games you'd expect to see on those platforms. My only complaint is the lack of physical buttons but you can buy a Bluetooth controller to solve that.

What's next?

I can see it carrying on as it is at the moment though with changes such as loot boxes falling out of favour and micro transactions being retooled differently.

Microsoft's Xcloud, Google streaming project we might be able to game on our home consoles on our phone via these streaming services which means if you own something compatible with these platforms it wouldn't really matter about the phone hardware any more.
There is also subscription service gaming which is pretty new and something that's just been introduced on both IOS and Android after some success on the home console platform with Xbox Game Pass.

Do you think mobile gaming is going to be the future of gaming?
Let me know your thoughts and comments.

In my previous articles on Destiny 2, I wrote about my return to Destiny 2, fighting the Cabal in 'The Red War' and the 'Curse of Osiris'. This time I'll be taking a look at Warmind. It is the last of the DLC which is free to play as part of the 'New Light' version of Destiny 2.

Warmind was originally released on May 8, 2018, and focuses on the Warmind Rasputin from the original game whom had a major fragment located in the Seraphim Vault in the Cosmodrome and was created during the Golden age and thought to have been destroyed during the collapse.

This time around the expansion takes took my Guardian to the planet Mars in a new area called Hellas Basin (a different place to the one in Destiny 1) where I met a new character named Ana Bray (also from the lore of the original Destiny) whom served to drive the story along and also for me to get missions from.

I initially met Ana Bray after getting a distress call and a warning that the Hive have broken out of the southern polar ice caps and are attacking the Clovis Bray Research Facility at Hellas Basin.

I went to assist and this is where the story starts to begin to unravel helping Ana find herself and her past and find out more about the Warmind Rasputin and fight a Hive worm god called Xol, Will of the Thousands, whom has also arisen and is directing the frozen hordes of Hive around Clovis Bray to attack the facility and destroy Rasputin. Zavala made an appearance this time around as well though his role isn't that big it still adds to the story.

Warmind included a second raid lair on the Leviathan, a progressive ranking system for PvP, titled Valor and Glory and a new mode called 'Escalation Protocol'.

With 'Escalation Protocol' we got a horde mode which can be started by any Guardian in the patrol mode on Mars and meant that we had to fight seven waves of Hive enemies culminating in a unique final boss which rotates each week. This was probably my most favorite edition to this particular DLC.

Compared to the character Osiris I enjoyed the addition of Ana to this DLC and especially the lore surrounding her character. I think this was probably because we got to spend a significant time with her unlike with Osiris.

The final battle against Xol was just as awesome. One thing I will say about the base game and the DLC's was the 'big bads' have been quite grand battles that are worthy of the story and your Guardian being epic and powerful.

I hope this continues in the next expansion(s). Going into 2020/21 the game changed quite significantly but I hope you check it out.

Hope you enjoyed this overview and retrospective, till next time “Stay Safe Guardian”.

Destiny and Destiny 2 are the properties of Bungie. Orginal art by Dorje Bellbrook

Destiny 2 main campaign was really fun to play if you haven't tried the game I really recommend it. The game in its current state known as 'New light' and is free to play for the original campaign and the first two DLC's 'Curse of Osiris' and 'Warmind'.

If you haven't read my first article on my return to the Destiny universe I recommend checking it out here, and my other on 'The Red War' the main story in the vanilla game.

This time around I'll be covering the first DLC pack, Curse of Osiris, which was originally released on December 5, 2017, and this time round saw my guardian (my main is a Warlock) visiting Mercury.

This time around the focus was on rescuing the character Osiris from the Vex in order to prevent a dark alternative time future from forming. The expansion also saw the exploring of the relationship between Osiris and Ikora Rey whom was one of the other key characters in this franchise and the big bad happens to be Panoptes, the Vex Mind that controls the Infinite Forest.

Apart from the addition of Osiris there was the addition of his Ghost named Sagira whom is Osiris female-voiced Ghost, as well as the character Brother Vance from the original game, who you could visit and get missions from in The Lighthouse (formerly an exclusive social space in Destiny for those who went flawless in Trials of Osiris) and his obsession with Osiris did make me smile somewhat.

For me Sagira was my favorite addition and made me really wish we didn't have our Ghost voiced by Nolan North and at least gave us the ability to change the voice to a female one.

Mercury was a little disappointing to explore, it was a pretty small map and being able to visit the Infinite Forest was only a small consolation and it reminded me of the 'Black Garden' from Destiny 1 which is a game I hold dear memories for.

In terms of the story, it was a lot shorter and left me a little disappointed as I'm very much into the story compared to the other aspects of the game which are still fun but very grindy, more so than Destiny 1.

I did enjoy the final battle and it felt just as grand as the one at the end of The Red War. Considering this is free to play at this stage of Destiny 2 life I recommend trying this particular story out.

Next time I'll be taking a look at the DLC Warmind.


Till then “Stay Safe Guardian”.

All Fast and Furious Characters and the distinctive likeness(es) are Trademarks & Copyright of Universal Studios
  All Rights Reserved.

The Fast and Furious franchise at the time of me writing this as spanned 8 film's with two more in the pipeline and at least one spin-off in the form of Hobbs and Shaw.

I’m a big fan of the franchise and for me, it started many years ago in 2001 I was a big fan of modified cars back then and dreamed of cruising the streets much like in the Fast and the Furious with a modified car and street racing, though a lot of that was put to rest as I wasn’t too reckless and insurance was very expensive. I got my fix through the Need for Speed Underground games though.

Whilst the main franchise continues to keep things around the ‘Toretto family’ the spin-off Hobbs and Shaw takes things in a different direction by taking two characters who were both introduced as bad guys in previous films with Hobbs being the main antagonist to Brian and Dom in Fast Five and Deckard Shaw being the main villain who was out for revenge in Fast and Furious 7 who took out fan favourite Han (because he was a fan favourite Fast 4, 5, 6 and part of 7 were all set before Tokyo Drift which was the 3rd film produced but sits somewhere in between 6 and 7).

Both these characters were fan favourites since Hobbs turned up at least 4 times in the main series and Shaw 2 times. And they turned from villains into anti-Heros.
The Fate of the Furious (Fast and Furious 8) had established that both Dwayne Johnson and Jason Stratham had good chemistry so giving them their own buddy cop style film was a no-brainer.

The film picks up an unspecified time after Fate of the Furious and initially follows Hobbs and Shaw doing their respective things ie: kicking ass in their own little way before keeping true to the Fast and the Furious theme of family with us seeing Hobbs and his daughter and Shaw and his mum and also establishing that they are both in some ways estrange from family before both being recruited by the CIA to do a mission.

The main plot begins establishing key characters such as a woman who is responsible for securing the virus, an unstoppable villain with enhanced strengths and abilities and lots of action, comedy, and fast cars. The key thing aspect of family is strongly touched on through this film and the ending is especially touching and despite the hatred for each other Hobbs and Shaw do learn to tolerate each other which makes for some good action and laughs later on.

There are some cameos from Hollywood actors playing agents of sorts and can be especially funny and you hope for them to make an appearance in the sequel.

If you’re looking for some mindless fun that you can turn your brain off too it well worth watching and if you’re a fan of the franchise, definitely go watch this to see what happens to some well-loved characters and for a different take on ‘Family’ and Fast cars.

If you followed my last article you may have read about my return to Destiny which took place at the start of Bungie adding cross saves into the game and in some ways making it free to play for the original main campaign “Red War” and the DLC “Curse of Osiris” and “Warmind”.

My subsequent return as you may have read allowed me to carry over my characters from the first game. Unfortunately due to me having to complete the original base game on the PS3 (which I had only done with my Warlock and Hunter characters it meant that I currently didn’t have a Titan character on my account. I’d like to think the Titan was lost during the start of the Red War (Spoilers coming up though if you have not played it yet) when the Cabal attacked the Tower forcing everyone to flee the now destroyed tower and setting into motion the story for Destiny 2.

For the Red War campaign, my main was the Warlock with the Hunter remaining as a secondary character on my account which I levelled up using gear that I had unlocked using my Warlock and also from the Season of the Undying where Guardians faced the Vex and were able to level up and unlocked various items at different tiers.

I quite enjoyed the story for Destiny 2 though I don’t think it beats ‘The Taken King’ which was one of my favourite stories.

Being stripped of all our powers and gradually having to work our way back up whilst finding the Shard of the Traveler to gain our powers back was pretty fun but because there had been changes made to Destiny 2 in ‘New Light’ the rest of the story saw me basically have everything I had unlocked and carried over from Destiny 1 which mean most of the time I felt immensely overpowered. I suppose in the original campaign it would have been more fun to gradually unlock these abilities but I settled for just progressing the story.

I quite enjoyed exploring the EDZ (which I believe is one of the biggest zones in Destiny 2) and meeting Hawthorne and seeing the struggle of those outside of the Tower and eventually getting the band back together, tracking down Zavala on Titan, Cayde-6 on Nessus and Ikora on Io before storming the old City and saving the day and watching the heroes on the newly constructed tower look at the Traveler.

The voice acting was on point especially Nathan Fillon injecting his usual humour and charisma into Cayde-6 and cast of supporting characters were pretty good with a favourite of mind being Failsafe on Nessus.

I did feel though a lot of the impact in some places of the story was lost due to the changes that Bungie made for ‘New Light’. But I think making things more accessible in the long run is probably better and allows for a new fan base to take hold to support the game alongside the existing one as evident by steam downloads, etc.

Next time I’ll be venturing into the DLC Curse of Osiris which is a lot shorter and quicker to complete than the original campaign but continues to add to the lore and history surround Destiny.

Till then “Stay Safe Guardian”.