Around the Network

Everyone back to work now? Me too. Booooo.

Still, that means getting back on a normal schedule again, and it also means the beginning of a new year of Cover Game features, kicking off with the Atelier Arland series starting this month. From there… well, there’s a whole bunch of stuff I’m excited about covering in the near future!

There are also developments in the world of Atari A to Z, and I’ll be getting the ball rolling on Videopac Games again this week now that I’m in a good “rhythm” again. But for now, hit the jump to see what you might have missed!

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MoeGamer

Sunday Driving: It Keeps Happening – That one Flagman race continues to elude me. One day I’ll crack it. One day that is not today.

The MoeGamer Awards 2018: Game of the Year 2018 – This one probably won’t be a surprise to anyone, but I felt it important to celebrate it nonetheless. And thus we close off another year of made-up awards! Thank you for all your contributions.

The MoeGamer Podcast: Episode X (Starring Woody) – I made a boob while recording a podcast with one of my oldest friends, so rather than get despondent about it I thought I’d make the best of what we had. The result was this episode, rendered in delightful cassette-tape quality.

Planning for 2019 – As the new year got underway, I figured it would be a good time to contemplate what lay ahead for MoeGamer and my other projects in the next 12 months. Quite a bit, as it happens!

Warriors Wednesday: The Mail Must Get Through – I thought this mission seemed a bit easy. That was until I discovered after recording it that the unlock conditions for Lady Nō are… rather exact. And extremely frustrating.

Waifu Wednesday: The Hundred Honeys Project Clearly Needs a New Venue – And interestingly enough, it will be getting a new venue very soon thanks to the exciting expansion pack. Watch out for further details this week.

Atelier Arland: Introduction and History – The first Cover Game of 2019 gets underway with a look back at the history of Gust’s Atelier series, from its inception up until the Arland trilogy we’ll be examining in detail.

New Game Plus: Eat Paralysey Camera Death – We wrap up chapter 2 of our Nightmare mode playthrough of Project Zero with some rather stubborn ghosts… though thankfully we’re through the worst of the “vanishing” ones by this point!

NES Essentials: Mighty Bomb Jack – Having spent some time with the eclectic lineup of NES games you get with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, I thought I’d show some love for a few of the more obscure, underappreciated ones. Mighty Bomb Jack is a particular favourite in this regard.

Atari A to Z

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I’m proud to announce the launch of a third Atari A to Z series that will run on Saturdays: Atari A to Z Flashback. This will go through all 150 games on the Nintendo Switch release of Atari Flashback Classics, beginning with the arcade games and then moving on to the Atari 2600 and 5200 console games that are included in the bundle.

The 8-bit and ST series continue apace alongside this new series on Tuesday and Thursday respectively. Don’t forget to follow Atari A to Z on its own dedicated site if you want all Atari, all the time without all those pretty girls and sex simulators distracting you.

Videopac Games

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Nothing new to report just yet, but I have recently taken possession of a couple of new games for the platform: Cosmic Conflict and Freedom Fighters. Both are supposed to be good, so I’m looking forward to giving them a try.

As I noted in the Planning for 2019 post above, I’m going to try and use the “news” section of Videopac Games for some more “blog-style” content too, so watch out for that, and don’t forget to follow the site itself, as unlike Atari A to Z I’m not crossposting its content to MoeGamer.

Cool Stuff By People Who Aren’t Me

Just as a reminder, I’m a Patron of Paul “Mr Biffo” Rose, the Cheap Show podcast and The Game Chasers. All are putting out plenty of fun stuff for your enjoyment; Digitiser: The Show’s main run may have ended, but there are some entertaining short-form videos on the channel, and if you’re yet to experience the surrealism of Mr Biffo’s Found Footage… well, let’s just say you won’t be needing drugs to be tripping balls by the end of it.

The Game Chasers, meanwhile, are gearing up for a full-on movie — but if you’re yet to catch up with the chodes’ highly entertaining adventures (and all their supporting content) their channel is well worth your time.

Now, what about all the lovely people around the WordPress community? Let’s delve into my Likes for this week and pick out a few highlights…

New Site Theme and Mascot! (Anime QandA) – Cactus Matt has only gone and got himself a super-cute mascot for his site! As someone who is the very proud father (or possibly onii-chan) of at least three super-cute mascots, I heartily approve, and I look forward to seeing more of Saboten-chan.

Being Awesome Anime Fans in 2019! (I drink and watch anime) – An Irina post is pretty much a fixture in this section at this point, but this was a particularly good one that started lots of good conversations. Irina ponders how we can all be “good fans” in the coming year by helping to welcome new people into the fold — and how we can avoid burnout and cynicism in the process too.

Phoenix Wright Gets Hard: Analysing Difficulty in the Ace Attorney Series (Adventure Rules) – Robert Ian Shepard posts a thought-provoking, insightful and well-researched essay on how the Ace Attorney series handles difficulty, both from a mechanical and a narrative perspective.

[Manga Review] Alicia’s Diet Quest Vol. 1 (Otaku Alcove) – Moonlitasteria takes a look at a delightful-looking manga about a healer who is just a little too concerned about the best way to lose weight.

The Struggles of Limited Print Games (geeksleeprinserepeat) – Murr ponders the challenges that face those of us who enjoy collecting physical versions of games in this “digital age” we live in — particularly when those limited run releases that are supposed to be for the “true fans” often end up in the hands of scalpers!

All right. That’s that for another week… now I’m off to play some games! Have a lovely weekend, everyone.


Thanks for reading; I hope you enjoyed this article. I’ve been writing about games in one form or another since the days of the old Atari computers, with work published in Page 6/New Atari User, PC Zone, the UK Official Nintendo Magazine, GamePro, IGN, USgamer, Glixel and more over the years, and I love what I do.

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