Around the Network

Christmas is once again creeping up on us, but thankfully thanks to the magic of online shopping, I’m already done with buying presents.

That, of course, means plenty of time for enjoying a variety of wonderful games, and celebrating many of the delightful experiences I’ve had over the last year. That is the thinking behind The MoeGamer 2019 Awardsthe third year in which I’ve thought up a variety of “alternative awards” (in collaboration with the community) to celebrate the things I’ve played and/or covered in the last year.

And, because I wanted to both play it and write about it, we’re interspersing the awards with a look at Pokémon Sword and Shield. Lots to be getting on with, so let’s check out what you might have missed this week.

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MoeGamer

The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: The Atari Anime Award – Which Atari game that I’ve covered on the Atari A to Z series would I like to see remade using cute anime girls? Gosh, well, there are lots — but one in particular stood out.

The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: The “Are You Lost?” Award – Shipwrecked on a desert island, I have five people from games I’ve played this year to help me not die. Who did I think were most likely to ensure our mutual survival?

Warriors Wednesday: Princess of TrapsNo, not that kind of trap. No; today we meet Millennia, star of Kagero: Deception II… and a rather highly-strung young lady keen to get with the killing.

The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: The #25YearsOfPlay Award – The PlayStation turned 25 a few days ago, so which game from the PS1 era do I feel had the biggest impact on my life in general… and why?

The MoeGamer 2019 Awards: The Least “Retro” Retro Game – Which game from days of yore still feels fresh and interesting today? Again, I had quite a few possible choices here, but one in particular stood out for me.

Final Fantasy Marathon: Onward to Whisperwind Cove – One more Soul of Chaos dungeon to clear before we take on the Labyrinth of Time and beat the game! Let’s get to it.

Pokémon Sword and Shield: A Grand Tour of Galar – And we conclude the week with an in-depth look at the major locations you visit in the new Pokémon game… along with how they compare to real-life British locations.

Atari A to Z

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This week we have an excellent conversion of an all-time arcade classic, a highly entertaining (and very British) text adventure, and a bit of bowling action for the 2600.

Patreon

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Don’t forget that over on Patreon I post a daily behind-the scenes personal blog that is, effectively, a resurrection of my old #oneaday blog I used to host over at angryjedi.wordpress.com. At the present time, this also includes exclusive patrons-only weekly vlogs on Saturdays! If you’d like to get to know me a bit better, be sure to sign up; just $1 a month (about 80p) can get you in the club, and it also provides you with access to the MoeGamer Discord as well as helping to fund and support the things I do here on the site.

Find out more and sign up here!

Cool Stuff By People Who Aren’t Me

First up, Patreon goodness! Right now, I’m supporting chaotic “old men attempt to talk about games, usually fail” collective Digitiser 2000, the ever-grumpy (and always hilarious) Cheap Show Podcast, gaming and gaming culture commentator Liana Kerzner, independent games writing collective The Well-Red Mage and fountain of retro computer gaming knowledge Rob “Hellfire64” Caporetto, all of whom you can find out a bit more about by clicking through to their profiles.

Here’s a selection of YouTube and podcast goodness from several of this lot:

And, as usual, to conclude: a quick tour around the WordPress Reader for a few posts I enjoyed this week!

Self-care ideas from video games (Later Levels) – Kim explores how a number of video games she’s enjoyed can inspire you to take better care of yourself in a variety of different ways.

Fire Force & Fanservice (Jon Spencer Reviews) – Jon attempts to take a rational and balanced look at one of the most rage-inducing arguments on Anitwitter today. Can he cut through the crap and get to the heart of the issue without telling anyone to kill themselves? If anyone can do it, he can.

I Actively Cut Out My Negative Anime Influences and the Results Were Unexpected (I drink and watch anime) – Well, I could have told you this a long time ago, Irina — but I’m glad you shared your thoughts on this with everyone, because it’s important!

Agony Aunt: “My boss has called me to a disciplinary meeting!” (Professional Moron) – I encourage you to follow Mr Wapojif’s advice for life whenever things get tough.

Love D&D? Try These Games Too (A Geek Girl’s Guide) – Michelle has some great suggestions for tabletop games that fans of Dungeons & Dragons will enjoy.

Sense of Values and Wine: Wholesome Hentai (Shallow Dives in Anime) – Wholesome hentai? Does such a thing exist? Dewbond sure thinks so, and provides an excellent example that looks well worth checking out.

That One Time Barbie Talked About Depression (Lumi Reviews Things) – “Barbie” and “depression” are probably not two words you expected to see together… but read on. You might be surprised.

And there we go. Now it’s time to switch on the Christmas lights and settle down for a nice evening of moaning about how cold it is.

As always, thank you for all your support, whether it’s through likes, comments and shares on social media, or direct contributions via Patreon and Ko-Fi.

I’d like to ask you a little friendly favour for this festive holiday season: I’d love to see MoeGamer and Atari A to Z continue to grow in the coming year, so please, if you’ve not shared my work with family or friends before and think they might be interested… do point them in my direction! It’s always great to see new faces, and I love hearing from people who have come across my stuff and found themselves pleasantly surprised at something a bit different from the norm.

If each of you reading this share my work with just one other person, that’s a whole bunch of new readers. And I can’t wait to meet them!

Good luck with the Christmas shopping, and I hope the rest of your weekend is great.


The MoeGamer Compendium, Volume 1 is now available! Grab a copy today for a beautiful physical edition of the Cover Game features originally published in 2016.

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.

If you’d like to support the site and my work on it, please consider becoming a Patron — click here or on the button below to find out more about how to do so. From just $1 a month, you can get access to daily personal blog updates and exclusive members’ wallpapers featuring the MoeGamer mascots.

If you want to show one-off support, you can also buy me a coffee using Ko-Fi or PayPal.

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