The Sandbox Paradox

Minecraft: Bedrock Edition Screenshot.

During my recent years of "gaming freedom", I was able to experience and revisit many games with various genres. Having variety in certain aspects of your routine is nice as that not only helps you keep things interesting, but also allows you to discover something new or look at things differently. There's probably a lot I can say about prioritization of completionism, achievements themselves (already talked about that) and how changing your approach to games can really reinvigorate your desire to actively launch them again.

However, one topic in particular stood firm in my mind and it's about my experience with sandbox genre. In particular, with Minecraft and Terraria since I didn't really have much experience with other representatives of the genre... Nah, Stardew Valley is a farming simulator. I guess I should just get to it by stating that I'm terrible at sandbox titles and I find this fact to be pretty amusing for a number of reasons.

Spidey's Animated "Firstborns"

Screenshots from Spider-Man: The Animated Series & Spectacular Spider-Man.
Taken from Season 1 Episode 4/8 (TAS) & Season 2 Episode 2 (Spec) respectively.

A long time has passed since I rewatched the entirety of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. Not only it feels like that, but it literally happened over the course of multiple months in the first half of 2023. Initially I wanted to write down something related to that, but then I decided not to as I figured that all those silly Just an Idea "articles" would be more than enough. However, there's still something I can rumble about in regard to this amazing animated series and this time I'm taking this opportunity.

There's actually a lot of things that The Animated Series did before that would later on be used in other Spider-Man projects and become more popular/prominent. It was a pioneer in many ways. Certain aspects of Peter Parker's mythos that many take for granted nowadays have originated from this cartoon and I think it's important to look back and celebrate that. Some of them are pretty obvious while others might actually catch you off guard.

Wasting Time on Gaming Chronology

Abstract Gaming Chronology.

Time moves forward and so does the game industry. New titles get developed just as older ones slowly lose their audience as players move to something different. The history of video games is often viewed through "console generations" since it's just easy to look at it this way... Well, at least I think it is. Kind of. Despite this, you can see how a lot of people on Internet reflect on how old they're because certain game or platform reached a certain anniversary and, in this outburst of nostalgia, they talk about how it's now "retro".

While this is far from being a confusing mess in style of re-releases & remasters, such narratives occasionally bothered me and I found myself thinking about it. It is really a good idea to just keep throwing every game and console into "old" category simply because of their age? What's the right or clear definition of a "retro game"? Where do you put the line between old and new? You know, these abstruse questions that (if anything) just waste your time. I just wanted to write something similar to "The Achievement Parable".

Soothing Winds of Stardew Valley

Spring crops growing at Safe Haven Farm at the beginning of Year 2.

For someone who has a blog mostly centered around video games, you would think that I would write about titles I'm currently playing. While I do mention them most of the time in Update "articles", dedicated posts are few and far between. This does seem slightly weird, and I'm not sure I can even explain myself here. It just so happens that I'm usually interested in writing about games I haven't really played before, so I'm (maybe/sometimes) making this weird note for my backlog and satisfy my curiosity.

There's also the fact that I guess I'm kind of scared of writing an actual reviews to games and current popularity of video format for them isn't the main reason for it. I just don't think I would be able to cover every aspect of given title in proper way and leaving something out just doesn't seem right to me. Besides that, I also just don't know what I can say and add to the conversation that wasn't mentioned already. Overthinking, yeah.

However, this time I have a reason to go out of my comfort zone in a certain way. This is definitely more of a "review", maybe even a proper one. I've been playing Stardew Valley on regular basis (usually daily) for more than a month now, and I'm having a great time. In fact, all of my currently planned "articles" keep getting delayed because this game is just too captivating, and I want to talk about my experience thus far.

Systematization of Minecraft Games

Basic Visual Representation of Minecraft Gaming Releases. Logos taken from Minecraft Wiki.

Depending on how popular game is, there's a chance it might get a few ports to new platforms. The most famous example of it is obviously going to be original DOOM with plethora of official and everlasting stream of ports made by enthusiasts. Minecraft appeared in time when gaming industry was moving away from the era of different platforms having their own unique features or even different games entirely. Because of that, you can say that all existing editions of Minecraft that were released are more or less the same.

Of course, that's oversimplification on my part: there has to be a lot of technical differences between all of them that might not be obvious to average player. This is not the topic of this post, I'm not that smart and there has to be a decently detailed explanation somewhere out there. What I was kind of interested in lately is creating a list of all Minecraft's currently existing official editions and video games (including spin-offs) with logical categorization.

Neglected Flaws of Gaming Legacy

DOOM Eternal - Soundtrack Behind the Scenes Thumbnail. Taken from YouTube.

While I'm determined to stay away from negative subjects, my continuous self-reflections from the last few months slowly led me towards more conclusions. It's no secret that nowadays a lot of people on Internet are bitter. No matter what kind of community you're looking to, chances are you'll stumble upon exceeding amount of various negative emotions. However, players aren't the only group who is susceptible to such condition. Gaming industry saw many examples of creators and leaders doing some pretty terrible things. Some of these situations remained secret for a substantial amount of time and/or were ultimately "forgiven" (i.e. forgotten) due to legacy of specific person and/or a group.

I think this post might end up getting all over the place and I apologize in advance for that. As I was thinking more certain scandals involving some well-known people & companies (both recent and earlier), I kept coming back to harmful nature of legacy within gaming industry. It's not as much about games and franchises, as it's about people, companies and brands. From preservation of video game history to treatment of young talent starting their career in this sphere. I guess you can consider this an impromptu follow-up to "Two Older Kinds of Gaming Brands", considering some themes of this post and how messy it likely ends up being. I just need to get all of this out of my system for my own good.

Candidates for 1.20's "Catch Up"

Minecraft Live: Minecraft 1.20 Update Thumbnail. Taken from YouTube.

This was originally going to be the first in a series of January 2023's "Just an Idea" posts, but then I realized that it doesn't fit the criteria I set for that category. A lot of Minecraft rumbling is on its way and I wanna start with things we know about that haven't got into both versions of the game just yet. Either they got delayed, promised for the "near future" and things like that. We have a lot of features and chances that were teased and announced, but players are still waiting for Mojang Studios to properly introduce them.

Developers have a great opportunity to use Patch 1.20 as a catch up update. While it's hard to say whenever or not they would go in this direction given some recent developments with the game (that's a different subject on itself), "articles" like this aren't about sticking to the reality and being pessimistic about it. What I will go is to just list some previously teased stuff that could've been added to 1.20 with positive/hopeful attitude.

Copying Bedrock Skin to Java Edition

My current skin from Character Creator & Minecraft Launcher. I got lazy, yeah.

This "article" is slightly different from what I've written before since it's more of an actual guide. While there're some posts that had something close to this type of material, it was more of an addition to the main topic. However, the subject I'm about to tackle on here is rather niche and I want to have some kind of easily accessible reminder in case when I forget about this. It only makes sense to put it in public (or dublicate it), so this interesting trick I learned thanks to some smart & helpful people on Internet can be used by others.

While I'm interested in trying my hand at pixel art, currently I can't really draw anything. Making my own Minecraft skin does sound like a good logical step, but I was wondering if there's some lazy and smart way of approaching the "How do get a unique Minecraft skin" question. One of the neat features of Bedrock Edition is Character Creator where you can create your own skin using free (and paid, but it's not important here) options/items.

Original version of Minecraft doesn't have its own official Character Creator tool, so there's no way for player to move over his skin from one version of the game to another in the name of parity... or can we? If map conversion tools like Chunker exist, maybe there's something similar for skins? Not directly, but there's one method that was discovered, and I was fortunate enough to discover it thanks to a very helpful person out there.

The "rocPortraits" Mystery

Hidden Reign of Chaos portraits from Patch 1.33 PTR.

Blizzard's sudden return to Warcraft 3 with Patch 1.33 on PTR has been very interesting, to say the least. As I observed these events from afar, it did seem like we're heading in the same circle and repeating the same mistakes that paved the way for current Reforged. My initial plan was to go over all of this after the patch gets proper release, but things have changed for the better. Besides, I'm not really excited to revisit the negative side of things.

Instead, I would rather focus my attention on something great. Something that can be good for this game, its community and developers. I've mentioned the secret Classic+ (as we seem to currently call them now) portraits for 25 wins in The Frozen Throne before. Now, the last PTR update brought in all Reign of Chaos ladder icons and community loves these with Grubby & Wtii highlighting them on their YouTube/Twitch channels. It looks like Blizzard started to get it and we're in for a treat... However, I started to have my doubts because it is current Blizzard.

Hence why I decided to write this "article" and also mirror some key points on official forums & Reddit. I would talk about the portraits themselves, how they might be implemented and how I think they should be introduced into current version of Warcraft 3. As other members of the community, I'll try to help them avoid upsetting pretty much everyone.

The Achievement Parable

The Stanley Parable's"Go Outside" and "Commitment" achievements' stats on March 15th, 2022. Taken from Steam.

There's been a few serious-ish monologues regarding certain aspects of video gaming written by me for this blog: from my perspective on messy interpretations for re-releases and such to just as weird situation with gaming companies and their "brand relevancy". Or something that like, I feel like I make it sound more professional than those "posts" actually are and this is very important for material. Because now we need to get serious! I don't even know what label I'll give to this post, this is so exciting!

One of the topics I wanted to touch upon in in-game/service achievements and everything that comes with them. For a long time I couldn't come across the perfect point of time to start this discussion, but the miracle that is the release of spectacular The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe has enlightened me to finally get professional enough to challenge this topic. And this is a very pleasing coincidence since the original version of The Stanley Parable is  directly related to the achievements monologue I'm about to write down.

Walking Away From Dragonflight

Dragon Isles Continent Concept Art. Taken from Blizzard.

Well, I made a good call with not throwing around any promises. Kind of. Despite the fact that I was factually done with Shadowlands here, I've acknowledged that I never would be done with Warcraft franchise. At first, I planned to leave all of at the conclusion of Patch 9.2 post, but after some time it became apparent that there're more points to be addressed or reinforced. Do have a proper epilogue to this ordeal or rather "epilogue plus"... You know, it's funny. I'll elaborate on that remark later though.

That doesn't mean I would talk about anything directly related to Shadowlands, Sylvanas book and all of that stuff. I mean, they've clearly recycled all the unnecessarily fancy cutscene fluff from Reforged for two part Judgement and such. Good for you, Blizzard. Seriously, I don't think they reinvented the wheel here. That's not what they would've done here. Either way, without further interruption, let's just get to the remaining points.

Potential Future of Battle.net Launcher

Minecraft, Bethesda & Battle.net Launcher Icons.

With the debut of Battle.net Launcher through Open Beta on August 2013, young me "foresaw" the rise of individual launcher from other companies similar to Origin and Ubisoft Connect (at the time known as Uplay). This is a hot topic in the minds of many people for many good reasons, which can warrant a post of its own. Instead, I would like to look back at recent developments surrouding two launchers from the companies owned by Microsoft and what direction Battle.net can take once Activision Blizzard's deal will be finalized.

Two Kinds of Older Gaming Brands

Coming up with this thumbnail was harder than you would thought.

One of the subjects related to gaming industry that kind of bothered me recently is the matter of developers, publishers and their "legitimacy". What do I mean by that? Well, often you can see various arguments about this that studio "X" isn't the same anymore or "Y" is just a pretended to the name they're carrying. In the meantime, there're cases where a new company uses an older brand and some people believing that "old guard is back".

Sometimes it gets as confusing as a usage of terms like "remaster" in gaming media and general conversations. Similarly to re-releases, not everyone seems to really bother with terminology all that much. Although I think that getting it right can be as (if not even more) important than doing the same for aforementioned newer version of older games. That is the topic I decided to explore this time around.

My Current Go-To Pico-8 Tetris Games.

PICO-8 Tetris Games Compilation Screenshot.

Since my initial post about PICO-8, I wanted to come back to it in some form. Thankfully, I already had a topic in mind that's the most experience I had with the games for this fantasy console. Even though there're a lot of many great and truly spectacular titles made for it that some would deem impossible to pull off within console's technical limitations. Despite all of this, the only type of game I revisit on somewhat regular basis is Tetris.

Of all the games that were created for PICO-8, I focus my attention primarily on classic Soviet puzzle game... or rather games like it, to be more accurate. All thanks to good old simplicity of its gameplay and the ability to grab your attention for at least 10 minutes. Just quickly open the page to play one session until you hit your "dead end" in order to refresh your head. I often get distracted by two titles in particular for a little break.

Echoes of Activated Goggles

"Splinter Cell Remake Begins Development at Ubisoft Toronto" thumbnail. Taken from Ubisoft.

Back in June, when I wrote and published "A Blink Return of Splinter Cell", I knew something is going to happen to this series in the next year. Reason for that is its 20th anniversary, which is a perfect opportunity to bring Sam Fisher into the spotlight. With announcement and teases of both animated series for Netflix and VR title on Oculus, my best guess was for both of them getting a full-on teasers. Maybe even with the releases in the same  year, but even now I have my doubts.

As time went on, however, it actually seems like Ubisoft does a lot more with Splinter Cell than its community or the majority of the industry would expect. Despite being quite late to the party, I wanted to just briefly go over some things were and there to share my thoughts and perspective on what's to come for Splinter Cell in 2022 with recent developments & leaks.

Strange Return to Classic Dream

Me logging into Classic Era.

It was just a matter of time before I go back to Warcraft here. However, I didn't really expect that I would start with sort of continuation of Waking Up From Classic Dream. That's not exactly what I had in mind (to be fair, there should be a follow up to another post soon), but sometimes something unexpected happens. And that's what it's all about this time. Besides, I think it's rather interesting to go back to topic of Classic+ after my previous post since it has been like 4 months.

Discussing 25th Anniversary of Quake

Quake's 25th Anniversary Logo.

This month has been pretty rough for me, to say the least. Although I don't want to keep go on about personal stuff, it was really hard to choose the topic for this week's post. Initially I thought about checking out some games at recent Steam Next Fest, but my motivation to play any game is still rather low. That's when I realized "Wait a minute, Quake's 25th Anniversary is happening this week!" So yeah, I got saved.

My celebration of this important day in gaming industry was pretty underwhelming. I thought about maybe finding some server to play Deathmatch on again (was fortunate to spot some "New DM" server on QSS; It was a lot of fun, even if I played mostly against bots), complete some more Arcane Dimensions maps... Instead, I just went through The Dimension of the Doomed. With that, I would like to discuss some announcements that were made at that day... and a bit of personal thoughts regarding Quake, sort of speak.

A Blink Return of Splinter Cell

First look at Splinter Cell animated series. Taken from Twitter.

Splinter Cell is one of those franchises I loved since I was a kid. Before falling into a rabbit hole with World of Warcraft, I remember playing the Game Boy Advance version of the original game on my Game Boy Advance SP. And I was very excited to watch my dad play through Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent on his Xbox 360... which is kind of funny since nowadays I don't want to touch both versions of that game. As well as two mainline titles that followed before the series stepped into shadows.

And it is great at staying hidden. So much so Ubisoft can't spot it for long enough to make a new proper game. Instead, we get various Sam Fisher cameos in different games, VR title and animated series. Of course, not having Splinter Cell being twisted over by their current formula is a gift to be cherished, and you can even say it already endured that with the likes of Conviction, but it doesn't change the fact that many players around the world are hungry for some proper stealth action with Third Echelon, Lambert and famous night-vision goggles.

Re-Confusing Types of Games

"What are these?"

It's no secret that some people are still getting confused when it comes to terminology of certain category of games: re-releases, remasters and remakes. Despite how many titles got one of these treatments in a last few years, definitions are not as clear in public eyes as they should've been. That's really strange in my opinion, but I guess that's just how it is because I don't think I can actually explain this phenomenon...

What I can (and decided to) go instead is write about these games and share my perspective on what each type means, as well as my opinion regarding these releases in general.

Abandonware, but not Forgotten

Pandora Tomorrow Wallpaper. Taken from Fandom.

It's great that many older games nowadays get the attention they deserve by receiving a re-release on current digital platforms, but not every title gets so lucky. Sometimes publisher/owner puts out the games for free (Marathon trilogy as an example), but in many cases nothing actually happens and it becomes difficult to find them.

I would rather get a game in "the right way", which means getting it either on Steam or GOG. If that's not an option, well... Depends on the situation. I'm not in the position to collect games physically (sadly) and don't feel right about, you know... "borrowing" them. My current mindset is that I have to earn stuff and such ways just don't make a lot of sense to me. Especially when I already have a library of games in previously mentioned services... even though I got most of them through gifts and giveaways. That's why I decided to talk a bit about some games (and expansion) that can be classified as "abandonware".