Strange as it might seem, this is a relatively modern phenomenon. Other cultures had their own gift givers. In Mexico, it was the Three Kings (AKA the Magi and Three Wise Men). So todays feature is a bit... odd.

Simply titled "Santa Claus", it was released in Mexico in 1959, before being dubbed, slightly edited, and released in the US in 1960.

Santa is a being from the fifth dimension (The jury is still out on what happens when you make him say his name backwards...) , who lives in a castle high up above the earth. He is assisted by Merlin the Wizard (yes, that Merlin), Vulcan, the Roman god of the Forge, and dozens of Children from around the world, who do the actual toy making work and who may or may not actually be what they say they are. One of Santa's helpers, a kid named Pedro, asks what people on Earth eat... which gets into weird areas when you think about it.

Santa spends Christmas Eve traveling the world, delivering gifts, while dogging the attacks of a devil named Pitch, sent to stop Santa by Lucifer (who in the English version is voiced, quite obviously, by the same actor who voiced Santa... It's a bit jarring).

not making a word of this up...

("The Power of Claus compels you!")-someone on TVtropes. 

For something that should be wholesome... It's actually got some serious nightmare fuel... So much so, it's feature on Mystery Science Theater 3000 is considered the source of the phrase.

The greatest sin in fiction is being so god awful you can't build Verisimilitude to begin with...

Rapsittie Street Kids; Believe in Santa does exactly that. 

aired in 2002, then lost until 2015, from what I can gather, this only came into being from a perfect storm of luck. The creator was a scientologist, he met fellow scientologist Nancy "Bart Simpson" Cartwright, and she went through some contacts or something to get other celebrities to be in the production... including Mark Hamill, Jodi Benson (Ariel), Paige O'Hara (Belle), Grey Delsie and Walter Emmanuel Jones (the original Black Ranger on Power Rangers.)

Another detail I discovered is how this "masterpiece" was animated... on a program designed for Windows 3.1... in 2002...

Now, going back to Verisimilitude, the first problem is that the characters look and move like they were animated on 16 bit software. Forget bad PlayStation jokes, this thing looks like is was rendered on a SNES. there are no curves, their faces are flat and at several moments, the textures do not render correctly.

One of the first scenes is Jones' character, a young boy names Ricky (who raps nearly everything he says... and yes it gets really annoying real quick), walking down the street. But he's doing so in a way that makes him look like he's walking on air. other times the characters literally clip through themselves, Nicole (voiced by O'Hara) has an entire song where she sings about how great she is... while moving her arms in such a way that her hands pass through both her neck AND each other... that and the fact her face looks like she ran head first into a wall ala a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

Now, The Christmas Light came out direct to video, a phrase that is not often associated with quality in western animation... This, got NATIONAL AIRTIME on a WB cable network and in syndication to major local stations, such as ABC in both New York and Los Angeles. 

Story. Ricky wants to give Nicole, a girl he likes, a teddy bear his late mother had given him... She rejects it because she's a spoiled little B'tich and tosses it into the dumpster. The first few minutes or so make it seem as if Ricky is the protagonist, but it ends up giving more time to Nicole, who spends the rest of the show trying to return it after she finds a letter Ricky wrote to Santa about how much the bear meant to him. 

Oh, and then there's Ricky's great grandmother... who keeps speaking in absolute gibberish, except for one word per sentence. They "claim" it's because the audio was corrupted, but it just sounds like she's trying to summon Cthulhu or something... 

I need this holiday... But let's be honest, I can be a glutton for punishment. So I'm going to be spending the next 25 days looking at the worst Christmas shows I can find (La la la)

Whelp, it's December 1st. The first... Being the first is important. It's the beginning, the start.... It's also the day before my credit card bill is due... excuse me..

Where was I, oh right, First. Being first to do something is a goal a lot of people strive for... but sometimes, You try so hard to get to that point, you get to the point you have to ask yourself, was it worth it?

Take for example, our first pile of garbage, "The Christmas Light", the first CGI Christmas story, released in 199

Problem #1... the note about Toy Story... This was released first. 

Problem #2... the first thing you see is a message on your screen telling you that this was recorded in "EP Mode". Quick history lesson for the kids out there, VCRs used to be able to squeeze more time out of the tape by lowering the quality. By the time VHS was wound down. you could squeeze about 8 hours onto a tape...

The movie is only 23 minutes... That's like having a YouTube video only be a minute long, but only render out to 240p to "save space."

Problem #3... The CGI fall straight into "PlayStation 1 reject" territory. And here's my point about being first. Toy Story was able to be the first CGI motion picture because it had the backing and resources of a company like Disney, allowing them to make a much more realistic, if still cartoony environment. Also around at the time was "Reboot", from Mainframe entertainment, the first CGI TV series. It went the other direction, setting it's adventures inside a computer world where things didn't need to look realistic. 

This is obviously done on the cheep to make a quick buck. Actually, with the exception of the fact their skin was blue, the main characters of Reboot look more realistic. 

As for a story... One of santa's elves makes a machine that can make any toy. problem is, when he uses it to make a toy train to show Santa... the toy explodes. Santa tells him he can't use the machine, sending the elf in question off the deep end. He "sings" a "song" (he tries to be lyrical and it's set to music, but it sounds more like a poor attempt at slam poetry...) to give Santa a "reason you suck" speech... only to fall into his machine, explode and somehow be turned into a living snowman... You guess is as good as mine. He flies off to ruin christmas... and gets defeated by the first house he comes across when a girl who lives there sings a song about the "light of Christmas being inside you..."

Yeah I'm summarizing, I have to go watch 24 more PoS videos for this project. 

Long Story short, my sister is having issues with depression and anxiety. 

While we were putting the tree together, my sister switched on Disney+ and started their new, original Christmas movie.

Titled "Noelle", it stars Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader, with Shirley MacLaine and Julie "Does anyone know how to fly a plane" Hagerty as "Mrs. Claus" 

Spoilers (but then again, unless you live in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand or the Netherlands, you can't watch it till next year anyway...)

It's a straight up paint by numbers affair.

Name a trope related to a Christmas movie involving Santa Claus and it basically hit's every branch on the way down.

Elf/ Christmas related puns in place of normal words? It's about as bad as My Little Pony. 

Santa needs replacement? Check. 

The replacement isn't up for the job? Check

Santa is missing? Check

Santa is stuck in a city in the American Sunbelt? Check.

Someone tries to change the Status Quo at the North Pole? Check

Throw in a dash of Elf's fish out of water.

And this was all within the first hour.

Kendrick plays the title character, Noelle Kringle, and Hader plays her older brother Nick Kringle. When their father Chris dies (Which thankfully happens off screen to not traumatize the kids...), Nick is thrust into the job.

He sucks at it. The stress is on the verge of breaking him. So Noelle suggests he get away for a weekend. When he doesn't come back, their cousin Gabe Kringle takes over the role of Santa and tries to turn the North Pole in Amazon Prime... So, it's off the most Christmasy city in the world to save Christmas... 

Phoenix, Arizona...

I'm going to leave it off there, but... I'm gonna be honest. It's basically a mix of "Elf" with "The Santa Clause" and "Earnest Saves Christmas"

and I constantly rewatch the show on Netflix to try to keep the characterization consistent. (That and the fact I’m head over heels in love with Chloe Bennet).

the reason being is that a character needs to be consistent in their presentation, otherwise they stop being the same character and you loose the immersion of the story.

(My stories are a divergent canon, everything that happened right up to the snap happened) 

the single most obvious victim of such treatment, about not caring?

Star Trek Voyager and more specifically, Captain Janeway.

one second she’s a caring mother figure to her crew, the next she’s a jackbooted psychopath that makes the interpretation of her in “Living Witness” understanble.

in the season 5 to season 6 cliffhanger “Equinox” she straight up tries to murder a prisoner who refused to answer her.

several years earlier, she’d felt with Lon Sutter, a betazoid (the telepathic species Counselor Troi’s Mother comes from). One of the Maqui characters, he’d murdered a man in cold blood. What does Janeway do? Lock him in his quarters.

Later, in 30 days, Tom Paris, the helmsman, is tossed in solitary confinement for a month (along with being busted down to ensign) for committing what can only be described as a terrorist attack.

An actor can only do so much with the material given to them. It’s down to you, as the writer.

now, that being said, never changing is just as wrong, character development is important (the later sections of my SHIELD story tell the characters lives over several decades and I made sure to allow the characters to grow and develop, but I try my damndest to keep the growth on the straight and narrow path.

Now, you can occasionally be all over the place, if your know what you’re doing. One of my original characters is an aspie. Another has had her head messed with so many times she’s developed a personality disorder. One minute she’s calm and on point, the next she’s in the corner crying. But I intended that to be her character.

Janeway was not supposed to be that way.

It’s telling that a few writers who joined Voyager after Deep Space Nine ended left not long after because of that very reason. Asking “how do you write this character?” and being told “whatever.”

So, how many ways can you fail at this game?

i’ve seen Stealth games with fewer Game Over conditions.

so far...

Ghost Bride (2 ways)

lose to her in combat, she posses you and you two spend the rest of your days the fuck slave of a group of bandits. (Has a non-standard game over screen)

accept her marriage proposal and you will have an eternal wedding night.

inn keeper.

(note, there is a check box in the menu that switched some characters, such as this, from normal male to Futanari)

each stay at at an inn cost 10 gold. Don’t have ten, you’re being screwed by the inn keeper. After the fourth time, they will ask you to marry them. Say yes and game over as they take you as their wife.

wereslut 

take a wereslut’s cock too often and you’re marked as a first rate bitch. She’s going to try every day to breed you, even though she knows you’re a male.

elite harpie.

much like the wereslut, lose to this creature and you’re her bride.

Ogre

same, lose combat to her, lose the game.

strange merchant.

woman with a pile of sex toys. If you encounter her with a high anal sex rating, she’s got you as her toy. 

Brothel Madame

insult her ass and she’s going to own yours.

Dark Knight (no... not THAT one...)

Meet her with no dignity level left and you lose.

Orc

Lose, as usual.

Snake goddess.

(as I’m still working on figuring out the combat system, i’ve Found using magic attacks work best for me)

Finally, the "meat and potatoes", some gameplay footage. This time it actually rendered right the whole way through.

Losing to the Ghost Bride in combat/refusing to give yourself to her willingly

Accepting to marry the Ghost Bride

becoming the wereslut's "mate"

(audio is still wacky. I might need to do some deep debugging on my setup.)

You're not missing much, just a gentile music loop that seems to want to play all at once...

video contents

Menu

NPC character list

PC character creation

so, anyway, I think this game might require a timer. If I play too long, my girl cock might stay stiff too long and I've going to have a lot of explaining to do at the hospital...

User "Sometallbloke" posted about this in the Hentai games section and I just had to check it out. 

"Tales of Androgyny" is a fantasy RPG centered around a young femboy adventurer and his sexual escapades in a world full of monsters and dickgirls and Dickgirl Monsters.

https://majalis.itch.io/tales-of-androgyny

the game uses a lot of the standard fantasy RPG elements. Your extremely lovely PC seen in the above image (default name Hiro... not exactly the best pun there) can be any of the classic character classes (Mage, warrior, thief, ranger, paladin and so on.) despite insisting he's male, only a few character class portraits have him in pants. most are ether skirts or panties. Infact, most males who appear on screen are andrognus at the very least if not out right fem.

the game uses your more traditional RPG overworld map with various encounter nodes that is randomly generated at each new game start.

I am currently on the path just north of the castle.

There is a few locked Patreon exclusives at the moment, most notably something labeled Story (I'd back, but I'm broke at the moment. sorry guys)

https://www.patreon.com/Majalis

The game uses a stance combat system that I'm still getting the hang of, but seducing your opponent into stopping fighting is an option.

Pros.

SEX. Oh God all the sex.

You can even bang your companions. Here is one of the two I've unlocked so far, the very sexy Trudy, a human warrior. I just love his outfit.

And here he is with Kylira, an Elf healer, as the two boys show their affection for your cock.

All encounterable characters are listed in the section labeled "pervert" on the main menu. my favorite is the ghost bride. (I have a thing for brides.) There is a image of her after you calm her down on the game's main page. 

Cons:

Long winded. The text for some encounters just goes on and on.

Tip:

You're going to be sucking a LOT of pretty femcock. one of the trait options is to regain health from swallowing cum. Use it, it will keep you on your feet longer. 

I'm going to post a second blog, I just need to rewire my capture card back in because the windows game bar isn't picking this up.

(second blog post should be later today 5/10. I just need to edit the video clips and upload them.

turns out.... someone already started a wiki for this game... because of course the did.)

https://tales-of-androgyny.fandom.com/wiki/Tales_of_Androgyny_Wiki

Games, books, toys, movies, TV shows. If it sells, slap it on anything and everything.

It’s been that way for ages. Probably one of the most important was a windup Mickey Mouse handcar made by Lionel trains as a cheep option to keep the company afloat during the depression era, drawing on the popularity of Mickey Mouse and helping cement him into the public consciousness.

i remember when Yugioh first hit the scene. I was hooked so bad, I still have My woefully out of date deck. And of course, I had to have some video games on which to play them... which lead to me discovering the worst game I have ever played.

And that game... was “YuGiOh: Forbidden Memories” for the orignal PlayStation.

the problem with the game was simple. Imagine you’ve just bought the latest edition of Madden. You pop the disk in, it loads up, and suddenly you find yourself playing Canadian Football. You’d be confused. Wait? Three downs and I’m done? And why is the field so much longer

(for those outside North America, Canadian Football is a gridiron code that is similar to the American game, but there are only 3 downs instead of four, 12 players are on the field at any time, the field is 110 yards long and the goal post are placed above the goal line)

so anyway, this game used a prototype rules set for the card game. Fusions worked differently, trap cards and magic cards (yes, I still call them magic... sue me I went back to Pokémon before the original Yugioh anime ended) worked differently, you had to start your turn with at least 5 cards in you hand (draw until full) and you HAD to play a card during your main phase. You couldn’t do nothing.

now, I was never a real “king of games”... (though I guess these days “Queen of games” would be more appropriate), but I wasn’t exactly an idiot when it came to playing. This game was impossible for me to play because the rules were so different if it wasn’t for the Yugioh characters in the story cut scenes, you could have told me it was a Magic the Gathering game and I would have believed you (never got into MtG).

the game was made by the card game’s developers, Konami, and I know, game development takes time and things get changed. I understand that. Problem is the game came out in Japan in December of 1999, and didn’t come to North America until March of 2002 and I think that’s a fair amount of time to correct a mistake...

instead they doubled down with the second game “Dueliest of the Roses”... which transfers the action and characters to 15 century England during the War of the Roses (complete with Yugi as Henry the VII) and kept up with the bonkers “can’t stick to the TV show and card game rules to save our lives” bullshit.

i eventually got “Eternal Duelist Soul” for GBA for my fix.

I’m a Marvel Comics fangirl. I like spending my free time watching Marvel shows and movies...

and let let me tell you, the first time they licensed thier characters for TV... I’m surprised anyone did it in the future.

”The Marvel Super Heroes” aired in first run syndication from September 1st to December 1st, 1966. (One year before the Hanna Barbera produced “Fantastic Four” debuted”

Each episode featured 3 seven minute stories from a rotating cast of heroes, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Namor the Submariner.

To call the show’s animation low budget is an understatement. Much of it is animated facial features on the original comic panels.

they seem to like having close ups of the Hulk’s face and I swear it’s gonna give me nightmares.

Interestingly... Marvel’s first cartoon was also the first time they had an issue with rights.

Unable to use the Fantastic Four, one Namor story featured the original Anti-hero himself dealing with Doctor Doom fighting the dictator’s archenemies...

the Allies for Peace!

What’s that? You don’t remember the Allies for Peace?

It was the X-Men.

no, seriously, they moved the X-men into a skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, renamed them (for no reason I can possibly figure out) and just went ahead with the story.

Interdimensional hijinks with incredible consequences, that's what.

"Exiles" got it's start in 2001, written by Judd Winick with art by Mike McKone. It began with mostly character who were alternate universe versions of not so promienet X-Men (though the character who basically became the book's star, Blink, was from "Age of Apocalypse".

They were brought together by the "Time Broker" a being who introduced himself as a representation of spacetime, telling them they'd all become unstuck in spacetime and they needed to travel to different universes to correct problems or else they'd never return home.

The concept of the Exiles is a divergent/alternate universe fan fic writer's wet dream. The first world they visit, super beings have all but been exterminated and Xaiver and Magneto have swapper personalities. 

This first stop also introduces something else that I like about these books. One of the characters dies on the first mission. Now, we all know, characters died all the time, but within about a year, boom, they're fine, it was a trick, it was a doombot etc... But in Exiles... Ya Dead, Ya Dead. And I think that gives so much added weight to the story, Actions have actual consequences!

The series ran for 100 issues, often adding an subtracting team members. it was given a second volume after the first run ended, but that didn't last.

Marvel did do a third run that went for 12 issues that just ended. This run actually added in a version of the character Valkyrie based upon Tessa Thompson's version in the MCU (though much taller and not a cynic) 

The thing is... I'm a geek first. Yeah I lie in bed dreaming about a handsome prince sweeping me off my feet or a beautiful woman to make sweet lesbian love with... but my first passion is my geeky hobbies.

And one of the most important things to me is Tokusatsu.

"What's that?" I pretend to hear you ask...

"Tokusatsu" is the Japanese term for programs that use practical effects. It literally means "Special Photography". Much like how in Japan, all cartoons are anime, Tokusatsu to the Japanese incudles shows like Star Trek, Doctor Who, anything from Marvel or DC... fuck, even Thomas the Tank Engine before they switched to pure CGI animation in 2008. To a westerjer like myself, it tends to refer to live action super hero shows.

The most straightforward explanation is Power Rangers. As I'm sure most of you know, Power Rangers is adapted from a Japanese TV show by splicing in English speaking actors to the Japanese suits and monster footage. That show, the "Super Sentai Series" ("Sentai" meaning team or squadron) is one of the three most popular regularly airing "Toku" shows. Another is the somewhat well known "Ultraman" and the third, from the same company as Super Sentai, is Kamen Rider, which has grown to be my favorite.

One of the things that fascinates me about these shows is their longevity, mostly made by changing out the cast, story and theme every year.

Super Sentai has aired almost continuously since 1975... and it's technically the newest of the three. They're currently on their 43rd season, and have featured over 260 different characters as Rangers. (that term is acceptable as the word or part of the word ranger is often part of the team name. For example, the orginal Might Morphin Power Rangers was adapted from "Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger" which translates as "Dinosaur Squadron Beastranger". just for the record, the "Zy" approximates a J sound, so the title (I'm not making this up, I swear on my father's grave and every bible you can find) is pronounced "Jew ranger"

Kamen Rider (Kamen= Masked) was created in 1971, but aired inconsistently in the 70's and 80s and didn't air at all in the 90s, but has been consistent since 2000, running in a hour long block with Sentai on Sunday mornings. It tends to follow a solo hero and mostly doesn't have mecha fights like Sentai/PR. however the fight chorography tends to be more complex and elaborate and the show tends to have a lot of twists and a much more darker tone, heck, having all the heroes survive the season is an exception, not the rule.

The original series stared Hiroshi Fujioka (who you might also know as Sega Saturn advertising mascot SEGATA SANSHRIO!) as a young man kidnapped by SHOCKER, a terrorist organization in the vein of HYDRA, to be transformed into one of their cyborg monsters. He escapes after they convert his body into a cyborg but before brainwashing him (you'd think they'd do it the other way around, but they are not that smart...) and chooses to become a hero to defend the world from Shocker's evil. the modifactions to his body allowed him to transform into a grasshopper themed suit of armor, he takes the title of Kamen Rider

This went on for twelve episodes... until Mr. Fujioka, who was doing his own stunts, accidently wrapped Kamen Rider's motorcycle around a pole and shattered his legs. He was written out of the show to recover and a new character was created, another young man kidnapped to become another rider, who also gets saved. The two are generally known as Kamen Rider 1 (Kamen Rider Ichigo) and Kamen Rider 2 (Kamen Rider Nigo), eventually, Fujioka recovered, and the two swapped in and out before becoming a full time duo, the Double Riders. After a two year run, each new season focuses on a new lead rider, who tends to carry the name of the show with one exception (the 1979 season was meant as a reboot, but was retconned into a sequel. The lead had been known as just Kamen Rider, until he was renamed SkyRider by the prior riders.)

The show has a lot or recurring elements. The Rider's powers are often from the same source as the enemy. One or more of the enemy will make a heel-face turn (if our lead rider wasn't one of them from the start) and the riders defeat the monster of the week with a super powered flying side kick ( Side kick as in a kick with the body held sideways, not as in thowing Robin or Bucky Barns at the monster of the week)

Kamen Rider has seen three western releases for general consumption. 

The first was when Hiam Saban tried his luck from making Power Rangers, creating Saban's Masked Rider from Kamen Rider Black RX. The second was much more well received, in 2009, with Kamen Rider Ryuki getting a similar treatment as Kamen Rider Dragon Knight on the CW (which actually won a daytime Emmy), the most recent is a unique case, a web original series. One of the original seasons was Kamen Rider Amazon. for the shows' 45th birthday in 2016, the production company partnered with Amazon video, creating a new show called "Kamen Rider Amazons", which is most defintly not something you want to show children.... It is currently streaming world wide on the Amazon Video service subtitled in English, as "Amazon Riders"

Here are all of the opening title sequnces for each season from 1971 to 2017

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qojsN5hf0eA

2017

Kamen Rider Build

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpmDzBhjybk

2018 Kamen Rider Zi-o (this is the only version I could find till youtube get's off their asses and fixed the search function

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NEWw3EySRs

-President John F. Kennedy, Speech at Rice University, September 12, 1962.

Simulation games live and die by how well they preform their tasks. Too simple, you're not going to retain your audience who want a challenge. Too hard, you're not going to get an audience to begin with (save maybe some gluttons' for punishment with deep pockets... I'm looking at you "Steel Battalion"). The perfect ballence is hard to come by.

But one game studio from Mexico City found it.

"Kerbal Space Program" is a spaceflight simulator game that doesn't take itself the least bit seriously and yet is one of the most faithful and complex sim games on the market. The game takes a mostly hard science fiction look at the ins and outs of spaceflight. Your job is to manage the space program of a race called the Kerbals, "little green men" who have chose to explore their home solar system.

The game leaves it's mark in the massive attention to detail give to it's physics engine. there are some breaks in realism, but they are a nessesity. For example, an object is only considered to be in the effective gravity well ("Sphere of Influence") of one body at a time, because having to calculate the effects of gravity in real life would cause a consumer CPU to melt.

You have a choice of game modes.

Sandbox, which let's you play to your hearts content, and two more challenging modes, Science and Career.

These two require more management of space program. both have technology trees that require advancement in order to unlock better parts. Both require you to collect data on missions, but career also requires you to deal with funding your space program, this is often done through accepting tasks for outside parties, like launching a satellite to a certain orbit or flying a paying space tourist on a mission.

The truly fun part of the game is actually building your craft. while the game has a set number of parts by default (though countless more can be downloaded and modded in) the only limits to how big and complex your rocket can be are you imagination and how well your computer handles things. 

Remember when I said this game doesn't take itself seriously, well, let's just say watching your creations fail mid flight is often as much fun as actually flying them, something the community has embraced. 

Something I made a long, long time ago, launching a space shuttle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg2s_aH5udU&list=PLeupn-WiB8zA_pUiXGHJ109L-oRswz7yo&index=12&t=0s

This video actually got shared by the developers on their Instagram account.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii1uYlsfxVM

Jesus H. Christ, this franchise should be a controlled substance... I turn on my game to get one screen shot and I end up playing for hours...

"Gathering storm" is the most recent expansion for the Civilization series, adding in possibly the most interesting feature the franchise has ever had, dynamic maps with weather and natural disasters.

In order to simulate rising sea levels caused by climate change, the system will convert land and ice tiles into water tiles when certain conditions are met. These tiles are pre-selected at map spawn and the system tells you which tiles will flood and when, so you can avoid them with your settlers if you so choose. 

Another addition is the option to build canal districts (with the Panama Canal as a world wonder). I tend to build up as a naval power when I play and this makes that so much easier.

But my favorite addition is... the GIANT DEATH ROBOT! It looks like something out of Pacific Rim and it is a blast to play with.

One of my many, many hobbies is theme parks and their history. I've ridden every major US Disney coaster built prior to 2015 (last time I was at a Disney park) with the exception of California's Space Mountain (not for lack of trying, but for lack of the damn thing working. I was in Disneyland for five days and EVERY time I went near it, it broke down.)

I have every major release RCT and while I enjoyed one and played the HELL out of 2 (even built my own Disneyland, but no longer have access to that save)

Then came Three. It was OK, the 3D rendered environment vs the 2d isomorphic took some getting used to, but I played it a lot two, But I liked a lot of the ride options in 2 better to be honest. 

So you can guess I was excited for Roller Coaster Tycoon World, right? ….right?

Actually I was when I first found out about it... but once I got to actually play it... Wow that was underwhelming. 

Then I found out why. 

It was rushed out the door by Atari to compete with another game, Planet Coaster. How rushed out? They came out a DAY apart. 

Planet Coaster was made by Frontier Development, who had worked on the RTC tycoon, including the Xbox port of 1, the expansion packs for 2 and the entirety of 3. they took the lessons of 3, learned from them and made a muck better game with in. They decided not to try and license the Tycoon brand because they felt the shovelware titles using the name have devaluated it. (Which is a fair argument, the original Tycoon game line, Sid Meier's "Railroad Tycoon" series, dropped Tycoon from it's most recent release in 2006 and instead emphases was put on the man, the myth, the legend himself in it's title, much like Civilization.)

how much of a difference is there between World and Planet. Planet coaster has an 84/100 on Metacritic.... RTCW has a 43/100. Ouch.

Positives of Planet Coaster.

More unique rides.

I'm surprised there isn't a deal with Disney given how much of the ride content is directly based on real Disney attractions. The Steam train ride is a replica of the Disneyland Railroad, the monorail looks exactly like the Disneyland Mark 7 monorails and they even feature the Florida people mover.

They even have a ride that, in function, mimics the Florida "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror".

Interactivity.

Rides can have triggers placed on their tracks to set of special effects nearby. No plop and it looks good but has nothing to do with the ride. You can time it right down to the fraction of a second. 

Negatives.

Tediousness.

If you want to build a proper dark ride with a show building, clear your schedule. 

Just to show how creative players have gotten with it, here's a video I found featuring a coaster themed to this girl's favorite Disney Princess. (I wanted to show you guys another cool, long one based on Moana, but they forgot to mute the rider sound effects...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FuKnFtGwrw

But I loved it and as time went by and new sequels came along, I got them as well. I lost track of how many hours I spent on Sim City 4. Then came the news in 2013 there would be a new one.

And we all know how well THAT turned out. The expansion was cool, I like that sort of aesthetic… but someone just dropped the ball on that game so hard they put a hole in the floor right to the basement. 

I don't remember if it was a humble bundle or something, but I found myself with a copy of a game from Scandinavia called "Cities: Skylines" via Steam. and let me tell you, it runs circles around that.. thing... EA  tossed at us.

Positives...

expandable cities. Sim City 4 had different sized city plots (and I always went for the big ones) while Sim2013 had one size fits no one. Skylines has a 2km by 2km square to start, but as your city expands in population, you get the option to buy more squares. Default is 8 more, which brings us to... 

Modding. Between the fact the game comes with several mods built in to the massive library on steam, you're basically spoiled to hell and back. Some of the most popular unlock all the squares on the map, so you end up with a 16km by 16km or greater map. 

Choices. Just going off intra-city transportation. Sim City 2013 had buses, streetcars, boats and trains, plus the maglev if you had the expansion. Skylines has buses, subways and trains in the vanilla default, but the DLCs add streetcars, ferries, monorails, even BLIMPS.

Detail. sticking with the transportation theme. in SC13 You plopped some stops and that was it. The vehicles routed themsevels. Skylines lets you plan out routes

negatives. 

Music. With the exception of a golden oldies station with licensed songs... the music is a bit dull. I have a mod that allows me to add in music packs and I have two radio stations from GTA V instead (Non stop Pop and Los Santos Rock Radio, with all the ads and DJ segments)

performance. This game is a system memory hog. normally, I can just shut down one game and load up another. Skylines, my PC runs it better after a full reboot and taking out a few unnesiary programs. If you don't have more than 8 GB of RAM, forget trying to add assets. 

OVERALL

A

I’m Ashley and yes, I'm a trans woman.

So anyway... Tetris 99 is literally the best thing I've played in a long, long time. 

I went in saying "hey, it's free..." and now I can't put my Switch down. I'd walk around the house playing if my Wi-Fi worked a little better, but there are areas it cuts out in. That and I really don't want to run the risk of tripping over a cat and breaking my Switch.

I haven't won yet, but I've gotten to second place.

It would be nice if it had local options, like grouping you and your friends in the same lobby... but it's free. can't exactly expect the world from something they're giving away, now can you.