I’m sure that Playstation will trim the hour of pre-show silence to make the video more viewer friendly.
We got a second proper glimpse of the PS5 and along with some games!
First up, was Final Fantasy 16!
Thanks to IGN for hosting the video!
This should make Rob from PlayStation Access very happy and we will probably lose him for a month when the game finally comes out. This reminds me that I still haven’t played Final Fantasy 15 Royal yet, nor have I bought it.
Truth be told, Black Friday 2021 is probably the soonest I will get a PS5, but one can only hope for it to be sooner.
. . .
Second up was Miles Morales : Spider-Man gameplay!
Thanks to IGN for hosting the video!
This game looks amazing! I can only imagine the Tinkerer is like the Act 1 villain, right?
Game takes place one year after the conclusion of PS4 Spider-Man. Which I figured Peter would have gone with Mary Jane for the summer, and the game takes place more like a month or two after the previous game, but I imagine they write Peter out of it in another friendly way.
. . .
Then there were some other games shown like Call of Duty : Black Ops – Cold War and Resident Evil VIllage, but my interest in those games are not that high.
Fortnite is a launch title!
Thanks to Playstation for hosting the video!
Walker Dennis and I have become a tad obsess with Fortnite in the pass few weeks. I even stopped my Tomb Raider playthrough last night just so I can play even more Fortnite. He is close to unlock Jennifer Walters and I am close to unlocking Groot, so that’s pretty exciting.
He is eagerly waiting for either Batman Day (this Saturday) or the DC November Event for Batman to come back to Fortnite, as he’s all about Batman at the moment.
. . .
Then arguably the biggest thing that got me excited was the PlayStation Plus Collection!
Thanks again to PlayStation for hosting their own video!
This I need more information about.
The Verge has a pretty good article regarding it :
18 Titles are going to be part of the collection, availabe on launch day :
God of War
The Last of Us: Remastered
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Battlefield 1
Monster Hunter World
Fallout 4
Final Fantasy XV
The Last Guardian
Ratchet and Clank
Infamous: Second Son
Days Gone
Bloodborne
Detroit: Become Human
Batman Arkham Night
Mortal Kombat X
Persona 5
Until Dawn
Resident Evil: Biohazard
I have God of War, Fallout 4, and Until Dawn physically, but I would love to get them digitally. I am really hoping these work like current PS Plus titles, where we can download the games through the store. I really want it to work like how my Vita titles were just waiting for me once I was treated to that system.
Of the titles, I own most of them through Plus, but there is a slew of them that I do not have access to right now.
Battlefield 1, Monster Hunter World, Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, Infamous Second Son, Days Gone, Mortal Kombat X, Persona 5, and Resident Evil Biohazard
So half the titles at nine. That is a crazy amount of savings! I imagine these are all coming to Plus in the next few months as well. At least four of them, I am willing to bet.
Hopefully Plus doesn’t increase too much more than $60, but my amazing wife is usually pretty great to renew my subscription as a Christmas present. After I helpfully provide her the link to it on Amazon during Black Friday.
. . .
We also finally know how much the PS5 is going to be!
$500 for the physical PS5 and $400 for the digital version is amazing! Especially $400 for digital, I would totally be willing to give up physical and kiss my physical PS4 discs good bye for that price.
Plus, I will be keeping the PS4 and moving it to Walker’s room, so it isn’t like we’re trading one in for another.
It is going to be tough knowing November 12 is coming and the PS5 is going to pass me by this holiday season.
. . .
Then Sony Interactive Entertainment’s president and CEO Jim Ryan showed a quick clip of Ragnarok is Coming, which sounded like God of War 2 to me.
Thanks to IGN for hosting the clip!
Also, it is clearly God of War 2. I don’t recall seeing the initial logo.
Looking for it, I had already forgotten about the Harry Potter game. Looks interesting. I will have to ask my wife about what she knows about the lore of Hogwarts from 1800.
Such a great presentation!
Are you buying a PS5 on release day or even this year?
I feel I have played enough of both Street Fighter V and PUBG to write about them.
I achieved my main gaming goal with Street Fighter V in as much as I finally unlocked Guile for 100,000 in-game fighting points. I did not spend any real money to do so, and that feels pretty great. I had to resist spending four real dollars unlocking the rest of Guile’s suits, and another four dollars to unlock his special 30th anniversary outfit.
It looks pretty nice, but does it look four dollars nice? Not to me and my tightly kept PSN wallet.
After unlocking Guile, I completed a Survival run, on Easy, and finished his character story chapter, which unlocked several color alternative outfits. One of them was Green and Orange, so that was good enough for me.
I still pretty much jumped and kicked my way through my 30 plus online matches, but figuring out how to Sonic Boom was pretty satisfying.
. . .
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) is a pretty fun game. I am not sure where all of the criticisms came from. Did I find weapons immediately? No, but did I find at least something usable within five minutes? Yes. I feel like I’m better at Fortnite, but if PUBG had a duo split screen, I would probably get a lot more out of it. My very first round, I got to ninth place without shooting a single person, so I earned the Pacifist trophy.
Then I proceeded to get eliminated pretty often without ever really getting a chance to fire at anyone. So I figured I would give squad a chance, let someone else do some heavy lifting, and in doing so, I earned a slew of trophies! I healed my partner, I killed at least three people, I got to put one of those victim’s clothes on, and outlasted my other teammates. I don’t have a microphone, but she was a great partner and was guiding me through everything.
I tried a few more solo rounds, but I think I experienced the game enough, and pretty much achieved my two goals of not killing anyone enough to earn a trophy, and then its opposite, of killing my first person, and that felt good enough. I never did come across a crossbow, but the chances of that were pretty small.
If they add split screen, I’ll jump back in with my buddy and really give it a shot.
The maps are used, and really played into my style. Which is to pretty much, find a good weapon, like an assault rifle, and then move deeper into the safety circle, find a nice building, and just patiently wait. No one ever came into my hiding space, and I was always killed as I was moving to the next area, but that is what happens when you get closed to the Top 10, usually the players with my skill are picked off relatively quickly and easily, but I was able to stealth my way around the map.
My problems are clearly that I’m not good enough for it, and I am sort of tempted to play at least 100 rounds or jumps out of the plane, and maybe I will after my next gaming goal has been achieved.
. . .
Which my main gaming goal right now is to get to level 40 in Fall Guys! I am currently level 38, so I am so close and so I am only really playing Fall Guys at the moment. Even if I did earn level 39, I am 15 good episodes (at least 15 fourth rounds) until I reach level 39, then I’m just going to stick with it until I earn 40. Which would unlock a new celebration option, which when I equip it, and win an episode, I would earn a trophy. So at least, I want to earn level 40, and then maybe try a round every so often afterwards, but I feel I would be able to turn the game off for a good bit.
They changed their store policy, where it used to changed at least twice a day. So I would check it once I woke up, and once again when I could play again at night. Now the store doesn’t change except for once, so hopefully they go back to the twice a day, or at the very least, add a third row of items to purchase. Usually I see the row, and don’t want anything.
What I do want is the black face mask, and the pink face mask. The black one costs a crown, which I had none to spare the last time it was listed on the store. I really want all of the face masks, as I really like completing my bean with a full and proper look.
I have not earned the “buy 50 items” trophy yet, and since I am close to finishing the season, I am realizing I have all of this Kudos to spend, and so I have been buying any complete top and bottoms that the store offers at the same time, as well as any color combinations that don’t cost crowns or are less than 3,000.
I did buy today the egg pattern, and the hatchling top and bottom which cost 9,000 kudos for the complete outfit. A tad much, but it went well with the egg pattern, and I already had a yellow and white coloring, so it looks pretty cute.
So I will use this outfit for a fair bit going forward.
I sort of have no desire to use the pirate pattern once I earn it, so I’m mostly looking straight ahead of earning level 40.
Thanks to IGN for hosting the season two trailer.
It looks very whimsical and I am excited to get at least a purple dragon costume. Season Two does look like fun, and I will definitely look at the Season Pass items to see what else I would like to earn. It looks like they added some more working together rounds, so that should be interesting.
Maybe that dragon is a tad more blue than I remembered, but who knows. I saw a pink dragon and an orange dragon, so if blue is as close to a purple dragon as I can get, that will just have to be enough for me. October 6 is the last day of Season One, so it will be interesting to see how they end One and start Two. I would imagine they will get new face mask colorings, so I would want those as well. But I can also see myself just feeling like I have ran the course with the game. Pun very much intended.
I would still check in once in the morning and see what has been added to the store until October 1, but if I miss something, I won’t be too torn up about it. Unless I miss out on a turtle costume, then I would be pretty devastated. Hopefully it is one of the outfits that only cost one crown for both the top and bottom, as I barely have seven crowns right now.
There was a moment on evening where I was stuck in a forever loop of See Saw -> Slime Climb -> Fall Ball -> Finale, that was nice as it meant a quick turn around, but those games are pretty exhausting. And that is when my team won Fall Ball.
I learned a nice trick with Slime Climb, when at the two yellow rods, just walk onto them and then jump to the solo rod, then immediately jump dive to relative safety. I was jumping after centering myself on the first yellow rod, but that was just causing me to fall off of it instead of now I am in more control, which is nice. From there, I can pretty much make it to the finish line on my own. My hardest part is the two moving pillars below, usually due to the amount of people also trying to make it pass it, and then these two sets of yellow rods.
Another thing I am being annoyed by, is the force Fall Ball as the penultimate round of a game. Like, the game machine must have a team round, and so if I end a round with 10, 12, 14, 16, or 18, I pretty much know it will be Fall Ball. Maybe not 18, but 16 for sure.
Another instance of seeing how the machine works, if a round finishes with 15 or 17 qualifiers, I will most likely get Tip Toe, wherein five or seven people will need to be eliminated to force a 5 v 5 Fall Ball game.
I really miss playing Rock N Roll as a teams match, but I only have played it once in like three nights of playing. A lot of the matching game, thankfully that is only three rounds, as a fourth round would probably eliminate me every time.
Still a fun game, and I usually can earn 98 fame points each episode I attempt, but there are still a few where the first round or the second one can be surprisingly difficult with either obstacles or being grabbed, but I usually feel pretty confident with any of the rounds. Unless it is a team challenge, but even then, I do my part, but sometimes, like with Fall Ball, I am placed on the wrong team.
This is another game where if they added split screen, I would get even more enjoyment out of it.
. . .
Which means I have put Tomb Raider Definitive Edition on hold for a bit.
Funny thing is is that I got to the same point Rob got when Kim was guiding him way back when the came first came out. I did not mean to, but then I opened the door at the end of the video, was extremely tired, and turned off the game once it saved. Then the next morning, I earned my 38th level in Fall Guys, and realized I just want to get 40 and not being obsessed with it.
Tomb Raider is great. Either I am not far enough in the game to start collecting furs, or that is not a feature like it was in Rise of the Tomb Raider. I have completed my first optional tomb (not shown in the PlayStation Access video), but it did not stop me from proceeding, so I did it. No guides, just looking around and figuring it out, so that was pretty nice. I also have killed more than five wolves, so that earned me a trophy as well.
I was able to upgrade my ax, and I still have one more category to unlock.
I am really enjoying the game, and the island is full of mystery and I can’t wait to really start exploring. I mean, I clearly can wait, but I do think about the game quite a bit. I probably will stop Fall Guys after leveling up to 39, and spend the next night playing Tomb Raider, then right back to Fall Guys.
Street Fighter V and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG, for short.
The games are out now, I’m way late on this post, and more on that far below.
I haven’t played a Street Fighter game since Street Fighter II Turbo, or one of those branches of II.
PUBG, is one of those 100 person battle royale games, and from what I’ve seen, was the originator of the genre, but then Fortnite blew it would of the water. From what I have read, PUBG works better as a PC game than a console game, but I will give it a fair chance.
. . .
PS Prices
Street Fighter V is typically $20 but has gone as low as $8 for the base game.
PUBG is typically $30, but has gone as low as $9.59.
The Plus titles games total running value thus far is $180, plus Fall Guys is a $20 game, brings the running value to $218, plus plus, Call of Duty : WWII. So we’re doing pretty great and it isn’t even October yet. I am going to be a tad annoyed if Man of Medan is the free title for October, but I would love to get it digitally. I have decided, as Man of Medan has gone on sale so many times, to just wait until Little Hope is a $15 game. Plus, it has online co-op, like Man of Medan, so the platinum will evade me again, and that’s just irritating to me. Also, I would want it digitally as well, so waiting is the route I will be taking.
PS Store
Street Fighter V has a slew of DLC!
There is a free ShareFactory theme and a free Shadow Falls Cinematic story level, that I had to download additionally. I am at 80% completion of Act 1, and it is pretty nice. For the story mode trophy, that is for the individual characters and not the cinematic story.
There are three pages worth of avatars, each for 49 cents. I treated myself to the Guile one, the proper one, not the 8-bit one, as I don’t need two avatars.
There is a $25 Champion Edition Upgrade Kit, that gets you everyone released, so that’s pretty nice and is the way to go.
$20 Capcom Pro Tour : 2020 Premier Pass
$20 Season 4 Character Pass
$15 Capcom Pro Tour : 2019 Premier Pass
$10 Capcom Pro Tour : 2018 Premier Pass
$10 Season 3 Character Pass
$10 Capcom Pro Tour : 2017 Premier Pass
$10 Season 2 Character Pass
$10 CPT Premier Package
$10 Season 1 Character Pass, it has gone on sale for $5 in the pass, and I was tempted to wait for the sale, until I was told I could just complete all of the characters stories.
So the $25 Upgrade Kit, really is the way to go for anyone who is downloading the base game.
. . .
PUBG also has a free ShareFactory theme.
Like Fortnite and other Free to Play games, PUBG does offer exclusive and free Plus items. One of the biggest complaints I have read regarding PUBG being a Plus title, is that most people thought it was a F2P title, and realizing it isn’t.
So there is a Drop Pack free exclusive that I have downloaded along with the theme.
$10 Challenge Costume Pack
$15 Payback Costume Pack
$5 500 G-Coin package
$9 1,100 G-Coin package
$18 2,000 (+300 Bonus) G-Coin package
$45 5,000 (+1000 Bonus) G-Coin package
$90 10,000 (+3500 Bonus) G-Coin package
So that seems like things are pretty expensive within the game.
. . .
Most of the comments are that PUBG should be free to play and it doesn’t run great on console and Street Fighter V’s biggest complaints is that bulk of the characters are behind paywalls and the online matches can be super laggy.
Ben made a good point about how both games have nearly impossible platinums to earn as they take hundreds of hours of an investment to earn all of the other trophies.
. . .
Here are the links to PlayStationTrophies.org’s guide to Street Fighter V :
I’m hoping to earn the Solo victory trophy, but hopefully I could get carried to the Squads trophy, if I can get into a group with randoms.
I feel like I could maybe earn the Reach the Top 10 without killing anyone trophy, Kill a player by any means, I do like bows in games, so I’ll try for the Kill 10 players with a crossbow, if I can find one in the field, loot 50 items, Equip a ghillie suit for the first time, which I imagine is random where that would be. I hope my first trophy in the game isn’t jump from the airplane 101 times, but I guess it could work a a backup plan. I would hope I could revive a knocked-down teammate, wear the outfit of a dead player sounds like something I could do if I stumble across one.
Unlike Fortnite, PUBG doesn’t have couch co-op or split screen, which Fortnite and Rocket League has, so I won’t be able to get Walker Dennis into the game so we could potentially win a Duo. So I’ll try the game and see what I can do with a few rounds.
I really hope Fall Guys gets split screen at some point soon. Maybe for Season 2?
. . .
Since the games have been out, I have played Street Fighter V quite a bit. I really want to unlock Guile, who is part of the Season One DLC. Someone on reddit was nice enough to explain that all I would have to do to earn the in-game currency of $100,000, is to finish the story mode with all of the characters, which would take about an hour. So I have done five characters’ stories, and really enjoying how quick they are. Once I have Guile, I will do a few more online matches, and maybe check out a few other trophies, and call it good. I rather not spend the $10 and get all of the characters from season one, if I can avoid spending real money.
. . .
Walker Dennis and I have been playing Duos in Fortnite as the Marvel Universe has invaded and I gifted him the season pass, so he’s running around as Thor, hitting things. I figured, I would try to get to level 62, and earn enough in game credits to get the season pass to pay for itself, but I’m barely at level 14, and not seeing myself earn enough levels in time, but I’m also okay with not earning it. I mostly would want Storm, Mystique, and Wolverine, and those are very late game. I believe I could spend $25 or so and get everyone, but that seems like a lot.
Walker really wants Batman, and in November (once the Marvel event is over), DC comes back around for their event that will include both Joker and Poison Ivy, so I will probably be having to buy those characters too. Hopefully Batman and Catwoman come back for the event as well, as he really wants to play as Batman, as he’s all about Batman right now.
We have won Duos four times now, so we’re becoming quite the team. I mostly shoot people as he runs support and hits things with his hammer. He’s level 7, so he’s doing his fair share.
. . .
Fall Guys, I have been earning some trophies. I have won three episodes, so that feels pretty good. I’m hoping they release a turtle costume soon. I’m at level 34, and I really want that blue mask as the Level 35 reward. Season One is the only season I will ever fully commit to, so I really want to reach level 40, and I should do it in the next 30 days. I have plenty of time. I really want every face mask they have, and I believe I only failed to buy the black one, so hopefully that comes back into the store.
Injustice, when Street Fighter V was announced, I picked up Injustice again and have completed the Joker portion of the story and next up is Green Arrow. Not sure when I will get back to it, but I am inching my way through the story mode.
Sadly, Chadwick Boseman lost his battle against colon cancer. Like most people, I’m sure, we watched Black Panther, and then I tried to play another level of the first Lego Marvel Superheroes game. Then I remembered Walker saved over my 100% completed file, so I ended up just playing a level with Tony and Cap getting Tony’s Iron Man suit back. Just having to redo everything killed my buzz to keep going forward, but if I do a level here and there, I’ll eventually get the game beat again.
I earned my 33rd platinum with Lara Croft Go! It is currently only $2, so well worth your time. I followed a guide and earned it after seven nights, of doing one chapter a night. I preferred it over Hitman Go, but I’m sure that has to do more with me connecting to Tomb Raider more than Hitman. Apparently there is a Deux Ex Go game, but it hasn’t come to PS4 yet. Once it does, and it is $2, I would be tempted to buy it, but that’s probably not enough of an incentive for Square Enix Montreal to port the game.
Hyper Scape, I had attempted to play the game a few weeks ago, and just didn’t click with it. PUGB was announced as a Plus title, and we were getting decent with Fortnite, that I figured I could commit a night or two to at least getting one kill in Hyper Scape. Then I got two kills, in two different games! I killed someone with an assault rifle (my preferred gun in Fortnite), and once I had that trophy, I committed to earning the melee kill trophy, and got that in my very next game. Then I promptly deleted the game. I keep running out of space on the PS4, and really could use an external hard drive.
Ratchet & Crank, VUDU finally had the Ratchet & Crank film on sale for $8, and I immediately bought it. That movie is literally the first hour of the game, and I can only imagine the last 30 minutes of the game. So I played one full level of the game, and on a planet to help Ratchet’s former boss’s brother on a water planet with another story planet waiting for me.
Metal Gear Solid V – Phantom Pain, I finally did enough to earn D-Dog as a companion! Which felt great, until the very next mission required D-Horse, and I haven’t gone back, but that was my main game for like two weeks.
. . .
There is an Essential game sale going on right now and the original 2013 Tomb Raider game is only three dollars, so I bought that immediately. I’m really hoping to make it my next game I play once I have sampled the September games. It is all I think about!
. . .
On August 27, 2020, my mother-in-law, Leslie Brannman, passed away. She was an amazing woman and I could not have had a better mother-in-law. She really was an incredible woman.
I finally own this issue! It was one of five issues that Hastings never received, in a three week period.
Cyclops, Emma and Magneto’s powers are broken. Magik’s are broken, but not in the same way. She has grown stronger. Doctor Strange’s long time foe, Dormammu, has attempted to take over Limbo. Magik has recently transformed into Darkchild.
Issue opens with Illyana, speaking to a second party. The other person recognizes the name, Rasputin. The voice does not recognize Illyana. The voice is . . . Doctor Strange! So she must have gone back to way before she ever joined the team, so prior to the original New Mutants run. Strange is willing to listen to her. I love, so much, that Bendis has paired these two characters.
Illyana narrates the issue. She spends most of the story, as her Darkchild persona. Except, Irving draws her with a giant dose of Dormammu. At least, that’s how I see it.
Dormammu’s resident realm is, the Dark Dimension. Illyana’s big thing with Limbo, is that she takes it for granted. Even after all the times that S’ym has attempted to take it, she is under the impression that all she would have to do, is appear and shut down any rebellion.
I like the idea of Illyana referencing her parents, have we ever dealt with her lost of her parents? I know she was a seven year old (the second time), so the emotions were not the same. Plus, she, herself, died soon after that. She doesn’t have much experience with her oldest brother, Mikhail. I know he was in New Mutants : Truth or Dare, and is responsible for her getting the Legacy Virus, in the first place, but that hasn’t been retreaded either.
Dormammu does have Darkchild, held as a captive.
The Cuckoos had manipulated the other young students, to be brave and courageous.
Dormammu taunts Darkchild. Goldballs, tries his best to defend the realm, unfortunately, Limbo is falling apart, all around them. Darkchild realizes that Limbo isn’t much more than empty space.
This train of thought, leads Darkchild to a plan and she starts to realize it. Her power comes from Limbo, and that was destroying the realm.
That Limbo starts to crumble, gives Scott courage to order the team to press the attack.
Such a fun sight gag there, by Irving, that Phoebe asks Benjamin, if all he does is vaguely resemble the person next to him. As he tries to defend himself, a giant rock falls on his head.
Oh, this is when the Cuckoos were all blondes, so glad we have passed this phase.
Goldballs starts to lose it and starts POINK!ing all over the place.
Darkchild starts to overload, Scott can tell that it isn’t an ideal situation.
There is an house ad for Guardians of the Galaxy 5, by Bendis, Neil Gaiman (mostly in spirit) and Sarah Pichelli. This is after Age of Ultorn, as Angela has left the Spawn portion of the Image Universe, and joined the Marvel Universe.
Magik straight up, absorbed Limbo! That is intense! Which is why it annoyed me so much, that I couldn’t buy this issue. It was a defining moment and I had to read about it, online and in the comics.
Magik teleports the team back home, and they all fall into the snow. Bendis really likes the idea of, at least one person, falling face first into the snow. That would be Goldballs, in this issue. He will have Cyclops and Magneto do it, in two different upcoming faces.
Benjamin isn’t getting up and one of the Cuckoos asks for help. Triage has to head over, even though he doesn’t think he can do it.
In what is left of Limbo (which is massive!) is empty space. Magik is back to her regular self. She thinks about Belasco, and her own origins in Limbo. She must be looking fierce, as Dormammu looks scared. He is on his kneeds and it looks like he is begging for his life. It is nice to see that Magik is on the same level as these other lords of their realms. That is how it should have always been, she is the Queen of Limbo, she should be sitting at those tables. Instead, writers would like to have her combat her Limbo duties, but there is a wealth of story potential there.
Emma walks Triage to heal Benjamin. Tempus says “crikey” which I like to pepper my own speech with. Scott isn’t happy that the students had to go to one of the worst places the X-Men have ever been too. They’ve never really had a good time, in Limbo. Scott wants everyone to start training, again. Faculty and students, alike. I do like Angel and Scott having a conversation. Those two have never really been close.
Goldballs really wants to go home, which he will do, in the next issue. Well, attempt to do.
Magik has come to Strange, to become stronger and to control her powers. Magik has gotten this far, with only the seven years of training that she received from both Belasco and (Limbo) Storm. Which is a long time, but it isn’t like she is studying spells. It has been like, she knows six spells, and has been using them regularly. Those days are over, she is going to become a true magician.
Strange is impress, that Magik has the entirety of Limbo, within her. Anyone else, would have exploded.
Strange quickly pieces it together – well, maybe not too quickly, he was listening to a very interesting story. There is an unspoken question, of why not ask his current self for help. Illyana couldn’t go to the Avengers, which Strange figures out that he is now an Avenger – and he can’t fathom the sequence of events that would make that a reality. Probably because it is still 20 years (our time) into the future.
I do like how Illyana doesn’t want to burden Strange, as she repeats it. It isn’t a burden, this is what he does. He rarely gets a proper student, though we have seen him with a few, over the years.
There is a house ad for World War X, by Brian Wood and Alvaro Martinez, starting in Ultimate Comics X-Men 29. Pretty great storyline, there!
Other titles on sale in June –
A+X 9 – Captain America + Wolverine! Doctor Strange + Gambit!
All New X-Men 12 & 13 – The Uncanny Avengers come to investigate the trouble Mystique caused in the X-Men’s name!
Astonishing X-Men 63 – Iceman takes a frightening turn as global winter settles in
Cable & X-Force 9 & 10 – A showdown between X-Force and the Uncanny Avengers, with Hope caught in the middle
Deadpool 11 & 12 – Deadpool finishes up his soul hunting gig, and has to deal with teh powerful demon at the other end
Gambit 14 – Gambit brings his thieving ways to the land of fairies! Guest starring Pete Wisdom!
Savage Wolverine 6 – Spidey and Elektra and Ninjas, oh my!
Uncanny X-Force 6 & 7 – As old demons return to haunt X-Force, the Fantomex-Psylocke love rhombus explodes!
Uncanny X-Men 7 – X-Men vs Dormammu for the fate of Limbo!
Wolverine 4 & 5 – Hunting season draws to a close, but Logan is still drowning in trouble
Wolverine and the X-Men 31 & 32 – The Hellfire Saga begins as the Hellfire Academy steals students from the Jean Grey School
X-Factor 257 & 258 – The end of X-Factor begins here!
X-Men 2 – The Jean Grey School is on lockdown as Areka attacks!
x-Men Legacy 12 – Legion is determined to take the Red Skull’s mutant cure – but at what cost!
I own the All New X-Men issues, Astonishing X-Men, Uncanny (naturally), the Wolverine and the X-men issues and X-Men 2.
You want to know what would make for a great late Christmas present for me? The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Volume 3!
I have no idea why this doesn’t come out the week before Christmas, that seems like a scheduling mistake.
I found out about this collection by making a ripe fool of myself on twitter. The Mutant Menace (a great Twitter account to follow!), posted their desire for a particular trade, and like a real jerk, I offered up how I’ve been waiting for a trade of mine own, and turns out the trade I want is actually happening!
Marvel is set to release the first Fantastic Four by Slott OHC and even a bloody EMPYRE omnibus of all things… but still no word on any Amazing Spider-Man by Nick Spencer OHCs? pic.twitter.com/o1ytRlUpnD
— The Mutant Menace! BLM ✊🏾🏳️🌈 (@TheMutantMenace) August 10, 2020
Like the Uncanny Omnibus volume 3?
— The Mutant Menace! BLM ✊🏾🏳️🌈 (@TheMutantMenace) August 10, 2020
And from there, I had to look it up!
Seriously, I have been wanting this collection to be a thing for years now! Just the entire Paul Smith run, in a beautiful hardcover. Now it being $175, is a bit much, and I am sure if I hunted around, I could find a store selling it for 50% off or it will eventually drop in price. Even $88 seems a tad much for my budget, but I also have a hard time treating myself to things that I really want.
But for $175, we are getting treated to what I will always consider THE run of Uncanny X-Men! All comics besides one are written by the greatest X-Men writer of all time, Chris Clarmeont!
158 is Rogue vs. Ms. Marvel 2 and aftermath of the Starjammers adventure.
159’s Bill Sienkiewicz’s Dracula issue.
160’s Brent Anderson’s Limbo issue.
So we are getting the entirety of The Brood Saga, which includes handing the torch from the legendary Dave Cockrum, to the living legend, Paul Smith with 165.
166’s, the first appearance of Lockheed!
168’s Kitty’s “Professor X is a Jerk!” issue.
The Morlock Saga!
171’s Walt Simonson Rogue joining the team.
The Japan Adventure!
Ending with 175’s passing of the torch from Smith to John Romita Jr!
Such an amazing run and lord knows I haven’t read 154 through 161 in quite some time.
Plus, that’s just the main title.
We get Annual 6’s Dracula sequel to 159 also by Sienkiewicz.
We get the very fun Scavenger Hunt in Annual 7 by Michael Golden and Bret Blevins, with an army of inkers.
We get X-Men God Loves, Man Kills by Brent Anderson.
Wolverine 1 – 4 by Frank Miller, the very first Wolverine mini series.
Special Edition X-Men, which reprints Giant Size X-Men. This will be the only comic in the collection not written by Chris Claremont as Len Wein had the pleasure of co-creating the second generation of X-Men. The Special does have A Day Like Any Other, by Claremont and Cockrum, wherein Kitty turns 14!
Magik the limited series, which 160 introduces and the limited series provides the full story. Drawn by John Buscema and Ron Frenz for issue three, and Sal Buscema (my favorite of the Buscemas), for the fourth issue.
Special thank you for Marvel Fandom for reminding me of how great these issues really are! They don’t have a handy link to the Omnibus so I had to search all around for the issues. Such a great website and these comics define the X-Men to me.
So this collection is going to look great, flip to any page, and a time tested and well received issue. Such a legendary run, and I really really want this!
If you know who the cover artist for the collection is, please let me know and I can update it as I’m searching around and I see people crediting the interior pencilers (which they should), but I cannot find the cover artist. It is a great cover and I’m happy Lockheed made it to the cover.
Also, apparently this came out in 2016, so I apparently could have had it four years ago. Oops!
Inks Bachalo, Holdredge, Irwin, Mendoza, Orlazaba, Parsons, Townsend & Vey
Colors Studio F’s Antonio Fabela
Lettering VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover Dated June 2006
The First Forsaken, Part One of Three
I own issues 470, 471 and now this issue, because Kitty Pryde’s therapist from University of Chicago – Dr. Maureen Lynsinski, appears in this issue. I now own all ten of her appearances –
She is in all six issues of Mekanix, X-Treme X-Men 25 and those three Uncanny X-Men Issues. I will review these, someday but right now, we have issue 472. My next issue of Uncanny is issue 496, so who knows what happens in the next twenty issues.
Previously, Psylocke is back from the dead. Her insane older brother, Jamie, may have something to do with her resurrection. In Africa, Storm is doing some soul searching. This is after M-Day, and there are some killers that are going around, killing depowered mutants, in Africa.
Rift Valley Province, Northwest Kenya. A goon is about to kill a man, the goon wants the man’s children to join their army of children soldiers. Storm arrives and knocks some sense into the goon. She is running around with a tiger, which is pretty cool. Storm tells the tribe, that she defended, that it may be time to take the fight to the source, but they are worried that would mean war. Storm tells them that they are already at war.
The Xavier Institute, NY. Office of National Emergency, Mobile Operations Command Center. Since this is Post-M-Day, the government (in their brillance) want Sentinels to protect the remaining mutants of the world. These Sentinels, will never actually protect the mutants. The school will be constantly attack and the Sentinels are dealt with, so easily – every single time.
I do like that Valerie Cooper is running the show, she’s always been a great mutant government liaison. Colonel Reyes, the brother of X-Man, Cecilia – is the military representative.
They go around, checking in on the X-Men.
Rachel is in a mental therapy session with Kitty Pryde’s therapist, Dr. Maureen Lysinski. In the previous storyline, the Shi’ar straight killed all of the remaining Greys. It was rather intense! I’m surprised that doesn’t come up, every single time.
Bishop is visiting a wounded, Detective Charlotte Jones – I’m not sure who that is, I imagine someone from his District X days. Reyes hints that Cooper and Bishop have had a relationship – I must have missed that, too.
Cannonball and Husk are aiding the mutant refugees, as the school is housing every mutant that wanted to be safe.
Psylocke and Nightcrawler are in the Danger Room. The power shuts down, which isn’t suppose to happen. On the scene, is Jamie Braddock, who – instead of wearing tighty whities – he has graduated to boxers with gold hearts on them. Jamie takes care of the Sentinels.
Kurt and Rachel, who have plenty of experience against Jamie, are the first wave of attackers.
There is an ad for Marvel Legends, the Build a Figure is for Mojo. Shame the idea for the X-Babies didn’t go through. The action figures are – Baron Zemo (the father, and he has a maskless variant), Longshot (which makes sense), Falcon (with a modern variant), Original Iron Man (with gold variant), Psylocke and original Luke Cage action figure.
Psylocke and Cannonball join the fight but are taken care of. Bishop puts a gun to Jamie’s head, he laughs at the attempt. Bishop was merely the distraction, as Psylocke has used her focused totality of her telepathic powers, to put a psychic sword through Jamie’s head. I miss that she doesn’t talk like that, anymore.
Jamie convinces his sister to put her sword away. There is a bigger threat, that is coming. Uatu, the Watcher, arrives, as this could go horribly wrong.
Jamie explains how he brought Betsy back. Now she is no longer acceptable to being manipulated by beings likes Proteus and Shadow King – which I don’t think writers remember this being the case.
Once Jamie is done speaking, a hand brings him into a portal and Betsy knows that a being that is stronger than her brother – is a serious threat.
I can only imagine that everyone survives and the threat is dealt with.
Thanks to Comic-Con International for hosting their own video!
I love seeing the cast together and having a great time! They filmed this so long ago.
I liked how they had fun with all of the delays, but ideally, we will see this moving on August 28, 2020. I am not sure why they are still holding out for theaters, I guess to be eligible for Oscars?
Towards the end, they reveal the opening scene, which looks super dark to me.
I strained my ears for any hints of Lockheed, and then I strained my eyes during any shown footage, and I could not see the little guy anywhere. I sincerely hope he makes the cut. Just see me an official Lockheed plushie, please!
It really is incredible how this cast just gets more and more famous, and yet, this film cannot just come out.
Anya Taylor-Joy has won me over as Magik already!
They made a Twitter emoji for Magik, #NewMutantsMagik is how you get it to show up.
I tried #NewMutantsLockheed, but it did not work, which would have been a fun treat.
I gave both games we received for August through the PS+ program. I played both for a night each.
I did not get that far in Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered. I did play it on Normal difficulty, and I got the point in the fifth mission where I am by myself. Which I really like playing Call of Duty games with the squad. Once I am by myself, my lack of skill is very well obvious. I choose to skip the Russian level, the game provides plenty of warnings about skipping it, and from what I looked up online, it does seem like something I rather not experience myself.
Fall Guys, though, was super fun. I played during the very first night of release. I only had two matches where I was disconnected from the server. I stayed up like 30 more minutes than I should have, but I really wanted to reach level 6. The game is super fun and the individual games are easy to learn. I do prefer the ones where I am playing solo, and not as part of the team. The team challenges, I just feel like I am being carried by the team, or I am barely contributing to the team.
I resisted buying the DLC with the costumes and some game credits, it was $10, but I like the idea of just wearing what I earn myself from the game.
Once they add split screen playability, I will probably go back, or if I read they have turtle costumes, I’ll dedicate some time to playing it, but I definitely enjoyed myself and who knows, I might go back. I have been making a new cycle of games to play, and my list is pretty deep.
. . .
I finally reached player level 20!
It would have been so much nicer on the eyes, if I had earned it with my 3333rd trophy, but that’s okay.
. . .
I also earned my 32nd Platinum trophy with The Council!
I really enjoyed the game. The game does take an odd left turn toward the end of Episode 4. Then it seemed to get back into its great historical fiction in Episode 5, but then it recommitted to the twist.
Not to spoil anything, but I made the poor decision to not to listen to my mother, and regret the ending I earned. Playing Episode 1 again, the game really does a great job of making a point to listening to Louis’ mother. So it really is on me that I chose to quit listening to her late into the game.
I really was loving the game, but some of the shine came off with the twist. It really reminded me of how much I was enjoying Dean Knootz’s Sole Survivor. I was really enjoying the mystery of it all, and then it took this science fiction twist that I was not expecting. Except, apparently, that is Knootz’s style, it that again was on me for not doing my research on the author. So only I would have found that to be a twist. But at the time, it just felt like a cheat.
I don’t feel cheated with The Council, but I was so enjoying the fictional history element of the story and it was a shame to see it go away.
I really liked the story base game with RPG elements, and I hope other company’s borrow the idea for their own games.
. . .
My next game I am hoping to focus on is Uncharted 4. That was my plan until Lego The Hobbit went on sale for six dollars, so I bought that along with the four DLC (two dollars each), for a total of $14. So I will attempt to play that first level tonight, and then I will complete Chapter 9 of Uncharted 4.
Typing about Lego games, Walker Dennis earned his second platinum! He stuck with it and earned the platinum for Lego Dimensions. We did not have to grind the puzzles like I was worried we were. His last trophy for the searching for a relic puzzle, but earned it during the final mission. I thought we were going to have to grind the Portal level of the main story, but we did not have to do that.
Though we are going to have to grind the game, as Walker really wants to have the dance party mode unlocked, and we need 480 gold bricks and we barely have 215 right now. I really thought we were going to earned it by beating the game, but it was not that easy. So we will keep playing and figure it out.
My plan for us is to play the 80s Ghostbusters level, Mission Impossible Level, and the Goonies Level, that way, he will have all of the trophies for the game that I have, and then we will tackle Fantastic Beasts’ six levels, and that should give us a slew of gold bricks. From there, who knows how we will tackle it. I am tempted to replay all of the story missions to gather up minikits, but mostly to rescue people, as those would be easy to earn gold bricks, and we will get closer to earning all minikits in the game. But we will have to play the game loads more, so that should be a fun time together.
Each hub world has around 28 gold bricks, so really, we just have to play five of those to earn 20 gold bricks each, and that will give us 100 gold bricks, so it is really only a matter of focusing and committing to the game.
I own issue 449 and my next issue is 455, so the is the only chapter I own of this storyline.
I’m a fan of whenever a recap page spotlights 129, they do it here – as it is Emma’s first appearance. Of course, to me, it will always be Kitty Pryde’s first appearance but Emma is in this issue as a co-star, so it makes sense. Kitty shows up as an illusion, so that’s why I own this issue. More on that, below.
Issue 451, apparently X23 is suppose to be 15 years old, she sure doesn’t get drawn like a 15 year old! Plus, that makes me even sadder that she was a fourteen or fifteen year old prostitute.
Last issue ended with Sage removing her X-Uniform, and donning her old Hellfire Club – as she disappears into the Hellfire Club’s 5th Avenue Location. Just down the street from Avengers Mansion.
This issue opens with The X-Men (Nightcrawler, Storm, Bishop and Rachel) standing in front of the abandoned Hellfire Club. It hasn’t been used, in forever. Wolverine comes out of a sewer, all of the tunnels leanding into the Club have also been shut down.
There is an ad for the 2 Disc DVD set for Spider-Man 2, probably still my favorite Spider-Film.
Also joining them, is Emma Frost! Taking time away from her Head-Mistress duties at the Xavier Institute. An X-Man is in danger, so Emma wants to help. Rachel is a real jerk to her. Storm tells Rachel to be behave. Emma reveals a secret teleportation portal, that is actually part of the next door building, but the Club uses it.
The team teleports away, while Emma and Rachel continue on. Rachel accuses Emma of betrayal, which is insane to me! Emma has been full fledged X-Man, for over four years – at this point. And that’s since Morrison’s reign of the title. She was with Generation X for even longer! She’s an ally.
Rachel, being a brat, tries to fight Emma on the astral plane. Emma, being more experience, makes short work of Rachel. There are some decent blows but Emma keeps being the clear winner. She is also wittier.
There is an ad for Smallville Season Three, which was great, and X-Men / Fantastic Four, which was not – four X-Men get bombarded with cosmic rays, I’m surprised it took this long to tell that story.
Rachel tries to take a cheap shot by turning Emma super fat. Now no one will ever lover her. Instead, mental Cyclops still loves Emma and this breaks Rachel’s heart.
Look how hard Kitty is laughing there! Oh, if only Claremont got to use Kitty in a proper way, with his third return to Uncanny.
Rachel decides to act her age, and work with Emma.
Hong Kong. Emma dressed in a modest White Queen style outfit and Rachel is in a similar styled outfit. Emma turns Rachel invisible, so she can explore. Emma runs into Courtney Ross, who is now the White Queen Elect. Viper is standing behind Courtney, Ponsor could have made her hair greener but it is a Claremont comic, so the dialogue will never fail.
This section of the comic ends with Selene, who is the mastermind of the assault, ambushing Rachel. They have a long history together, ever since Uncanny 189, which was twenty years ago, at this point. I wonder if Claremont purposely did that, I doubt it but he does plan on the super long term.
Meanwhile, the final two pages have the rest of team in a sewer. Someone shoots the X-Men, and we see that it is Bishop with the smoking gun and Wolverine is about to fight him.
November 2004 X-Men Titles
Uncanny X-Men 452 – Chris Claremont and guest artist Andy Park bring you a new tale of the infamous Hellfire Club!
Exiles 54 – The Exiles versus . . . a danish?!
Alpha Flight 9 – The past is our future and the future is now as Alpha Flight jumps the time stream to stop the death of an old ally!
Gambit 4- An unexpected tragedy!
X-Men The End 5 – The final story of the X-Men continues!
Starjammers 6 – The exciting conclusion!
Sabretooth 3 – The fur flies as Sabretooth takes on Sasquatch!
District X 7 – Brand new story arc! Bishop must solve the mystery of a terror under the streets!
X-Force 4 – Guest starring, Deadpool!
Emma Frost 17 – A stunning revelation about Emma’s new best friend!
X-Men 164 – The mind-bending conclusion to the battle with the new Brotherhood of Mutants!
New X-Men 7 – Brand new story arc! Could the Xavier Institute be . . . . haunted?!
Rogue 5 – The truth about the mysterious new man in Rogue’s life is revealed!
Cable / Deadpool 9 – The Six Pack become a thorn in everyone’s side!
Jubilee 3 – Jubilee is caught between a rock, a hard place and rival LA gangs!
Wolverine 22 – The awesomeness continues with Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.
Excalibur 7 – Professor X and his team take on Dark Beast!
Mystique 21 – Crosses and double crosses are the order of the day . . . so will Mystique end up on top?
Nightcrawler 3 – Kurt and Amanda make a very disturbing discovery . . . but will it be too late?
Astonishing X-Men 7 – First isue of a new story arc from Whedon and Cassaday!
For issue 449’s review, I thought I was commenting on New Excalibur, this volume of Excalibur, I skipped except for issue 14, that had Kitty’s father in a flashback, he fought in the same war with Xavier and Magneto. Of course he did! Millar / JRJR’s Wolverine was awesome! Astonishing’s Danger storyline, may be the weaker of the four.
X-Mail, letters from – Erin, Alissa Groff and Marquelon Sigler of Birmingham, Alabama.
The August 2020 Free PS Plus Games are going to be :
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered and Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout!
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered (a clunky title, but it explains everything you need to know) was released only back in March 2020, and already a free game.
Fall Guys Ultimate Knockout is following Rocket League’s success by having its launch be part of the PS+ initiative. The game is very much inspired by Takeshi’s Castle, like a very colorful and crowded version of TBS’ Wipeout.
I’m pretty excited to try these games out. CoD MW2 CR comes out today, Tuesday, July 28, and Fall Guys launches on August 4. Hence why the announcement came early. I’m going to play Modern Warfare 2 on Recruit difficulty and try to get as far as I can in a night. Fall Guys, I’m really hoping has couch co-op as I think Walker Dennis will love playing it as well.
. . .
PS Prices
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered is currently a $20 game, and has gone as low as $15 in the past.
Fall Guys has no previous pricing, and I supposed we won’t know what it retails at until September, so I will have to remember to recalculate the running total for the October announcement as the game would still be free by the time the September games are announced.
Our current running total is $165 plus Call of Duty WWII Digital Edition, and I would add Fall Guys, but we’ll know the price of the game eventually. So adding $15, our new total is $180. We’re almost at $200 and not even into the fourth quarter of the year.
Since CoDMWCR is only the campaign, it was not given any DLC.
. . .
Reddit reactions have mostly been comments about how this is the fastest turnaround for a game’s release to being a Plus title ever, at four months. People seem to be really excited for Fall Guys, so that’s nice. We will all be getting in on the game at the ground floor, and the lobbies should be super full.
I stayed up a little too late to beat Rise of the Tomb Raider! Such an amazing game! I got to the last campfire and it said there was no turning back from this point and it was still around 11:45pm, so I figure I could give it another 30 minutes, at the most. Then I woke up around 2am this morning with mega heart burn, and that usually puts me in a wide awake frame of mind, so I finished two tombs, earning the Tomb Raider trophy, and that felt pretty good too. I may try to buy those last two guns in the Supply Shack, but first I need like 50 more coins, and I might finally get back to The Council. Just in time for one of our PS+ titles to come along too. So that all timed out pretty nicely. If either Tomb Raider came (Shadow or 2013) goes on sale below $10, I’m buying those games, no matter what! I had such a great time!
Though I do worry that Rise may have perfected any kinks that 2013 had, but Shadow should be everything that was great in Rise, but more of it, right?
. . .
Walker Dennis has gotten really into Lego Dimensions again. He’s also gotten into Doctor Who, right when it can’t be found anywhere besides HBO MAX. Which I really wish Roku would just make a deal with HBO Max and make it so we can watch the app not on my phone but on our actual TV. Philo no longer has Doctor Who either and Amazon Prime Video has BritBox, but that’s an extra $7 a month that I rather not spend.
I bought Walker another Doctor Who disc, so once it comes in, we can have two Doctors on screen at one time, so that should make him pretty happy. He’s been pretty obsessed with watching Twice Upon a Time where the First and Twelve Doctors meet. I overrode the Simpsons TV toy tag so we already have two TARDISes (?).
If we play a level a night, we should be able to earn Walker his second Platinum, but sometimes our nights gets away from us, but it would be fun to earn that trophy with how much he loves that game. We have to finish five levels and then do 25 puzzles of each type : Searching, Painting, and Weather Powers, and I would have sworn we have done the work for those, but those are the three I’m concern we will have to keep completing the proper Portal 2 level in the main game. But hopefully we earn one of those during the next five levels, as I’m concern the game is glitched, but 25 does seem like a lot, so we must be close.
