Extra Appreciation and an Update

I have the best donors ever!

That's right, I'm lookin' at you guys again! After posting my Donor Appreciation post on Wednesday, I also reached out looking for (a) some donations, and (b) some team members. My hospital (Children's National) issued a challenge to raise $100 and recruit 3 people by the 30th. And while I haven't had anyone successfully join the team, you guys did donate another $286 in the span of 24 hours. That is seriously impressive, and I'm very grateful for it!

This puts my total for the year at $651, which is double what I am usually at in August.

The vast majority of the donations have been coming from members of my kinship in Lord of the Rings Online, so I am seriously considering making a special reward for ASF if I meet a stretch goal of $1200 (because the game has been going for 12 years and is the reason I started participating in Extra Life to begin with). If you're in ASF, please feel free to comment with suggestions! Last year I was able to give away gifts of LOTRO Points, and I could probably request codes for that again -- but I also think you guys deserve something special!


In other news, I'm sure you've noticed I haven't done much with my new computer yet. I haven't gotten around to getting my old hard drive set up with the dock or installed the CD drive yet. My husband and I have been busy with a lot of stuff in the last few weeks! That said, here are some by-the-end-of-September promises I'm going to make (and do my best to keep):

• Live-Tweet Event of the first Twilight movie (recap blog for the rest) 
• 2018 Milestone blog about Dead Mountaineer's Hotel
• 2018 Milestone blog about a really terrible book I read

If I'm lucky, I'll get a few more things done, because pretty soon I'll have to start working on the 2019 Milestones! I also have a new static page here on my blog that is not-quite-finished, but you can go take a look at it: a calendar, of a sort.

Thank you again to those of you who are donating every year (and some more than once)! I couldn't do this without you, and I appreciate the help you give me in doing this #ForTheKids.

Donor Appreciation 2019, Round 1

These six donors have helped me accomplish 1/3 of my goal for the year!

Many thanks to:

• Thaeodin

• Edward M.

• My mom

• Anonymous (I know who you are!)

• "One of Many"

• Galadphen

This thank-you goes out for every donor who donates at least $5 on my donation page. Other incentives are available the more a person donates #ForTheKids, including choosing content for the blog, Amazon gift card drawings, and custom artwork by yours truly.

Building a New PC, Part 3

This is the last part! This is where you see the PC come together! (Mostly.)

This past Friday was the night my husband and I planned to sit down and put my new PC together. I had everything except a disc drive (which arrived in the mail yesterday -- see below), and we were pretty confident we knew what to do. I anticipated a couple hours. I did not anticipate FOUR. I got a little snappish at times because I was already super tired from a long day of work, which was also the worst day of the month at my workplace. Despite that, my husband was awesome at helping me through the whole thing. I mean, we didn't murder each other, so I can only assume our marriage is that much stronger after this experience. Right?

This is just the empty tower we started with. Cougar gets bonus points for sending me a decal sticker with it. I like stickers.  The tempered glass side is a dark tint, but you can still see everything through it. The mesh coverings on the front and top are also spaced enough that you can see into the tower that way also -- and provide good places to add fans in the future if I want to overclock (which this build has the capacity to do -- it's built in and expected, in fact!).

This is the tower with both sides removed. Super empty, but very spacious! This tower definitely gives you a lot of room to work with if I want to upgrade later -- and it also provides a lot of good air flow to keep the components cool.

Yep. I got attached to my PC super fast. This is an anti-static wristband that has a metal disc under the band that lays against your skin, and there is an insulated wire that ends in a metal clip that you attach to a metal part of the tower as you're working. This prevents static from building up and discharging on any of the sensitive components. Not a good idea to zap your motherboard before you even get to use your PC!

Let there be light! We clearly didn't have enough light where we were working, so my husband grabbed a lamp to help out. This is me installing the motherboard. Very important step before doing this is checking out the screws that come with your tower. Make sure you have offset screws in the right places for your motherboard so it aligns with its back plate on the back of the tower and no part of it will be susceptible to bending in bad places. There is a fair bit of pressure when installing the motherboard, hence my left hand pushing it against the back plate so the offsets line up with the matching holes of the motherboard. Also: God bless the person who invented magnet-tipped tools. Here you can also see a better picture of the anti-static wristband.

A step right after this which I didn't take a picture of was installing the CPU chip into the motherboard. See that silver square? There's a lever that lifts up. I have an AMD Ryzen CPU, so it was super easy to install. The CPU itself has pins on the back, and they fit down into matching holes on the motherboard only one way, so there's no misalignment possible, and then you just secure the level back down. I wish the entire build process had been that easy!

"Uh, snark? What's with the arrows and stuff on this pic?" I'm glad you asked, imaginary reader!

The copper thing in the top right (which you can see more of in the previous picture) is the heat sink/CPU fan. A step that I didn't take pictures of, because it was messy, was me swabbing q-tips with rubbing alcohol on that flat copper surface to remove the thick square of pre-applied thermal paste. This is a good thing to do if you are installing your own or replacing one. The pre-applied thermal paste is always too thick, and too much is as bad as too little. The purpose is to have a smooth heat transfer. Too much and that transfer isn't going to be very good.

So! That little tube in my hand is Arctic Silver -- thermal paste my husband recommended I buy. It costs $6-ish or so, and will only get used once, and you'll never use the whole tube unless you're building multiple computers at the same time. But the quality is worth it. The thermal paste gets applied directly to the CPU (that silver square). It should be placed right in the middle, and should be between the size of a grain of rice and a pea. Since I had a whole tube at my disposal, I did a few test squirts on to scrap cardboard first so I'd get a feel for the flow and size.

The heat sink/fan then gets pressed down onto the CPU, and there are brackets (to the left and right of that silver square in the picture) that give you a place to clamp it down onto the motherboard. Some heat sinks/fans require a back plate to be attached to the back side of the motherboard, but that thankfully wasn't the case for mine (we checked before installing the motherboard).

Not shown is the struggle we had getting the hard drive installed. The SSD just got screwed in. The hard drive was a tight fit into a tray which then didn't want to go back into its slot. This is one of the times when I snapped at my husband because I just knew the drive attached to the tray a certain way and he was trying to suggest another, but then neither option was working. In the end, I had to bend the plastic tray to get two little prongs to slide into holes on the hard drive, and then had to find just the right way to push the tray back into place. If that hard drive ever goes bad, I'll have to put a new one in the second tray -- because that first one isn't coming back out without a crowbar and a whole can of WD-40. Screw that tray. (Literally -- we put in a screw to keep it from moving once it was installed.)  But this picture here is showing that the fan was installed, and also that we got all the little front panel plugs put in the right places on the motherboard (no easy task).

Here you can see my nifty tool kit I acquired for the purpose of building my PC which will also serve well for repairs. The anti-static wristband came with this kit, as well as a host of other tools we (thankfully) didn't need during the build process. You can get your own from Amazon for $20.   Also shown here is the power supply with all the cables I will need for my components. I used every single plug option on there. One SATA power cable goes to both the hard drive and SSD, and I have a second SATA power cable in reserve for the soon-to-be-installed disc drive. Since the power supply is in the small "basement" of my tower and is closed off from the rest of the interior of the case, I made sure I wasn't going to need to plug in any cables after the fact -- and still managed to have to finagle the VGA cable in for the graphics card later in the process. The fan on the unit faces downward and blows out another grid covering underneath the tower, so none of the heat is impacting the rest of my components above it -- this was one of the reasons the tower was recommended for the build I chose.

After getting everything plugged in, the fun part of cable management came up. The back side of the case that closes entirely is where all the cables run to the power supply, and it's where cables go for the drives, and where the front panel cables get routed to stay out of the way. The last thing you want is for cables to be everywhere or touching parts of the motherboard, graphics card, or fans. So, I happily sat down in another chair after un-tethering myself and let my husband help out by organizing the cables and using ties to keep them neat. I was so tired at this point that I certainly wasn't going to refuse assistance! (Compliment his beard. He'll like that.)

After getting the cables situated, the last thing we put in was the dual-slot graphics card. It's easily the biggest graphics card I've ever owned, and when we got it installed we both prayed we'd never have to go back in to do anything with the front panel plugs because they are now impossible to get to. With that bad boy installed and its cables secured, we closed the tower up with both side panels, consolidated all the empty cardboard boxes and instruction manuals, and went to bed. Seriously. We had started this around 8 pm and it was well after midnight at this point. I had even neglected to eat dinner and let a banana sustain me through the process. (Probably not the wisest decision I ever made.)

The next morning...

The next day after we were done with our early morning tasks (mostly food), we tested plugs in the bedroom to make sure they weren't the cause for my Dell's power failure. Once we knew those were good, we hooked up everything to the new PC and hit the power button.

It worked on the first try! The motherboard's BIOS screen came up and it was recognizing all of the components. The fans were working, and everything on the front panel of the tower was working as well (which was the most impressive part to me, since those tiny little plugs are so poorly labeled and the motherboard manual is as clear as mud). So we plugged in the flash drive with Windows 10 on it and got the installation going. (If you're wondering, it's the Education version, not Home or Pro.) Took less than 20 minutes to get Windows installed and running, and then we were off to the races!

Important to note: The OS is on the SSD, and EVERYTHING else is on the hard drive. This means that this PC boots up SUPER FAST and will run nice and smooth.

I worked on installing my antivirus. My preference that has lasted me several years without fail is the free version of Avira -- I just uninstall the Opera browser, Phantom VPN, System Speedup, and Safe Shopping. They aren't necessary features, and I prefer using Chrome as my browser. I also installed Steam and worked on customizing my desktop and Windows experience. I renamed my computer Sharp Soul after the sentient sword of my RP/fictional character, Pompilidara. 

To my husband's credit, he spent a LOT of time on Saturday trying to get Steam folders moved over to my new PC. He had downloaded games for me onto his laptop, and he tried valiantly to get network sharing set up -- but it didn't work for some reason. We ended up resorting to flash drives, and at one point he had three different transfers happening.

But for whatever reason, Steam on my PC wasn't recognizing the full game files and wanted to redownload everything. No good when we have a set amount of data each month. So my husband did some research and discovered that we also had to move over some app manifest files before running Steam. And that worked! We haven't finished moving all of the games over, but I have fired up several of them and they play beautifully. Lord of the Rings Online with ultra settings and their new 64-bit client is absolutely stunning. There's no delay or lag when using combos in Remember Me. Fights finish faster because there's no visual lag in The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing. 

So what's next?

I still have to go in and install this lovely ASUS drive. It is for CD and DVD, which is all I really need it for. For $20 and being one of the brands I trust the most, it was a good purchase. The installation will be a breeze: We pop out the front panel and slide it in. It then gets some screws. Then it's a matter of plugging in that extra SATA power cable I made sure to have, and attaching a SATA cable between it and the motherboard (which has 2 empty SATA connections). The SATA cable for the motherboard is going to be a repurposed cable swiped from my old computer because I have to take the hard drive out of it still.

The old hard drive is going to get plugged into this Sabrent dock I purchased for $22. I have, in the past, used a converter cable to access information from old hard drives to move it to new computers, and that's what I had intended to do this time. But you know what? The cable was the same cost as this dock, and the dock is more secure. The dock also makes the hard drive more portable should I need or want to use it as an external storage option. It will take me time to move files over from this hard drive because I want to organize my music, Photoshop, font, writing, and game files the way they deserve to be organized.

If you followed me through this adventure, thanks for tagging along! I hope you learned something or were entertained. Building your own PC is a worthwhile investment, even if you feel a bit broke afterwards, and I'm looking forward to all the things I will now be able to do.

Also, I am currently at $360 for Extra Life. At $400 I will have to put in some hours in Monster Hunter World until I reach hunter rank 5. If you want to help the sick kids who rely on me to be their hero, please consider donating the $40 and make a difference in the lives of the kids and their families! Click the image below to visit my Extra Life page.

Building a New PC, Part 2

This is the part where I share badly-taken pictures of my components.

It took a little extra time for everything to arrive at my doorstep because of a bad pick/sort on behalf of the USPS and the ensuing rerouting of one item. I did not pull the components out of their packaging for pictures because I didn't want to risk compromising anything before I'm ready to put it all together. So, some pictures are just product pictures from the internet.

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Processor

XFX Radeon RX 590 Fatboy - 1580MHz, OC+, 8GB

Patriot Elite VIPER 4 16GB Series 3000MHz

Seagate BarraCuda 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 1TB

Kingston 240GB A400 SSD

EVGA 550W Bronze Fully Modular PSU

MSI Performance Gaming B450M PRO M2 Micro-ATX Motherboard

Cougar MX330 Mid Tower Case

The side of the tower is glass, so the processor's LED cooler is going to look awesome. I've never had a computer with glowy parts before! The lower portion of the tower has a cover that hides the power supply, and the front/top panels allow for the installment of additional fans. I have ordered an optical drive as well, but it won't arrive until next week (Why, Amazon? It's Prime!).

The plan goes something along the lines of my husband and I watching some how-to videos tonight to make sure we're on the same page and ready to do this. He has taught actual classes on how to build a computer, but not put one together himself. I have been in sponge mode the last few weeks, making sure I know what to do to the best of my intellectual ability. Tomorrow night is when we plan to piece it all together. If we are successful, we will see the motherboard's BIOS when we start it up and can then proceed to install Windows 10 Education.

From there, I can use a flash drive to transfer some Steam files (after installing Steam, of course), and I'll be ready to play games to my heart's content. When the optical drive shows up, it will be an easy additional installation and then I'll be able to play my games that are on CD and DVD. There is also a hard drive dock on the way so I can safely, easily, and leisurely retrieve the files on my old hard drive (and maybe organize them like they deserve to be!) -- and then use that hard drive as a good back-up location.

One of the things I will enjoy doing is playing an assortment of games to get a feel for the new PC's limits and to bask in the 9-years-newer performance. Games I will transfer over from my old hard drive or had my husband download for me:

• The Lord of the Rings Online
• RIFT
• Draugen
• The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut
• MIND: Path to Thalamus
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• Remember Me
• Saurian
• Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter
• Last Day of June
• Pillars of Eternity

What games would you run on a new computer? Which components would you change out for something different? Let me know in the comments!

Testing... Webhooks

This is a test. A test of my reading comprehension, mostly... but also of my application competency.

If successful, a notification will auto-post in my Discord's #they-set-us-up-the-blog channel that the Gamer Reverie Blog has a new post. So, you know, feel free to disregard this post. It does not have any juicy content about games, Extra Life, or my soon-to-be-built PC. Sorry, not sorry.

(But if you're in the ASF kinship, the success of this test means I can do similar things for the First Age Fun server. So swish your pom-poms for me!)

-snarkqueen

Building a New PC, Part 1

After serving me well for 9 years, I decided to put my Dell Studio XPS out to pasture when the power supply gave out. Now I embark on a most exciting adventure: building my own PC!

I open with this caveat: I have never built my own PC before. I have been a PC gamer for over a decade, however, and when you try to keep your machine up to par to play the newest games, you tend to learn a few things. With some decent knowledge already in my head, I decided to go looking for information on how to build my own PC. Why? As any computer savvy person will tell you, you will save a lot of money by building your own computer as long as you do it right -- and you have the luxury of deciding what goes into it while avoiding anything unnecessary like cheap parts or bloatware. (See? I told you I knew a few things.)

After some web surfing, I washed up on this site which does a really great job of walking through the different essential components of a computer, and then offering builds that meet specific budgets. I can also tell you, after having looked at this site for a couple months, that they update the builds on a regular basis to make sure you're looking at the best possible options that fit the given price range.

Knowing what I wanted the PC to be able to handle, and knowing what I'd be able to afford, I set my sights on the $700 build and expected to pay more by the time I had everything I wanted and needed. The builds provided on the site don't include any CD drives or extra fans or general peripherals, nor do they include costs for any warranties you may want to invest in. If I've already lost you, the site also provides a ranked list of their favorite PC builders who will put together a computer for you. For the rest of you, I hope you'll enjoy this journey with me!

I have been sitting on some Amazon gift card money since Christmas (at one point, I almost spent $100 on Tolkien books, but I talked myself out of it -- I am now glad that I did!), and have been putting away extra money into a separate bank account for longer than that. This meant I had a good chunk of change to invest in my components, and as luck would have it -- Prime day was coming.

The Build List

• AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Processor
• XFX Radeon RX 590 Fatboy - 1580MHz, OC+, 8GB
• Patriot Elite VIPER 4 16GB Series 3000MHz
• Seagate BarraCuda 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive 1TB
• Kingston 240GB A400 SSD
• EVGA 550W Bronze Fully Modular PSU
• MSI Performance Gaming B450M PRO M2 Micro-ATX Motherboard
• Cougar MX330 Mid Tower Case

After having my husband OK the build's list of components (he is awesome and I love him to pieces for supporting me in doing this!), I set about finding the best options between Amazon and Newegg. If you have the option, I recommend always going with Newegg. I have always had phenomenal service and products from them. I currently use an ASUS monitor that came from them, and my Dell had a lovely little factory overclocked graphics card that made you think I'd done more than change out the graphics card and RAM! The best benefit of Newegg is that they back the quality of their products and offer warranties you won't likely find when purchasing from Amazon.

That said, sometimes there are exceptions on Amazon and it's good to look for what is going to work best for you. A good example was the Ryzen processor in this build -- it was $200 on Amazon, but $450 on Newegg. At the same time, the case was going to take a full month to ship from Amazon even though it was in stock (something about its weight), but ships immediately from Newegg.

I ended up getting my processor, power supply, thermal paste and a tool kit (with anti-static wristband) from Amazon. Everything else was ordered from Newegg, and most of it had 3- or 4-year warranties I was able to add on. I have also since additionally ordered a new gaming mouse from Amazon because my Logitech G400s has lost the functionality of its scroll wheel sensor. And, you know, Prime day deal on a newer Logitech mouse.

I'm not entirely sure what cables come with which components, so that will be another shopping list after the first round of packages arrive. I also plan on purchasing a CD drive, and I will (sadly) be leaving behind my beloved Windows 7 for Windows 10. I know if I want to get the most out of my new build that I'll want the most recent OS. And hey, at least it isn't the train wreck that was Windows 8... Then there's getting an adapter cable to access my old hard drive...

Look for Part 2 of this series when I show off my components like a happy kid on Christmas Day! Until then...

2018 Milestone: Letting It Go for $700

If you know me in any capacity, you know that I hate the movie Frozen. I have, in past years, done things like play the entire soundtrack in the game Melody's Escape. For 2018, I upped the ante and said I would sing "Let It Go" if I reached $700.

This is the part where I tell you I did no such thing.

Not because I don't care about your donations, but because I found something that was way worse and still in theme. Long story short, one of the places my husband and I took our church youth last month was the WonderWorks museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. They have a little nook in the visual arts/illusions corner of the building where they will take a picture of you and edit it into a famous picture or personality.

I will forever hate myself for sharing this on the internet, but I think this more than fulfills my obligation. (And I paid a good chunk of change to get it, so I'm not even sorry you aren't getting a recording of me singing!)

It's horrible, I know. You're welcome. 

If you want to see more things like this, to laugh at my expense, please consider becoming my patron on Patreon and/or making a donation on my Extra Life page!

My Desktop PC is Down

Houston, we have a problem!

Alright, to be fair, it's not as bad as the picture makes it out to be -- but that got your attention, didn't it? At least I didn't use the headline: "Can your PC spontaneously combust? Click here to find out!"

Here's the scoop: My desktop PC stopped working on Thursday. I am pretty sure that it's my power supply since the little light on the back of it doesn't light up. However, if it got a good zap it may have taken my motherboard with it.

How I am writing this: I am currently using my husband's gaming laptop hooked up to my keyboard, mouse and monitor (because my husband is awesome). He was even kind enough to install my core games for me -- LOTRO, RIFT and Town of Salem.

My gameplan: I could see about getting a power supply for my 9-year-old computer. Or I could invest in a new build to last me for the next 9 years. I am leaning towards the latter since I happen to have funds saved up, as well as some gift card money. (Becoming my patron on Patreon would help!)

Plans for the blog: Since I can still play LOTRO and RIFT, I will still have some regular content. I do also have Dead Mountaineer's Hotel installed so I can take care of that incentive from last year, and there are several other incentives I can take care of, too.

But never fear! Even if I didn't have a backup computer to use for games, I'd manage to take pictures of me learning to play The Lord of the Rings Card Game and blog about that!

Reactions to 20 Things from E3

This is not a full review of E3. There are plenty of those.
This is just a list of 20 things I found interesting!

I typically don't sit down and write anything about E3 in this blog for several reasons. First, you can read about pretty much every aspect of E3 from a lot of different gaming news sources, and I'm not likely to say anything mind-blowing in comparison. Trust me, they've beaten me to the punch. Second, I don't want to write about a lot of the titles they mention at E3 because they simply don't interest me. I have a select set of interests from this year's E3, and those are the ones I'm going to talk about here. For all other E3 titles, I recommend reading from the big shots like Kotaku, Polygon, Rock Paper Shotgun, or whatever other gaming news site you prefer.

#20: Final Fantasy VII Remake

Let me be clear: I never played Final Fantasy VII. My first Final Fantasy game was X (and then XV), and I have no regrets about that. But when you have had nothing but relationships with gamers in your life, you're going to pick up a lot about other games -- and boy did I hear plenty about FF VII. When people mention Final Fantasy, and they aren't talking about the most current titles, it's VII that gets all the attention. People talk about Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, and of course... Sephiroth. I know the plot even though I've never played the game, but you can bet I'll want to play this remake! 

Release date: March 2020

#19: Microsoft's Acquisition of Double Fine

Yes, my friends -- our beloved Double Fine is now a subsidiary of the monster known as Microsoft. They say that the studio gets to keep all of its freedom in its creative process and will benefit from Microsoft's resources for publishing and advertising... but I can't help being a little skeptical. I want this to mean we might get some epic future titles like Costume Quest Unlimited (a girl can dream), but likely not.

#18: Project Scarlett

I don't have much to say about this one. It's Xbox, so I don't have much interest in it -- I just happened to think the name was interesting. What does it mean? Does it even matter since this future console is supposedly going to have the same specs as the next PlayStation console? Frankly, Project Scarlett... I don't give a darn gosh heck.

#17: Elden Ring

Here's where some of you may decide to stop reading my blog. I don't like Game of Thrones. I am also not a fan of George R. R. Martin. His work is not that great compared to many other fantasy authors. However, I do think he's capable of building a world and a story -- and I think that skill utilized in tandem with the near-legendary skills of Hidetaka Miyazaki will make something noteworthy for gamers, if not epic. (And if you don't know who Hidetaka is, he's the genius at FromSoftware who directed Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Sekiro.) I'll be waiting to see more trailers and progress on this before I get too excited... mostly.

Release date: Unknown

#16: Phantasy Star Online 2

If you've never had the pleasure of playing a Phantasy Star game, then I feel very sorry for you. My first glimpse into the series was on a friend's GameCube back in 2003, and I was fascinated by the world I saw in Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II. I revisited the series when I had my own PS2 and played a lot of hours in Phantasy Star Universe. It's a great series, and I'm hoping my computer can play it when it reaches us gamers here in the west.

Going international in Spring 2020

#15: Apex Legends - Season 2

Naw, I don't play Apex. But I have spent a lot of late night hours watching my husband play. It's fast, unforgiving, and hilarious to watch. So when I caught that they announced season 2, I paid attention. There's a new Legend being added to the roster, but I don't know quite enough of the game to know if it's a good one or not. Her name is Wattson, and I understand that she has electrical abilities. All I do know is that my first glance at a small screenshot of her made me think she was a Twi'lek from Star Wars. Girl, that hood doesn't do you any favors.

Season 2 begins on July 2nd

#14: The Last Remnant Remastered

This is another awesome title that I never saw get very much attention despite being 10 years old. Not only have I played a good chunk of it, but I spent quite a while watching a friend stream it while they gushed about how much I'd enjoy it (looking at you, Stickman). They weren't wrong. The story hooks you pretty hard, and it's an adventurous RPG at its core with some unique races and characters. It was removed from the Steam store last fall, though remained playable by those who owned it. A PS4 version was released last December, and a few days ago it was released for the Nintendo Switch. I'd like to see a remastered version return to PC, but I won't hold my breath!

#13: Code Vein

I'm following the development of this title for my husband more than anything else, though watching the trailer for it is pretty entertaining. I'm not entirely sold on the style, but... doesn't it look like a lot of fun? The release date for this game has been pushed back several times now, and I wouldn't be surprised if they push it back again closer to the new date. 

Release date: September 27, 2019

#12: Cyberpunk 2077

I freely admit that I completely dismissed this title when I first heard about it a year ago at the 2018 E3 (though it was officially announced back in 2013). It looked pretty enough since it was being done by CD Projekt Red (The Witcher peeps), but I've never been that big on sci-fi things. And then... then the trailer from this year's E3 happened, and there was Keanu. I didn't realize I needed Keanu Reeves in a video game until that moment, and now I wish there were John Wick titles to play as well. My husband is wanting this game, so there's a good chance I'll get to spectate this one without struggling to play it myself. Ah, the benefits of marriage!

Release date: April 16, 2020

#11: Sequel to Breath of the Wild

When my husband had an unplanned appendectomy last fall, he took the opportunity to invest in a Switch and some games to occupy himself with since his recovery needed him to sit in his recliner more than anything else. I watched him play a good portion of Breath of the Wild but I haven't begun playing it yet myself -- now it seems we both have some incentive to remedy that, because they're working on a sequel. If nothing else, it's a breathtakingly beautiful game. Happy to play it with the Switch docked so I can view it on our gigantic TV!

#10: Link's Awakening Remake

Because who can't get enough of the Zelda titles? They're fun, and the different stories keep things fresh. This one is a remake of a 1993 Game Boy title, and there's a claim that the amiibo figurine of Link from this game is the most faithfully rendered version of Link yet. This'll be out on the Switch later this year. Does anyone remember playing the Game Boy version? Did you like it? Will you buy this remake? Talk to me in the comments!

Release date: September 20, 2019

#9: Pokemon Sword & Pokemon Shield

Aight. We're getting into the juicy stuff now! Forget the fact that I don't have a fully trained-up team in Let's Go, Eevee yet... the open world of the Galar region looks very inviting. I don't know what to think of Zacian and Zamazenta, though. The sword one makes sense. The shield one looks like it ought to fall on its face every time it moves. I'm glad the ridiculous Z-moves from Sun & Moon won't be in the game, but a little sad the full roster of Pokemon won't be present. I'm sure there were some tough calls to make on which made the cut and which didn't!

Release date: November 15, 2019

#8: Borderlands 3

I've been excited about this one since the first trailer -- and not just because of the awesome music they used (GRiZ has some great stuff, especially the song 'Wicked' -- but a lot of it is NSFW, so be careful). I haven't gotten through all of the previous games and expansions, but 3 seems like it will be pretty accessible to anyone new to the series -- they just might not get all of the story nuances. Also sad is knowing the voice actor for Claptrap is not returning... but I can't argue with a trailer that has guns raining from the sky, or a machine gun with legs. And how about that sax solo, eh?

Release date: September 13, 2019

#7: Gods & Monsters

Coming from the same Ubisoft team that brought us Assassin's Creed Odyssey, this beautiful game is described as a cross between Zelda and Greek mythology. The game is a story being told by the poet Homer to his grandchildren about the most courageous hero of all time, a fellow named Phoenix. I'll never say no to an adventure game with Greek mythology. Oh, look... just in time for my birthday!

Release date: February 25, 2020

#6: Baldur's Gate III

I dunno about you, but I've been wanting this title for a long while. The original III was cancelled, and I never thought I'd see the series return. Even better, it's being developed by Larian Studios -- the awesome folks responsible for the Divinity: Original Sin series. Plus, we're told it's going to use the most recent D&D mechanics and spells. It should really stand apart from its predecessors, and I'm hoping for a great experience. 

Release date: Sometime between November 2019 and next year

#5: Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Okay, look. I only just got on board with Animal Crossing this past fall when I picked up New Leaf for the 3DS on Black Friday. I still haven't unlocked everything or done everything in my happy little town named Tinsel. I don't know if I'm ready for another Animal Crossing title yet, much less one that takes place on a uninhabited island that I have to build up from scratch. But at least I have plenty of time to finish this one before the next one is out... if I'm going to play it. I'm not entirely sold on it since it'll be a Switch title. My 3DS is a little more portable and less expensive! But we'll see...

Release date: March 20, 2020

#4: SEGA Genesis Mini Console

I never owned my own SEGA Genesis, but I did get to play the mess out of my cousins' and a friend's. The mini console is going to have an Ecco title on there, and that's pretty much all I need to know to want it! It would be fantastic if Jurassic Park: Rage Edition was on there where you play as a raptor, but I have the feeling that has copyright complications. The Genesis was the console that introduced me to the button-mashing fun that is Mortal Kombat. How can I ignore this?

Release date: September 19, 2019

#3: Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Oh. Em. Gee. Have you played Ori and the Blind Forest? If not, you should fix that right now before this sequel comes out. It is beautiful, heart-wrenching, and actually kind of difficult in some places. It's a platforming game with some devilish puzzles, but worth every beautifully rendered moment. The trailer for Will of the Wisps gives me chills, and I can't wait to see more of it! And oh look, another one coming out just in time for my birthday...

Release date: February 11, 2020

#2: Cadence of Hyrule

This one actually released TODAY, and boy do I want to get my hands on it. This is an epic crossover between the Zelda games and a favorite indie game of mine called Crypt of the Necrodancer. It's a rhythm game but also a dungeon crawler. You proceed to the rhythm of the music. Crossing this concept with Zelda just makes it so much better. It's on the Switch, and I wish I could play it on PC like Crypt of the Necrodancer, but... there's a good chance I'm going to get it on Switch. Listening to hours' worth of OC Remix Zelda music is how I got through my papers in college!

Release date: Today! GO GET IT!

#1: Assassin's Creed Odyssey 'Discovery' Update

It shouldn't come as any surprise to you that the thing I was most excited about from E3 was the info about the 'Discovery' mode update coming to Odyssey. Like in Origins, the mode lets you tour the open world without having to fight every enemy that sees you. Players can meet legendary historical tour guides like Leonidas, Herodotus, and more, test their historical knowledge at the end of each tour, unlock 35 unique avatars and 15 mounts to free-roam the entire map. Five different themes can be discovered: philosophy, architecture, daily life, war and myths. This mode will be free for all Odyssey owners, or can be purchased as a standalone experience on PC when it comes out this fall. Yes, please. I can't wait for this!

Release date: Early Fall 2019

What did you get excited about from everything mentioned at E3? What were you expecting to hear about that wasn't mentioned? Start chatting in the comments -- I'm sure we have plenty to talk about!