I’ve decided that for the month of April, at least, I’m going to make a big push to getting back into The Sims 4. New family, new house, no cheats other than the ability to fine-tune object placement. Meet my new family, the Pepperwoods. Skip up there is loosely modeled after 2023’s Haunted Mansion’s Ben, who I thought had a pretty cool look to him. Skip wants to be an expert chef but is a tad clumsy. Then we have Tiffany, a girl who’s punk to her core. Of course she wants to be a great musician and write her own songs. I had my daughter help me choose different outfits that fit her personal ..read more

I have a good feeling that this’ll be the week I’ll finish up Wrothgar in ESO. Heck, it might only take me a day or two — there’s not too much left. Into the last public dungeon I go, though! And Old Orsinium was a doozy, really long with some involved quest objectives. Glad to be done with that. The only thing I didn’t finish was the Maelstrom Arena. I like the idea of a multi-phase gauntlet, but this sucker goes on and on for way too long. I spent a half-hour going through the first three (of nine!) maps and then said, “Forget this, it’s not worth it.” Before diving into another zone, I’m ..read more

As you read this, I am as incommunicado as it gets. This week I’m somewhere in the remote regions of Montana at a retreat where there’s absolutely no wifi or cellphone signals (there is a landline in case of emergencies, I’m told). I knew this in advance, as part of the reason of going here was to completely disconnect from the world for a week, and so I loaded up my phone and tablet with several games that didn’t need the internet to function. Many of these are games I’ve curated over the years as some of my trusty favorites, and I thought I’d run down 10 of them today: Chrono Trigger: My f ..read more

On my list of anticipated MMOs, there’s always room for one more — especially if it’s an out-of-nowhere surprise that’s scheduled to launch sooner rather than later. That was the case for Brighter Shores, a very RuneScape-like game designed by one of Jagex’s co-founders. Brighter Shores came onto the scene earlier this year with plans to launch by the end of 2024, which is a firmer release plan than we’re getting from several anticipated projects at this time. As a bonus, it looks kind of cool and unique, a cross between an MMO and a board game and maybe The Sims. The Steam description of thi ..read more

So we recently got official confirmation that ArenaNet is working on Guild Wars 3. However, this wasn’t some happy announcement; it was a reluctant admission during a hostile NCsoft investor’s call. This is probably not the way the studio wanted to reveal this to the world, but it’s not as though we weren’t already speculating pretty heavy on it. Rumors have been swirling over a third entry in this franchise, especially considering that Guild Wars 2 is now 12 years old. Personally, I think GW2 could keep on chugging just fine with more content and expansions for at least another decade. Its v ..read more

It’s the start of the week, so why not start it off right with some great tunes? Enjoy your latest Bio Break Mix Tape, a random collection of awesome songs that I’ve discovered lately and want to pass on to you to enjoy too ..read more

Continuing my wrap-up tour of Wrothgar, I was delighted to bump into Stibbons. If this guy appears, you know you’re in for a nutty time! And while I really like how ESO keeps bringing back certain side characters in different zones, the way the world is structured means that you have no sense of a timeline for when this is for them. Is it earlier than when you met them last time? Later? It’s never clear. In any case, “Sorrow’s Kiss” was a really neat quest that involved a lengthy trek up an increasingly inhospitable mountain. You could feel those environmental effects as the snow and wind be ..read more

March 2024 in review March was an acceptable month of gaming without any moments where I felt hooked or pulled toward a particular title. I am cautiously optimistic that it ended in a good state to charge into the next month with some more enthusiasm. LOTRO was quite the journey last month. I started with a new Gladden challenge character, then abandoned that to spend a couple days on Treebeard (which was pretty dead), before landing back on Landroval. There I worked my way through the city of Umbar with my Minstrel and picked back up my Lore-master for some lowbie leveling. Mostly it w ..read more

It’s the start of the week, so why not start it off right with some great tunes? Enjoy your latest Bio Break Mix Tape, a random collection of awesome songs that I’ve discovered lately and want to pass on to you to enjoy too ..read more

Let me introduce you to Eveli, the Wood-elf who periodically shows up for various quest chains in ESO. And unlike most elves that I’ve encountered, she’s not arrogant. In fact, she’s a complete dork (albeit one with a crack shot and a good heart). I find that I don’t mind it if she tags along, because I’m usually snorting from some off-hand comment she makes. My goal right now is to plow through at least one main zone quest per day to get to the end of Wrothgar in under a couple weeks. It’s not always easy, because some of these missions are pretty lengthy and involved. And while I was able ..read more