I really have not felt like writing. I wrote up a Games to the Video post after Summer Games Fest, but then a lot just started happening. I never got around to posting it. Now it feels too late. Anyways, here’s five months of updates.
Tragedy with doors June
The phrase “kicking down doors” sounds cool, until someone does it to your door. In June, I was awoken by a loud noise. I had no idea if I dreamt it or if it was real. I got up, and looked around my house. All seemed well. Back to sleep I went. A few minutes later, I heard the exact same sound. BAM BAM BAM! Alright, I know I didn’t dream that. I get up and look around the house again. All seemed well. I thought maybe something was up with my sump pump, so I opened my front door to check out the outtake hose. Door hardware clattered to the ground, and I noticed the door frame splintered. I check my cameras, and see a shadowy figure lurking in my driveway in the recent footage. Every hair on my body stood on end.
I called the cops. They didn’t find anyone. They took my report, and asked for my camera footage. At this point, it is three in the morning. I can’t sleep, so I go through my cameras. There were two or three of them. It was dark, and they were dressed in hoodies. No helpful footage, but I sent it to the cops anyways. I haven’t heard anything, and I don’t expect anything.
The experience left me shaken. I didn’t sleep the rest of that night. My brother came over during the day and hung out with me, which I appreciate. I didn’t sleep the next few nights. During the summers, the sun is out longer, so I would go to bed when the sun was still up. I’d just think about, “Oh, it’s going to be dark soon, and it’s going to happen again. Better not be caught sleeping.” And then when it got dark, my mind would go, “Oh, it’s almost the same hour it happened, so better stay awake.” Oddly enough, I did fall asleep at 3:00 am, but I had to be up at 5:00 am for work, so that sucked. I called in the first night because I had to get my door fixed. The next night, I just went into work and suffered.
I had anxiety induced insomnia for the first few days. I couldn’t stop thinking about the event. I didn’t want to do anything, so I loafed around and watched a lot of YouTube. Work was the only time I wasn’t thinking about it. After a few days, I started Googling for counselors. I knew I couldn’t live like this, and I thought I might need help. In the end, I didn’t reach out to a counselor, but I was prepared to. In my non-professional opinion, it is really important to process your emotions after a traumatic event. Ignoring those emotions is not helpful to the healing process. I am not sure if I handled it in the most healthy way, but it did lead to a path of recovery.
For starters, I did not turn to booze or any other substance that might fog my mind. I lived in my anxiety, but I also processed my emotions. Three or four days into my anxiety, I got home from work. The sun was out, and kids were playing baseball at the school across the street. I stopped and asked myself, “Do you feel safe right now?” To my surprise, I answered, “Yes, I feel safe right now.” I thought I might not feel safe later tonight, but at that very moment I did feel safe. So, I decided to check-in with my feelings and periodically ask myself that question. In every instance throughout the evening I asked, I said “yes” without lying to myself. I slept well that night for the first time in many days.
That was the tipping point in my recovery. A good night’s rest goes a long way for your mental health. I started feeling safer and safer everyday. Today, I don’t really think about it. I did change up some of my routine, like turning on the outside lights before going to bed, but nothing outrageous. If my anxiety persisted, I would have definitely sought professional help.
Everybody’s response to a tragic event is different, but hopefully my story can help someone out.
Oh, and someone played Ding Dong Ditch at midnight a few months later. No physical damage was done, but it did reawaken some anxiety. Looking at my footage, it looked like the same fuckers. On the plus side, it helped me create a rationalization that it was just kids being dumb. I feel much safer with that thought.
Nintendo Switch 2 July
My Nintendo Switch is only used for Mario and Zelda games. I wasn’t too excited for the Switch 2. When it was announced, I figured I would wait until a few of those games came out, and then I would buy it.
I bought one in July. I was reading an article about the price hike for the original Switch, and there were affiliate links for the Switch 2. I thought, What the hell, let’s take a look. Sure enough, the Switch 2 was available at Walmart and Target for purchase. I bought one, and it showed up the next day.
The setup process is the most Nintendo thing ever. As someone who rarely uses my Switch 1, it was not smooth. Also, I made the poor decision to set it up at my parents house, away from my Switch 1. Turning it on went fine, but signing into my Nintendo account was a pain in the ass.
I had my username and password. Nintendo has a handy QR code you can scan with your phone to sign in. My password manager was on my phone, so this was perfect. I could just copy and paste my info, and it went fast. The problem was I had to sign in three times on the Switch 2 for various reasons. Once was to associate my Nintendo account with the local account. Another was to access the store. Then there was the virtual game card business, since I bought the Mario Kart World bundle.
The virtual game card thing is so stupid. Because the only device that had a Nintendo account previously was my Switch 1, it was considered my primary console. Other console manufacturer don’t do this. Ever since the PlayStation 3, Sony allows you to be signed into two or three consoles, and you can download whatever is associated with your account. I think they’ve even become looser with their rules since then, but I haven’t had any issues transitioning to another PS3, two PS4’s, a PS5, and a Vita. Nintendo has a strict, “Nope, one primary console, and you can only download virtual games on your primary.” There is a way to delete your primary console from the browser, but I didn’t want to do that.
So, I waited until I was home. My Switch 1 was dead, so I had to charge it for 15 minutes before it would turn on. After that, I had to update it, which took another half an hour. After that, it forced me to log in to my Nintendo account, and then I could finally remove it as my primary. I logged in again on my Switch 2, and it registered as my primary. Hurray.
All that to download Mario Kart World, and boot it up to make sure it works. I immediately shut it down, and have not touched the Switch 2 since.
So why did I even buy a Switch 2? There are no new Mario or Zelda games in sight. In my mind, this is probably the cheapest the Switch 2 will ever be. All three major consoles (Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, and Switch 1) have gone up in price over this generation. Nintendo had the balls to raise the price of their previous console after they released the Switch 2! That’s insane when every previous generation had consoles going down in price over their lifespans. There are a lot of reasons for that, but I don’t have time to get into it. I understand why, but it is still nuts to me.
That Donkey Kong game looks fun though.
TV August
Until recently, I was crushing through my backlog this year. I finished my SNES, GBA, N64, and other console game catalogs. I even started on my PlayStation 1 games. I decided to take a little break in August.
I bought a subscription to Peacock to show my love for Twisted Metal. I want there to be many more seasons. Since I was subscribed, I decided to watch season 17 of American Ninja Warrior too. I picked a good season to jump back in, because they invited back some of the show’s top ninjas from seasons past, and they highlighted classic moments from the show’s history. They have changed some things since I last watched. They got rid of the stages. The new racing format guarantees one winner. There are pros and cons to each format, and I don’t mind the new format. It was exciting to watch the top ninjas race against one another. Overall, I enjoyed the season.
American Ninja Warrior was fun, but I was really on Peacock for Twisted Metal. I rewatched season one. I noticed some things I missed on my first watchthrough, so I am glad I did. I know fans of the game really wanted more car combat in the first season, but I think it struck a great balance of setting up the world and action. Not to mention their budget.
I jumped right into season two. The show is so damn fun! I’m not a huge fan of Anthony Mackie, but he’s having so much fun in the show, that it is hard not to like him. There is more car combat in season two, and the tournament happens. A show based on the Twisted Metal video games should not be this good, but it is!
My friend bought me Satisfactory in August against my wishes. I’ve been trying to manage my backlog, so getting a random game thrown into it isn’t great for me. It is not my type of game, but I started playing it. You’re building a factory to produce shit to make a bigger factory. So far, I’m having fun, but I am approaching a point where I can see myself not having fun. I’m thinking I’ll optimize and finish this phase, and then drop the game.
288 hours of Satisfactory September
Look, I know I said I started to dislike Satisfactory. I dropped over 200 hours into the game in September and October, but I really do not like the progression of the game. I spent hours planning and building a factory with MK1 conveyors, and then unlocked faster MK2 conveyors. Then I redid the factory with the new conveyors, only to unlock MK3 conveyors. You can see how this can get very annoying. I started hating the game around phase 2 or 3.
Miserably, I made my way through the 5 phases of the game. Once done, I had access to the fastest and best parts. Also, I had some decent automation happening. The real game could finally begin. I decided to redo my earlier factories with the latest and greatest, and automate more of my other factories.
I had a lot of fun doing this. Creating hundreds of steel parts per minute from 1200 iron ore and coal is very satisfying indeed. I mainly focused on parts that were needed often enough that I wanted them on hand at all times. For other parts that are used occasionally, my plan was to build a centralized factory. Drones would fly parts from my automated factories to this central factory to create an inventory of these parts.
I never did get my centralized factory up and running. I got to a point where I felt content with what I had, and put the game down. Other than the centralized factory, I wanted to do a full “Modular Frame through Nuclear Pasta” factory. I, also, wanted to build a nuclear plant. Actually, though, both of those things sounded miserable to me, so I wasn’t looking forward to it. The game is officially shelved to me; maybe I’ll come back to my world someday.
New games October
I’ve been trying not to grow my backlog too much this year. I’ll be very happy if I play more games this year than I bought. Satisfactory really halted the progression, and my backlog started to grow.
I bought two games. Not only did I buy two games, but they are brand new games. I know, blasphemy! I have some very good reasons, and thus I will not repent to the Patient Gamer gods.
Double Fine released Keeper. This was one of the games in my Games to the Video 2025 post. I’ve talked about my appreciation for Double Fine before. They make weird games, and I love them. So, I paid full price for Keeper. I haven’t played it yet, but I will soon (hopefully).
The other game I bought was Wreckreation. I thought I talked about his game in a Games to the Video post, but I didn’t. It’s made by Three Fields Entertainment. They are a small studio with roots to the Burnout series. Ever since going independent, they have been releasing Burnout type games. As a small studio, they couldn’t just jump straight to the open world Burnout Paradise game. Instead, they released a game focused on the crash mode (Danger Zone 1 and 2), a game with racing and rampages on fixed tracks (Dangerous Driving), and a few other games.
I did not buy any of their other games. I don’t like the crash mode from the older Burnout games, so Danger Zone was a no-go for me. I wanted to get Dangerous Driving, but several things got in my way. The Epic Store exclusivity was a big one. I wanted to buy it on sale, but I had no way of knowing when it was on sale. So, I have never played any of their games.
They are a very small studio, so the games were not quite up to par (it’s funny because they made a golf game) of the Burnout games. However, they always said they wanted to build up to a Burnout Paradise type game. Wreckreation is that game, and so I bought it.
Wreckreation looks great. Being a smaller team and having a lower budget, I’m not expecting Burnout Paradise quality, but it looks like it will scratch the itch that has been festering for over fifteen years. I’m looking forward to playing it.
And then I bought the Armor Games Retro & Reborn bundle. I paid for the 11 item bundle, because I only really wanted The Elephant Collection. The bundle is cool. It’s filled a bunch of flash games I used to play on Armor Games. Some might say it was foolish to pay money for free flash games, but I think less than $15 is good to have access to these games with achievements. Playing Achievement Unlocked while unlocking Steam achievements will be fun. I’m looking forward to playing these games.
Now
You should be caught up. It feels good to be free of extreme anxiety. It feels good to be free of Satisfactory. It feels good to write again. I don’t plan on taking any extended breaks, so I hope you stick around.