As Joe and Kelly prepare to flood you all with info from their respective cons this week (EVO, GenCon), we've decided to hit you with an oldie but goodie. It's time to bring back the "What are we playing?" articles. I think we're going to post this every Tuesday. Don't hold me to that.
I, your current Gaming Nexus King and Supreme Ruler of Pinball FX VR, will be finishing up Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound. hopefully for a full review tomorrow. This is after I became 15th globally in Pinball FX VR on the Junkyard table, and have found every fossil and banana in Donkey Kong Bananza for the first 4 layers. But I digress. Hey Gaming Nexus, What are ya playing? (Fred Schneider Edition)
John Yan - Death Stranding
"After finishing The Last of Us Part 2 not too long ago, I decided to look at my backlog of games I've been wanting to finish. With the release of the second Death Stranding, I figure it might be time to finish the first one. The reviews have been great for it and I know a lot of people enjoyed the first game. I've always liked Hideo's style having played all the Metal Gears so it's time I think I finish this one and then maybe head into the second after I get done 100 hours later."
Kelly Gray - Mario Kart 8
"My daughter and I are currently revisiting Mario Kart together. She is into battles vs. races lately, which has been a really fun to watch her pivot. It’s also exciting because at the ripe age of 5, she is really developing a skill for talking smack to her opponents. The best part is that for some reason she’s convinced that Bowser is played by my brother in every game- so Uncle Matt unknowingly gets a brunt of the smack talk for no reason. Very entertaining!"
Jason Dailey - Ready Or Not, College Football 26
"I’ve been on a flurry of review assignments lately, culminating in my recent review of tactical shooter Ready or Not, which finally came to PlayStation and Xbox a couple of weeks ago. As someone who grew up playing Sierra’s SWAT games on PC, Ready or Not has scratched a big, nostalgic itch for me. It’s grounded, it’s gritty, and it’s excellent. In addition to SWAT stuff, I’m also well on my way to spending another 500 hours with EA’s annual iteration of College Football. Some pals and I have an online dynasty going that we are deeply committed to. Kind of like a marriage, but with a college football video game. I’m the head coach at the Air Force Academy, where we run the triple option offense for better and for worse."
Randy Kalista - Neverwinter Nights 2
"I was delusional. Thought I could pump 100 hours into Neverwinter Nights 2: Enhanced Edition by the deadline. But that deadline sailed by without comment. Had a jump-scare where every single saved game in my playthrough corrupted. Managed to recover one, somehow. That's when I learned you don't save over old saves in Neverwinter Nights 2. It's some old bug that was fixed by modders in the decades since its launch in 2006, but the Enhanced Edition brings back the original bugs. I'm learning all about Obsidian's developmental shortcomings, and why Aspyr (handling the Enhanced Edition) is only considered a "good enough" developer when it comes to ports and relaunches."
Eric Hauter - Pinball FX VR, Donkey Kong Bananza
"I haven't had much time for gaming lately, between my job, my side job, my side-side job, and my side-side-side job. So, in between bursts of work, I'm still happily pinballing away with Zen Studios Pinball FX VR. They are prepping to announce even more tables at an event this week, and I'm deeply excited to see what they have to offer. Oh, and I'm still playing Donkey Kong Bananza, of course. That's not going to stop for at least another month."
Jeremy Duff - Donkey Kong Bananza, Super Mario Odyssey, Hyrule Warriors
"The only thing getting playtime in my household right now is the Switch 2. After wrapping up DK Bananza, I have gone back and started revisiting some older Switch games like Super Mario Odyssey and the original Hyrule Warriors. Of course, all of this requires frequent Mark Kart World battles as the kiddo and I have a very deep rooted feud going back to Mario Kart on the Wii U that never ends."
And there you have it. That's what we're playing for the week. You could tell us what you're playing, but we don't want, or have a comments section. SO you can retweet or rethread this if you want. We don't have a threads. Maybe we should change that.
