It’s been, what, 18 years or so since the launch of the original Xbox Live service, right? The internet fundamentally transformed how gaming has worked in the years since. So much so that we can barely imagine what an Xbox, PC, or PlayStation console would be like without it. And then there’s Nintendo. It took…
Category: opinion
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is My New Addiction
Hello and happy Easter everybody! It’s been awhile, but I’m finally back and ready to bring some fresh new content! It’s been a crazy month for me to be honest. I changed jobs, moved to basically the other side of the world and have been spending time getting established and set up in a completely…
[Revisted] Majora's Scariest Story
Well here we are. Four weeks, four revisited posts. I’m really hoping to be back to bringing you actual new content again next week. I’m pretty sure I will be. Until then, please enjoy one of my favorite posts from our 2016 Zelda-ween event. It might be old, but the story is still great! You…
Roundtable Discussion: How Gaming Changed, 2010-2020
As we leap forth into a brand new decade that’s sure to be brimming with lots of gaming goodness, we here at Virtual Bastion thought we’d take a moment to look back on how gaming has evolved over the course of the last decade. From the bells of New Year’s Day 2010 to the final…
The Duck’s New Thoughts on New Horizons
The newest Animal Crossing for the Switch is here at last, and I have been having a great time with it so far. As of writing this, I’m not terribly far into the game, but I think I’ve played enough to get a decent feel for it, so it’s time I shared my initial impressions,…
[Revisited] Making it to the End
Another “Revisited” post this week I’m afraid. I’m hopeful things will have settled down enough for me to resume normal posts next week, but we’ll see. For now though, let’s talk some more about how some games require a measure of patience and what happens when it’s in too short of supply. I remember coming…
A Few Thoughts on the PlayStation 5
Last week, Sony released an…unusual video detailing the PlayStation 5’s technical specifications. And by “unusual,” I mean plain ol’ odd and even a little unsettling, what with Lead System Architect Mark Cerny standing in a “theater” next to a stilted Powerpoint presentation. And by “detailed,” I mean d-e-t-a-i-l-e-d. The announcement dove straight into the depths…
[Revisited] Trophies: My Final (Late) Gripe of 2018
The crotchety re-posts continue! Trophies and achievements have been a standard feature in games for a long time now. I realize that, and I realize that many people enjoy them. I still don’t think they’re a great innovation though, and I still feel that they could at least be done better. The year of 2018…
[Revisited] Rushing to an Early Ruin
The following is a re-post of a piece from last year. Now that BioWare has finally admitted that the game needs a major overhaul and is going back to the drawing board, I felt it was important to remember that it was their attitude and approach that made this mess in the first place. I’ve…
GTA Online: Choose Your Own Adventure
On paper, Grand Theft Auto Online was a game I long found unappealing. Between its lack of story, general grind, and players’ apparent propensity for causing mayhem, it just didn’t sound like much of a good time. Well, after a couple months of playing the title (on the PlayStation 4) fairly regularly, it’s safe to…