Source: https://www.sescoops.com/article/wwe-2k26-king-of-kings-edition-triple-h
First, we’ve got Attitude. Then we’ve got Monday Night. Now we have King Of Kings edition… yeah… no… doesn’t work for me, brother…
The above image sums my feelings up nicely…
Valis I review coming up around 6 or 7 p.m.
Source: https://nintendoisgreat.substack.com/p/six-months-after-launch-is-the-switch
So today’s video review on Valis I for PC Engine is going to posted later tonight since I wanted to make a couple last minute editing changes before going ahead with the final render and I’m probably not going to have time to do those changes until the afternoon hours since we have a snowstorm and also we have extreme cold. Beyond that, we’re on track for the most part on things.
With that out of the way, I direct you to a recent post from Nintendo Is Great covering the six months of Switch 2 and whether the first-party selection is worth getting the console at this time. Obviously, it depends on the individual and obviously, those who already own Switch 2s at this point already know the answer, but it is an interesting read, regardless, and sort of lines up with my own feelings on the matter… although another part of my not wanting a Switch 2 at this time also boils down to pricing, as well as a backlog of material that will more than pre-occupy my gaming time for the foreseeable future.
Source: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/monday-night-wars-edition-of-wwe-2k26-announced/
Funny how these things work out, huh?
No sooner after the post regarding the WWE 2K26 Attitude Era Edition went live did the announcement go out that now there’s going to be a Monday Night Wars edition of WWE 2k26, which will also include WCW Nitro content. Holy balls, Mean Gene. 2k must REALLY want me to spend hundreds of dollars for one year of supported premium content that’s going to get dropped like a hat once the NEXT game gets announced or even scribbled on a notepad during conceptual meetings.
Yeah… no… doesn’t work for me, brother.
Oh well… we’re going full-bore nostalgia train with this one, aren’t we? At least we can potentially recreate the Monday Night Wars in which the winner at the end of it all is Roman Reigns. That’s how it works, no?
How long before the Extreme pack gets announced? Come on, 2K. I know you want to, you lousy bastards.
Source: https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/attitude-era-edition-of-wwe-2k26-announced/
Yes, so the first official word or trailer for the upcoming WWE 2K26 video game that you people gobble up has some semblance of Attitude Era content… because apparently, the game didn’t sell well enough last year that we need to bring back one of the beloved eras of the 90s… or something.
In case anyone didn’t get the hint, I know nothing of the sales numbers. I’m sure they did okay. And I’m assuming this new game is going to be 2K’s attempt at their own take on WWE ’13 from over a decade ago. For those who don’t know, WWE ’13 was actually the final WWE game to be published by THQ before that company’s bankruptcy, which lead to 2K acquiring the WWE license that continues to this day. The only other thing that was seemingly announced was that CM Punk would be the cover star and there’d be a mode dedicated to him.
For the record, I haven’t touched a WWE video game since 2K22 and never really bothered with any of the follow ups, especially once they started stuffing a billion DLC packs for jobber talents and things of that nature. I miss the days when you had a full game first and then expansions came along to add replay value to the game. Now it feels like every game is half-baked and we’ll fill in the blanks later with DLC… but then again, it’s been like that for decades and it’s seemingly gotten WORSE.
So there’s a 100% chance that I’m not touching this thing, just as there had been 100% chances of my not touching the previous releases. What’s the point? You support this game for about a year or so before the next one is announced and then you drop all the online support for the old game to force everyone onto the new game, except the new game doesn’t play anything like the old game because of a couple needless changes you made and… look at that. I’m yelling at a cloud again.
As for them bringing back the Attitude Era content… yeah, we’re going back to that well again, huh? Despite the fact that you have guys like Cody Rhodes and others saying that we don’t need to revisit that era because this is the hottest WWE has been, 2k apparently felt otherwise. I don’t know what the mindset behind these decisions are, but is anyone really clamoring for Attitude Era stuff to be brought back? That stuff happened THREE DECADES AGO for fuck’s sake. I don’t remember the old Smackdown games deciding that we needed a game dedicated to the days of Sammartino, Morales, Ivan Koloff… quick, name me some other WWWF stars from the 1960s that I can fill the void with…
It’s sad that every one of these games have vintage 90s stuff being brought back in some form or fashion. I’m not entirely against the idea; sometimes, it’s nice to replay old stuff in these new games and seeing how slick they look. That’s the appeal of these WWE 2K games and their Superstar Profiles or whatever they’re called. But to do an Attitude Era edition after the last one… oh wait, WWE 2k16 was dedicated to Stone Cold Steve Austin, wasn’t it? That’s another Attitude Era game right there.
Shit, there goes my theory.
Just about the only thing that almost piques my interest is the CM Punk showcase, which apparently includes a possible what if scenario regarding how Punk’s career would have turned out if he hadn’t left WWE back in 2014. I’m almost intrigued by what they come up with in their fantasy booking endeavors and how they’re going to navigate around certain holes in the roster that they can’t presently fill, such as Bryan Danielson, who won the WWE title at Wrestlemania that year, but is currently signed to AEW. There’s a number of talent from those days who are signed with AEW at the moment, so it’ll be interesting to see how they tackle that scenario with those restrictions.
Doesn’t mean I’m going to buy the game… not unless you offer a sweet, sweet deal to package all your would-be content at a genuinely affordable price. That was the main draw for the Steam versions initially; they’d come out months after the console releases, but the upside was that you got all the DLC included at no extra cost. Once the releases became synchronous and DLCs were no longer part of the deal – that and also my infrequency in playing these games that were mainly used for video fodder more than anything – it became difficult to justify purchasing these games.
And now I can’t even buy those older games because they’ve been delisted. This is where one would make the case for physical media, but that’s not the be-all, end-all solution, either. The physical media is just what’s on the disc. All the DLC that followed is long gone. Good luck trying to buy the extra WWE 13 content on the PS3 Shop. It’s not happening unless you’ve got a time machine of some sort.
I shouldn’t have to make this clear because I’d figured that this would be plainly obvious, but I am not telling anyone to not buy this game. If you want this, by all means, get it. I’m not giving you reasons to not buy this game. I’m giving you reasons to why I’M not buying this game. This isn’t a news site. I leave the source link for the news to anyone who wants it. This is a place where I type in almost a thousand words to digress about trivial things like this.
With that in mind, I’ve got more than enough vintage WWF and WWE games that lets me revisit the old days just fine. They might not have the prettiest graphics and some of the gameplay doesn’t quite hold up, but given the chance, they can be fun to play. I should probably fire those up one of these days.
Thanks, 2k Games. You might not have sold me on your latest $200 WWE game, but you’ve reminded me that I still haven’t touched Day Of Reckoning in a good long while. We might give that a whirl one of these days.
Almost 1,050 words. Nailed it.
Later.
Off the cuff thoughts and giggles over this year’s list of Razzie nominations.
Presently unlisted, so this is for the blog visitors only. Lucky you.
So Starfleet Academy premiered a couple weeks ago… and I have not seen it yet.
I don’t have Paramount Plus at the moment and I’m presently avoiding the streaming services unless there’s something that I really, really, REALLY want to watch. So I’m dodging the new Academy. For what it’s worth, I’ve heard good things about it… along with the usual noise from the usual suspects who don’t care for New Trek… and maybe I’ll give it a watch when I decide that I want to dive into the Paramount Plus pool or just get over my general indifference and lack of interest in young adult fare.
Don’t worry, kids. We’re not turning this into a Section 31 meme. I’m more likely to give this a watch than Section 31.
Later.
After what seems like an eternity, our dive into the world of Valis begins with the game that actually got me into the world of Valis in the first place… chronological progression and confusion be damned.
The video footage is going to vary quite a bit because we’re pulling from a variety of sources here. Most of it is Retron 5-based, but there’s also some samplings of Antstream footage and even some DVD Recording To OBS digital alchemy. Just something to bare in mind as we venture into finding new ways of making use of old footage that has no business being used in the modern age, but really, if you’ve been watching this space for a while, you should know better than that.
Just a quick doodle with my old WACOM Intuos tablet… the thing still works after years of being stuff in a storage bin of stuff… which is nice because I haven’t done any fresh doodles in a while and I’m not really in the mood to waste paper and take pictures with the phone.
Truth be told, I haven’t done much drawing in years outside of maybe the quick little doodle here and there. I need to get back to that these days. I don’t expect quality out of the gate, but just to get into the habit of things.
So let’s do the abbreviated notes. Macho Man defeats Ric Flair in a good opening match to win his second WCW World title, which leads to sportsman of the century Hulk Hogan congratulating the man and demanding his long-awaited shot… which Macho responds by saying that when he beats Hulk, then Hulk has to shake his hand… good luck with that one, Mach.
Brian Pillman defeated Dean Malenko via Malenko getting his foot caught in the ropes and Pillman taking advantage. I have no idea what that finish was and the match itself was just there. And then Sting and Lex Luger win the tag titles from Harlem Heat after Luger whacks Booker with some coinage for the cheap win. I suppose this makes up for the screwjob finish from last week or something. And then Hulk Hogan beats One Man Gang in a quick match before getting mauled by the Dungeon Of Doom and Horsemen before Macho Man comes out to help or something.
I will say that the Savage/Flair match was the best part of the show and the rest is skippable. Moving right along.
The only question is whether that Tribble is canned or fresh.
dtm666 