The Queue: TS Eliot was wrong

January is the cruelest month, at least for those of us who follow gaming. Relatively few titles get released as many studios made sure to get them out before Christmas or are waiting until February and there also tends not to be many events where news could happen.

This year may be a huge exception though. Microsoft announced there will be an Xbox Direct next Thursday showcasing South of Midnight, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and DOOM: The Dark Ages — and a secret fourth title rumored to be from a “legendary” Japanese IP with decades of history. The rumor mill is in full swing over what this title might be with guesses ranging from Persona 6 to a new Final Fantasy title to even a new entry in the Ecco the Dolphin series.

The even bigger rumor that’s resounding throughout gamingdom is that we’ll finally be getting the Switch 2 announcement tomorrow. As of this moment there is no confirmation, but the report is credible and major outlets are treating it as highly likely. By this time on Friday we may be have all the details on Nintendo’s next generation console.

While we patiently look forward to jubilation or disappointment, let’s answer some questions!

There are three titles coming in February that I’m really looking forward to:

• Rift of the Necrodancer – this Guitar Hero-style sequel to Crypt of the Necrodancer looks and plays amazing (less than 20 minutes of playing the demo convinced me to buy it day one). It’s coming out February 5.
• Date Everything – is the only thing keeping you from dating your microwave is the lack of human characteristics? Well this game is for you! The perfect Valentine’s Day game.
• Afterlove EP – Coffee Talk is one of my favorite franchises, and this game is from the same creator (who sadly passed away a few years back). I probably won’t play this right away because of everything else coming in early February — it releases on Valentine’s Day like Date Everything — but I plan on tackling it before March arrives.

Keen-eyed gaming insiders may notice a glaring omission to my list. Keep reading!

Early Access, like microtransactions, is just part of the reality of gaming these days so I’ve stopped getting worked up about it. To be honest, a game like Civilization 7 isn’t one where I’d be concerned about Early Access providing some sort of competitive advantage, so I doubt I’d criticize it too much to begin with.

That said I will not be preordering it for a different reason — if you want to use my lack of a preorder as part of a protest against Early Access, sure I’ll sign off on that — I’ve barely played Civilization 6. I’ve owned it since release, have all the expansions and add-ons, and yet haven’t even reached 40 hours /played on it which is insane considering how many hours I’ve spent playing the previous entries in the series. Obviously a big part of that is somewhere around 16 years ago World of Warcraft replaced Civ as my primary gaming addiction, but I’ve also become a more story-focused gamer and Civ doesn’t really provide that.

That’s not to say I won’t get Civ 7 down the road. But I’m not going to invest $70 in a game that’s currently low on my priority list. If I get the urge to play Civ I’ll play the sixth one.

My original plan was to hold off on Plunderstorm until after I completed the Turbulent Timeways and got the bee, but then I remembered that there’s a daily quest that gives a lot of plunder. So my plan is to complete the daily quest each day, which means I should get all the new rewards (I had maxed out Renown last time) in around three weeks. If I had time I’d probably play it more, but have you seen the answer to my first question?

I’m going to go with “maybe”. I don’t have anything particularly against eggplant, but I never go out of my way to get it. If I’m going to add a meat substitute to a meal I usually go with a Portobello mushroom instead.

I wouldn’t dress all that different than I do today, to be honest. I like relaxing in t-shirts and jeans while wearing sneakers or slippers (if indoors). I would try to acquire some vintage shirts though — I would kill for an original Scarlet Briar Guild Wars 2 t-shirt.

Two weeks? Try 18 years!

Heroes started off with so much promise. Intriguing and lovable characters, a sci-fi plot, Zachary Quinto breaking into the mainstream, a quotable tagline “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World”, and so much more. It’s hard to remember now, but Heroes was peak nerd fare that went mainstream when it premiered in 2006. First season wasn’t even over and NBC was greenlighting spinoffs and tie-ins. While many attribute its rapid decline and fall to the Writer’s Strike of 2007-8 — which gave us Dr Horrible’s Singalong Blog so it wasn’t all bad — the reality is that everything fell apart in the final episode of season one. Not narratively as the arc’s conclusion was satisfying, but for the love of all that is holy you do not spend an entire season of giving characters superpowers to have their climactic conflict be a fist fight!

In retrospect there’s a sense that the creators weren’t actually sure what they were making (saving the cheerleader didn’t actually save the world like it promised to) but I don’t understand how one completely misses the point of superheroes. 18 years later I’m still vexed by this failure to stick the landing.

My original opinion was actually that the new Marks changes wouldn’t make it to live. I’m less confident now though as there’s been no word since the change was announced. Guess I should start looking at my Beast Mastery spec.

I used to play them but I was never really good at them — I never got to be Bo Jackson so I always lost in a horrible fashion. As the sports games got more realistic I lost interest because it felt less like a video game and more like a simulator. I probably haven’t regularly played anything sports-ish since Wii Sports, although I did play Rocket League with my son for awhile (I was bad at it though).

To be honest, the best sports game ever made is this one (and yes I have one, but it’s not an original — Mattel rereleased it):

That’s all the space and time we have for questions! Hopefully by this time tomorrow we’ll have seen the next generation of Nintendo consoles. While we impatiently wait, be sure to ask Matt plenty of questions!