Hey there everyone, welcome to WRUP and happy holidays. Here's hoping everyone is planning a good time with the people they care about. We're going pretty small here this year. I think it's just immediate family, maybe a couple friends locally if they have a free moment to join us. I'm going to sous vide a tritip or some other beef, I've got a Turkey in freezer that never got used from Thanksgiving and we have some six pounds of jumbo shrimp, so it'll be a good surf and turf dinner. I'm hoping our mild weather lasts and we can eat outside at the fire pits and just chill and enjoy the evening all cozy like. For now though, here we are and it's time for a WRUP. So let's get to it.
The Steam winter sale is on and you probably already know that. Tons of titles on great sales, don't sleep on it because games that almost never come down in price have fallen to downright affordable levels. Jedi Survivor is 50% off, Red Dead Redemption is 67% off, God of War is 50% off... You get the idea. Check that wishlist backlog and see if there's something you've not thought about for a while. You may be surprised. I picked up Dave The Diver, finally and it's pretty fun stuff. Check the sale out for yourself.
Last week we mentioned the scam behind The Day Before, and noted that the servers were still up for the time being and people were still playing it. This remains true for the moment but soon that will change as those live servers are in fact going down on the 22nd of January 2024. This is a planned end to what has been perhaps the worst entry into the market in a long long time. Steam players will also receive proactive refunds for this travesty. However that may not be the case if you buy it now, so I would suggest not checking it out for mere curiosity. The Day Before will have only been online for a total of 45 days.
China is adding more limits to the gaming industry in the country. In an attempt to further slow obsessive behavior the plan is keep the ban on "forbidden content" in the aim of protecting "national unity" as per the BBC. An increase to the restrictions already in place will include the rules that online titles cannot offer rewards that could encourage players to spend excessive time in game or spend money on that game. Even adding pop-ups warning people of "irrational" gaming. Those under 18 years old already can only play games for one hour a day on Fridays, weekends and holidays. There's more to this including economic effects mentioned in this BBC article.
Okay everyone, that's all from me. Here's hoping everyone has a great holiday or at least a nice bit of time off if you're not celebrating. We'll see you next weekend.
What's the play this weekend?
Greywolfe: now king's quest 7! very near the end! going to finish that this weekend and then get into some ultima 1, which is also very short. so, the last thing i'm going to do this year is a quest for glory/hero's quest 1 randomizer with all the really awful switches turned on :P - should be a special sort of torture to usher me into the new year. :)
AJ: Just acquired a limited edition physical release of the indie shmup Crisis Wing, for the Nintendo Switch. I also just downloaded the never-before-released-until-now-outside-of-the-arcade Konami classic, Mystic Warriors. Suffice it to say, I will likely be playing both of those this weekend.
Scrooloose: I'll be slowly chugging along in SnowRunner and checking out new seasonal content in Lords of the Fallen. That is to say when I'm not cooking or baking or running errands etc.