Running video games (and consoles) thread

Bumping this because of a fun story for us Tetris nerds: A 13-year-old kid finally broke the game, reaching the end of Tetris after attaining Level 157:

Oklahoma teenager finally defeats the unbeatable game: Tetris | CNN Business

I repeat: Level 157. At level 29, the pieces fall faster than human reflexes can react to them. You have to vibrate your fingers to deal with the barrage of falling pieces.

Personally, I think I've made it to level 11 or 12 and that gets way too fast for me to get pieces over to each side.

Here's another site with YouTube links: https://www.thegamer.com/tetris-beaten-34-years/

 

That is a level of amazing that few will ever reach in any walk of life. I was mesmerized by the final minute or two.

 

Microsoft Cancels New Blizzard Video Game After Six Years of Development

 

I haven't bought MLB the Show since probably 2016 but I'm considering it this year. Any reviews from recent years to sway me either way?

 

I got 2019 as a Playstation Plus freebie and play the hell out of it in franchise mode. The gameplay is smooth. Only thing that's a negative is that the franchise mode is almost too in-depth. You have to figure out what the hell a half-dozen classifications of free agents are and when you're signing which one, and then if you don't have the Auto GM turned off it'll go rogue on you and re-sign guys you had no intention of bringing back. That's how my 35-year-old closer wound up with a 10-year, $100 million contract while I had a younger guy lined up to take his place. Auto GM got shitcanned after that debacle.
For someone raised on the PS1 and PS2 era Madden games where the process was pretty simple, constructing a team is rather overwhelming. Bordering on not fun, even.

 

MLB The Show has superior meta and physics to the vast majority of sports games, but the player movements have gotten a little bit stale.

That said, I bought a PS5 last year pretty much just to play The Show. The game is my cocaine and has been for many years.

I've told my kid this, there are times I simply marvel at the PS5 animations and forget I'm playing. That's how good the game looks.

 

Was just coming here to post this. Anyone want to get an online league going like in the old days?

 

I've long since stopped playing sports games, still might give FIFA a go every now and then, but one of my kids still does especially The Show and Madden. There are times when he has them going that I just stop and stare. It is amazing how great they look. I think that goes for a lot of games now, but for those that got our start on sports games and thinking Tecmo Bowl looked and felt amazing, it is just unreal where it has gone, especially on the PS5.

I did like an NCAA game back in the day, but we'll have to wait and see if I try this out. My kid probably will want to.

 

Sports games I still play:
* EA PGA Tour
* FIFA 21, though not as much as I used to
* NHL 22, see above
* Will purchase MLB The Show this year, it's been like eight years since I played it
* Will purchase the college football game

Haven't really felt the need to buy the most recent version of the sports games because I mostly operate in franchise mode and the gameplay changes from year-to-year are minimal. I've built a nice little club at Watford and I don't feel like starting over every year, lol. The PGA game has been really fun, and you can run through the minor tournaments pretty quickly by playing quick rounds where you play four or five important holes and sim the rest.

 

That's why I never lamented the end of the NCAA franchise like so many others did. I had a dynasty going in NCAA 08 that I was well into the 2030s with. Whenever I got bored with one school I'd just let my contract expire and switch to another (usually the worst team at the time so I could build them up. I had no desire to lose all that progress, and after three or four seasons all of the names are auto-generated anyway.

The Show did have an option, not sure if they still do, where you could import your franchise from a previous game to the current version. I know it was there for 2019 and 2020. Not sure if you could jump multiple years (like 2019 to 2022) or not.

 

The Show had carryover saves, but no longer. A problem if you like to play franchise games over a long long period of time.

It was an awesome feature and I can't figure out why they canned it.