Friday’s Cup of Coffee, wk 1

First week of the month, things are slowly getting back to normal. No more holiday fun, but I have a fun day ahead, as tomorrow it’s my birthday. So I thought it best to add a nice piece of birthday cake to go with our cup of coffee this week. I know, you probably started dieting after eating too much, but just this one piece, okay? I’ve bought us the customary ‘vlaai’, with which we celebrate our birthday here in my house. Picture a pie, but with all kinds of fruit/jam like substance, covered with whipped cream and chocolate. Nice huh? So, can I tempt you? This is one with cherries! Let’s put off our diet till tomorrow!

As you know I’ve accumulated quite a couple of games waiting for me to play them thanks to the digital discounts in the PSN store in December. So I was under the misguided impression that I would be able to save some money in the next couple of months by just focusing on the games I already had. Yes, misguided. Because I could have already foreseen that the gaming gods would be there to tempt me, and then laugh at my futile attempts. It’s only the seventh day of the year, and already temptation is coming my way.

• I met up with another older gaming lady from New Zealand yesterday who is an avid Vita fan, and she pointed out several Vita games that she enjoys enormously. So maybe I should check these out? She mentioned Disgea, Tales of Heart and Neptunia. Have you played any of those?
• Aside from that Marvelous has announced that Return to PopoloCrois: a Story of Seaons Fairytale will be coming to Europe and Australia early this year! It will only be released in the eShop. Sounds like we might get to play it fairly soon then. I’ve played the Japanese version for a bit too, and I liked what I saw, so I’ll be curious to play it and really understand it all.
• One of the games I played on the Wii in 2009 was A Boy and his Blob, a puzzle platformer made exclusively for the Wii at the time. Now it has been announced that the game will come to all other platforms (the PS4, Vita, Xbox one and PC) on January 19^th. You experience the adventures of the boy and his blob while they travel through 40 levels from Earth to Blobonia. Through the transformations the Blob can make you have to make it from one level to the next, and meanwhile gather all hidden collectables you can find. It’s an endearing game, simple in graphics yet very fairytale like. You know me and plaformers, so I didn’t get very far. But as I’m not an enthusiast of the genre, you should check it out.
• The demo for the 3DS RPG title The Legend of Legacy is now available to download via the European Nintendo eShop. So if you have been wanting to give this game a try, now is your chance!
• The second wave of Animal Crossing amiibo are now available to pre-order on Amazon US. They will be released on January 22nd, and includes Blathers, Celeste, Resetti, and Kicks.
• There are plenty themed boardgames, taken after gaming icons like Zelda and Super Mario. Now Hasbro makes sure Yo-Kai Watch joins in the fun. This Spring you will be able to buy the special version of Monopoly and of Game of Life. Looks good!
• Even if you are not into mobile games on iOS or Android, you cannot have escaped the fact that Clash of Clans is a huge hit. They are now busy soft-launching a successor to the game in Canada and Australia, one that makes for very different gameplay. Clash Royale is still strategy, but it adds a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) to the mix. This is what the game will be about: you have three buildings on your side of a map, the middle one is your castle. It’s your aim to destroy your opponents castle, and protect your own. You  do this by deploying troops from cards you have drawn from your deck. With the cards you’ll get a certain amount of mana to cast, more cards are received by unlocking chests between rounds. You will be able to unlock new troops this way and level them up, giving you more of an advantage. Anyway, always difficult to describe from paper. I guess if Clash of Clans appeals to you, or if such a MOBA game sounds fun, you will soon be able to play it worldwide. 

Oops, is that the time?? I have to dash and go to do the grocery shopping for my birthday visitors. I hope you enjoyed our chat, and lets meet again next week. Most likely we will be drinking black coffee without a treat then, but we can still enjoy our gaming talk!