Come in, come in! The end of January already, and still no real winter in sight here. Sure, we had a cold spell the week before, which lasted four days. And then it was back to lots of rain. But, I must say, one day this week it seemed like it was spring already, sunny and mild. Pity that I was indoors at the office all day. How about you, how’s your weather been? Where you in the area where Winter Storm Jonas hit?
Before we touch on gaming tidbits that got my attention I did something out of character for me this week. A program on television caught and held my attention, of the kind that I normally avoid (remember, ostrich and all that?). The program “Floortje naar het einde van de wereld” (Floortjes goes to the end of the world), covered the special story of 28 year old Maggie Doyne in Nepal. This special American girl went to Nepal 10 years ago as a backpacker, and was so touched by the fate of the many orphans that she stayed. This poor region has a lot of ‘ lost children’, the result of a civil war and a huge earthquake. Maggie adopted 51 children and runs a home and school for them; they live together as one big family. The story touched my heart, but what stayed with me was Ravi, the little boy who had come to Maggie on the brink of death by starvation, and whom she had nursed back to being a healthy toddler. He was always by her side, they loved each other so much. At the end of the program Floortje told the awful news that Ravi had died as the result of an accident a mere few weeks ago. Terrible, this has stuck with me ever since. I hope Maggie can find the courage to carry on and bring hope to the children in Nepal. If you want to know more, visit their website at BlinkNow. 
Best get back to our tidbits of gaming news, right?
- I guess you know that this year it’s the 20th anniversary of Pokémon; the celebrate that a special Super Bowl commercial will be aired on February 7. A 30-second version of the ad will be aired at the beginning of the third quarter of Super Bowl 50. Watch it in full below:
- Have you been playing YoKai Watch, or have you already beaten the game? There’s a new update to the YoKai Watch website, including a code for a free Crank a coin. It will give you a chance to get a rare YoKai or valuable items. What surprised me by the way is the feeling of rivalry there seems to be between Pokémon fans and the people who are playing YoKai Watch. Why? I can honestly say I’ve no idea, as far as I’m concerned any additional good game to play is perfect by me.
- A few more days if you want to participate in the giveaway for a chance to win a download code for Moco Moco Friends on the 3DS. The giveaway closes on Sunday 31st, and I’ll be drawing the lucky winners on Monday. You’ll find the rules here.
- Nintendo UK has a nice freebie available, an Animal Crossing 2016 calendar. All you have to do is enter the code “FREEANIMALCALENDER” during the checkout process once you have bought any game from them, and it will be added to your order. If you are spending less then 20 GBP you will have to pay for shipping (1,99 GBP). Is your total above that, you get the shipping for free. While stock lasts, of course. But still, nice huh?
- Enough for now I guess. Let’s finish our coffee before it gets cold. Talk to you next week! Oh wait, let me leave you with this youtube clip that really makes you want Animal Crossing on the WiiU. Fans made this Make Believe clip that really looks amazing!
An Eu codeword be great! My son would love it!
I’ll put you on the list, Victoria!
Victoria, is your email address already on the list? I don’t see your name there.
Good stuff as always! By the way, this – rules here. – isn’t a link. Speaking of no real winter, what part of the country are you in? Texas?
Take care,
Marc
Thanks Marc, I’ll remedy it immediately. Actually, I don’t live in the States, I live in the Netherlands! Or, more well know abroad, in Holland!
Wow, the Pokemon franchise has been going for twenty years? Man I feel old.
Think of how old I feel, hahaha!
The Pokemon/Yokai Watch rivalry doesn’t surprise me one bit. The same thing happened back in the day with Digimon and Pokemon, even though anyone who liked both (such as myself) knew that the series where completely different from each other, both with the way they did animes and video games (in fact, Digimon kept trying a new game genre with each of its games, which sadly is what led to the games dropping in sales in the west, due to the inconsistency in gameplay and quality). The only thing that the series had in common was that it had monsters and they were aimed primarily at children, which are very superficial. So of course Yokai Watch is gonna be demonized by a lot of Pokemon fans, for the same reasons Digimon did. it’s popular and it has monsters so it’s just a poor Pokemon rip-off and everyone should buy Pokemon instead.
I am a bit disappointed though, I wish gamers would get past this. Why should there only be one “monster collecting” game? Why not have a more so fans of the genre can have multiple games to play instead of having to wait for the next Pokemon to release? I can sort of understand the rivalry when it’s between children, because their games are limited by what their parents buy them so they want their friends to all play the same game so they can all talk about it and play it together. But that’s not the case with adults, who can manage their money to buy multiple games in each genre, so what gives? Just let the other fans support what they like.
The whole thing about every monster collecting game being a rip-off of Pokemon is completely stupid anyways, since Pokemon itself ripped that basic system from Megami Tensei, who had you fight and recruit monsters(demons) since 1987. The only difference there is that the human character doing the recruiting also fought in battle and that instead of evolving your monsters to get stronger you fused the demons instead.
You are of course very right. I guess we could even say that what’s happening happens all over the world when groups of people don’t see eye to eye. Petty, in my opinion: the more games of the kind we like, the better.
The point you make of kids wanting their friends to have the same game I can understand though, but us adults should know better!
Thanks for your input!!