We Wish You A Merry Christmas (In December) And A Happy Switch 2

1st
2weistein in Asban eShop
The Mildew Children PSN

3rd
Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete Mob
Antonblast eShop
Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age PS5
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes PSN
Touhou Spell Carnival PS5, PS4, NS
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide PSN

4th
Godsvivors PSN
Santa's Christmas Adventure eShop

5th
DETECTIVE - The Motel PSN
Dinosaur Fossil Hunter PSN
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension PS5, NS, XBN
Fitness Boxing 3: Your Personal Trainer NS
Highway Police Simulator PS5
Honey Farm Simulator PSN
Infinity Nikki PSN
Little Big Adventure - Twinsen‘s Quest PS5, NS
My Horse: Bonded Spirits PSN
Pet Shop Simulator PSN
Railroads Online PSN
RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic eShop
Savant - Ascent REMIX eShop
Skydance's Behemoth PSN, Quest
Stella of The End eShop
Sugar Tanks Arena eShop
Train Sim World 5 PS5
Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop PSN
Zumba Royal Marble Shooter Mania eShop

6th
9 R.I.P. Standard Edition NS
Astebros PS5
Boardwalk Arcade 2 NS
Demons of Asteborg PS5
Dog Man: Mission Impawsible PS5, NS
Endless Deaths XBN
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: Collector's Edition XSX
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: Premium Edition XSX
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Premium Upgrade XGP
KEMCO RPG Selection Vol. 2 XBN
Marvel Rivals PSN, XBN
MasterChef: Learn to Cook! eShop, XBN
Path of Exile 2 Early Access PSN, XBN
Predator Hunting Grounds PS5
Read Only Memories: Double Pack NS
Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER PS5
Resident Evil 2 Remake PS5
Resident Evil 3 Remake PS5
Resident Evil 7 Gold Edition PS5
Rugrats Adventures in Gameland PS5, NS
Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice PSN, XBN
Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice - Deluxe Edition PSN, XBN
Shadow Tactics - Ultimate Bundle PSN, XBN

7th
Trio Adventures eShop

8th
Elrentaros Wanderings NS

9th
Among Ashes PSN
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle XSX, PC
Road Maintenance Simulator 2 Winter Service PS5

10th
Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered PSN, XBN, eShop
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind PSN, XBN, eShop
Monument Valley 3 Netflix
Snow Bros Wonderland PS5, PS4, NS
Taito Milestones 3 NS

12th
Absolute Tactics Daughters of Mercy PS5, NS
Azura's Crystals eShop
Black Myth: Wukong PS5
Hidden Cats in Santa's Realm PSN
Metal Dragon/Life on Mars EC
Slicy Flips PSN
Sociable Soccer 25 PS5, PC
Taiko No Tatsujin Drum Controller for PlayStation, PC
Toaplan Arcade 4 EC
Worms Armageddon Anniversary Collector's Edition PS5, NS

13th
Fairy Tail 2 PS5, PS4, NS
Goblin Slayer Another Adventurer: Nightmare Feast NS
The Inheritance of Crimson Manor - Victorian Edition PS5
Last Time I Saw You PS5, NS
Monkey Kong In New-York eShop
Morkull Ragast’s Rage PS5, NS
Neon Beats eShop
Shotgun King: The Final Checkmate PS5, NS
Xuan Yuan Sword: The Gate of Firmament PSN
Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes PSN

17th
Botany Manor PSN
DREDGE Complete Collector's Edition PS5, NS
FLINT: Treasure of Oblivion PS5, XSX

19th
Alien: Rogue Incursion PSN
The Thaumaturge PS5, XSX, PC

24th
Pinball Jam Bundle PSN
Tombs Of Myra eShop

I've got an eye on Lorelei and the Laser Eyes which now comes to PlayStation but have heard mixed things and feel this is one Balla and me might agree on.

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension this is a day one buy, been waiting for a port off Apple Arcade for ages now. Infinity Nikki is free to play, so no harm in trying and it's from like a top guy that worked on Breath of the Wild and that's good, right?

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, I feel this should be a big deal but till the most recent trailer always looked a tad iffy, but it's on Game Pass so no harm in trying it.

Marvel Rivals, another free to play game here which I did play the BETA and it was excellent, reminded me of old Overwatch. Path of Exile 2 looks good, though I'm yet to finish Diablo IV and this is in Early Access that I would most likely wait till 1.0.

Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered, I'm hoping much like the Tomb Raiders this gets a physical release as I could see me picking that up or waiting till this drops in price on PSN to sub £20ish.  Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind, I think this will be good, but it's close to £40 which seems mad as the TMNT games which I feel are a fair comparison aren't anywhere near that price.

Black Myth: Wukong gets a physical yay and asked for it for Xmas, as I like the look of it and I've had some people tell me it's a Soulslike (which have I played a few this year) and some say more like God of War or Devil May Cry etc that I do want to play but was never buying of PSN for £55, where here if I don't like it not lost anything.

Botany Manor, another indie that's been elsewhere coming to PlayStation though is still in Game Pass that I should just play there, know Balla wasn't much on it.

A lot of games but most free to play or in Game Pass, actually buying myself just FANTASIAN.

I'm interested in trying the new version of Pocket Camp now that I can just buy it . . . Depends on the price and if I see any reviews.

Yeah, put that one in for you, same for Monument Valley 3 for @Crumpy Andy as he often mentions Netflix games.

The  @Balladeer list I'm thinking Antonblast as like Wario Land, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension as it's a JRPG from Hironobu Sakaguchi.

I'm not actually that big a Wario Land fan.  I found it strange and creepy and (in 4 at least) the reverse rushes kind of annoying.  I do find Antonblast more interesting than Pizza Tower because it doesn't look horrible however much people pretend it's "stylistic suck" or whatever, but I'm in no hurry for it.  As for FANTASIAN...

...look, I've currently got eight (non-co-op) games on the go in varying stages, and two more queued up on my Switch.  I think three of those launched in November and all, and because of my yearly writing thing I've done bugger-all gaming in the month.  Two of the eight (Brothership and Bloomtown) are JRPGs or genre-adjacent, and I've asked for another two JRPGs for Christmas (Trails Through Daybreak and Ys X).  I can't remember the last time I've been this flush for gaming options.  If nothing caught my eye when I looked through that list of games, that's not a problem at all.

Antonblast has a demo btw also I thought it's visuals made the game way more chaotic than it needed to be which also made the platforming harder.

----

Like mas I'll probably also wait for a Soul Reaver 1+2 physical edition so my only December buy will be Worms Armageddon anniversary.

Even been eight games on Switch this year?*

Did I recommend Bloomtown in one of these as Balla game?  Trails and Ys, I still need to check out those series, which Daybreak makes a lot of sense being a new arc, and I was going to, just other games came out around the same time. Now it's do I look at Daybreak or checkout next year Sky Remake, is what I'm thinking.

Feel Ys is easier to jump into as it's ohh here's a new adventure with Adol, VIII is on Plus and feel most people (I said most, @Balladeer) like that one, IX I just don't like the look of the setting from what I have seen, X I do like the viking-like setting it's going for.  

Just with those series and others from publishers such as Falcom, I do tend to miss as I often go for the Square Enix or Atlus published RPG, and I've still not even picked up GOTY contender Metaphor Refantazio.

*That was a tad serious as not been a huge lot of chat on here, one of the reasons I tagged you and  @Crumpy Andy here to get some use on the forum, and the lack of anything big from Nintendo hasn't got chat going on the forum like a TotK did, I feel. And as I said on discord shame to see so few taking part in Secret Santa and I can see the end of year GNamer awards being like four people taking part as well. Hopefully Switch 2, will get us talking about what we're buying at launch, then what we've played and looking forward to Mario Kart X later in the year etc

@The_Jaster Thought Black Myth might have been up your street, or you played it already?

Peach
Zelda
Paper Mario
Mario + Luigi
Unicorn Overlord
Animal Well
Sonic x Shadow
Mario Party

There's 8 just off the dome.

They'll be hundreds with what's put on the eShop. Just a musing of not great year for Nintendo, in my opinion, you might think its been great, which ties into a Nintendo-centric forum having less chat.

Like I tried to get backlog chat going for Nontendo systems like Balla does for Nintendo, and keep this monthly thread going to keep GNamer active.

Might be lot of you doing other things nowadays, why slowly less on here. Another reason like GGS, of hey its the GNamer lads, and can findout what a Andy been playing or how's Muss doing.

masofdas wrote:

@The_Jaster Thought Black Myth might have been up your street, or you played it already?

Nah, from what I've heard Black Myth Wukong is all visuals and no subtance.

I'll let you know when I get for Christmas, that Golden Joystick winner, though think the fans of Black Myth seem to be pretty intense, who would have swung the vote.

masofdas wrote:

Like I tried to get backlog chat going for Nontendo systems  like Balla does for Nintendo, and keep this monthly thread going to keep GNamer active.

Might be lot of you doing other things nowadays, why slowly less on here. Another reason like GGS, of hey its the GNamer lads, and can findout what a Andy been playing or how's Muss doing.

The conversations just moved onto different things. And at least for me who only posts here and isn’t involved with any of the podcasts or websites associated with GNamer, I just feel that in 2024 I’ve not had as much to talk about with Nintendo gaming. Things have gotten much busier in my personal and work life lately too, unfortunately making the time to type up posts for here has been at a bit of a premium.


~
 
There’s nothing in December I’m going to be buying straight away, but just like Jaster I’ll wait for the Soul Reaver physical edition that’ll no doubt be on the way. The Worms Anniversary Collection will get bought one way or another, but whether that’s physically or digitally will depend on how much the prices drop on the eShop and in the ‘actual’ shops.

Yeah, sorta what Cappa says goes for me too; you guys are still the only peeps I regular talk vidjagames with, and if I have a convo about games I'll always start with you guys (although maybe on the Discord first) but a lot of personal commitments and blows, and general ill-feeling about the world, has meant there's been less time for them.

Bit late to start complaining about the place dying now Mas, we've been in "managed decline" for ages. Old hands stop posting, new people aren't coming (anybody tried convincing Ben to sign up/post?), and the rest of us have a fair bit on.  I know I've barely been here in November as I've had my annual writing thing.  I should be around more from now but other folks will have Christmas stuff on.  The Discord has increased our community but we get less forum traffic as a result, because people just don't have time or energy or desire for long posts any more.  It's not great for me personally but it's the way of the world/'Net.

As for Nintendo games this year, I think Mas maybe has a point.  Apart from Zelda (and I was surprised about the lack of EoW chat) I struggle to think of anything that's been (a) not a remaster and (b) really discussion-drivingly good.  Peach had Buska going to bat for it (natch) but otherwise seemed a bit 7/10 at most.  I've struggled with the pacing in Mario & Luigi.  Mario Party is, well, a Mario Party.  TTYD was a remaster, Another Code was a remaster that was also niche and bad.  Outside Nintendo some of the movers on Switch were:
- Animal Well - the whole deal is that you don't talk about it because the whole game's secrets on top of secrets
- Balatro - damn it I'm glad Balatro talk didn't make it here because people just saying how long they've played it for or how addictive it is is shite patter
- Ace Attorney Investigations Collection - yeah okay this one is valid, it had an entirely new AA for the West, where the heck were you all!?  (Me, I'm still trying to get The Lady to play it with me.)

But really, is this so surprising?  Wasn't this year always going to be a holding year for the Switch 2?  And I think it's been pretty good for that!  I've still found lots of smaller interesting games to play, and JRPG fans at least feel like we've been eating pretty well.  It's just that we don't have the critical mass of JRPG fans on here to get chatter on that front inspired (without Andy and Jay being about much, and we know why Andy's busy at least).  It's been a decent Switch year for a holding year I think, but a mediocre Switch year for big games and a mediocre year for discussion on here.

I think next year will be much better. (Also do the forum tags even do anything?)

Jimbob wrote:

Yeah, sorta what Cappa says goes for me too; you guys are still the only peeps I regular talk vidjagames with, and if I have a convo about games I'll always start with you guys (although maybe on the Discord first) but a lot of personal commitments and blows, and general ill-feeling about the world, has meant there's been less time for them.

Hugs, but also, have you played Rise of the Golden Idol?  I'm enjoying it much more than Case and I want somebody to talk about it with!

I believe the tags might send you a email, sure I've had them.

Ohh think Andy, is one of those Balatro people.

And yes hope 2025 when get Switch 2 announcement, launch etc brings people here.