Month: March 2021

Super Mario Bros fans are panicking over rumors that Mario is going to die

Gamer's Outpost LLC

Image credit: Nintendo

by Clare Duffy, CNN Business

New York (CNN Business)Grab the tissues.

The internet is freaking out over a rumor about the possible impending death of Mario, the famous, red-wearing, Italian plumber who changed the world of video games with the release of “Super Mario Bros” 35 years ago.

Let’s back up: In September, the “Super Mario Bros” franchise celebrated its 35th anniversary with the launch of two remastered, classic games — “Super Mario 3D All-Stars” and “Super Mario Bros 35” — for the Switch console that would be available for a limited run until March 31. Nintendo (NTDOF), which owns the franchise, also released other 35th anniversary Super Mario products that would be on sale through March 31.

Fans have been grappling to understand why sales of the new products will cease on Wednesday, a date many felt was arbitrary. Many have speculated that it may mean Mario’s…

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System Split: Worlds Without Number and D&D Fifth Edition

Cannibal Halfling Gaming

It’s never been a better time to be a dungeon crawler. Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition and Pathfinder, two versions of the same underlying D&D ruleset, are bestsellers 1 and 2 in the RPG world, and have been for some time. Pathfinder is built for detail and breadth of options, while D&D’s Fifth Edition is built for accessibility and continuity with earlier versions and settings. They offer two versions of a fairly modern D&D experience, where GMs run story arc-based campaigns built around fighting monsters and exploring dungeons. Characters are treated like protagonists, and death is relatively rare. At the same time, we’ve seen a resurgence in “old-school” playstyles, usually represented within the D&D ecosystem by the OSR. Old-school games tend to have fewer rules, presenting challenges and decisions to the players rather than the characters. They tend to have weaker characters who aren’t treated like protagonists, and they need…

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Sony Closing PlayStation Store for PS3, PSP and PS Vita on July 2nd

VIRTUAL BASTION

Well, it’s finally happening. PlayStation Store services are finally being brought to an end for PSP, PS Vita and PlayStation 3. It was only a matter of time, and indeed this is something practically every knew was coming eventually, but it’s still kind of amazing. Once this hits, there are going to be a lot of games and features that will not longer be accessible through normal means. This is the inevitability we all face in an increasingly digital download-only future.


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Backlog Attack – #MaybeInMarch

Frostilyte Writes

Back in February I took part in the annual collaboration event that Kim and Genni host every year regarding loving one’s backlog. I don’t know specifically what it is about gaming, but it seems that there is no short supply of people out there with ridiculous backlogs of games they intend to get around to at some point. As such, every year our illustrious event hosts challenge everyone to play the game that has sat in their backlog the longest and report back. I have once again chosen to participate and unlike last year I actually did so in March. So here’s to #MaybeInMarch.

Starting off, I noted in my love your backlog post that there was a four way tie for the game that has sat in my backlog the longest. Where a normal person would have chosen a single game to play I instead elected to see how…

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Rise of the Runelords #36: The Nightsoil Marauders

Pathfinders' Guild of Berkeley

In a missing chapter of our tale, the party allied with the goblin who had tried to rob them. They find out she was trying to join a goblin gang called The Nightsoil Marauders, based in Magnimar’s sewers. The party smells loot and goes in. -GM

10th of Neth, 4707 AR

Deryyl Day is still stuck on the sewer ooze and is dying. Sylandia jumps in to help him but takes a bunch of damage. Chtanmuch, which is a lotus leshy monk, is introduced to the party followed by a goblin which Jail crit one-shot 360 no scope yeetisdeleatised.

We kill the rest of the goblins and find our first couple of bugbears and alchemist which hit us with a fire potion so we kill them. Then we go into a lock-picking room where Brennan summons a cabin.

We try to heal and get ambushed by a bunch of goblins…

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Single-try dungeon challenges in MMORPGs

GamingSF

It’s a rarity in modern MMORPG gaming to face a challenge that you can’t retry. In single player RPGs there may be consequences for failure in fighting a boss or other encounter, though with save games such consequences are usually not so permanent. In MMORPGs, usually, there are no chances to “load back” if something goes wrong, but then you can just respawn and try again anyway. I’ve written before about death-zerging encounters that are maybe too high level or too tough for my character. In some cases you are able to reenter the fray after defeat before the fight even ends and can whittle down the boss’ health by repeatedly rejoining the battle.

It was with some consternation then, that we faced a “one-shot” challenge in the WoW Classic version of Scholomance, yesterday. Our beta-team Horde characters have finally reached the last tier of dungeons in Classic, and are…

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Ashlord’s Fall

Dyson's Dodecahedron

Ashlord's Fall (300 dpi promotional)
Ashlord’s Fall (300 dpi promotional)

Somewhere near the bottom of this dungeon is the Ashlord’s staff. At least, that’s what the scrolls you recovered from the cave full of ember zombies seem to indicate. The Ashlord himself is obviously long gone from this world – an everburning lich isn’t something that just stops making public appearances.

Ashlord's Fall (1200 dpi)
Ashlord’s Fall (1200 dpi)

The dungeon itself is centred around a 40 foot square shaft that descends about 80 feet from the balcony at the top level to the fiery glowing 12 foot hemisphere at the bottom. The Ashlord’s minions seem immortal in their way – their bodies slowly crumbling to ash when slain and then reforming within d4+1 hours in a flash of flames.

Ashlord's Fall (1200 dpi - no grid)
Ashlord’s Fall (1200 dpi – no grid)

The 1200 dpi version of the map was drawn at a scale of 300 pixels per square and is 14,400 pixels (48…

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Super Mario 64: A Retrospective

Super Mario 3D All-Stars features Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy.

As most gamers well know, the Super Mario franchise just celebrated the plucky plumber’s 35th anniversary with a slew of content, from new LEGO branded merchandise, to a theme park opening in Japan, as well as a HD re-release on Switch of three classic games in the form of Super Mario 3D All Stars. In this collection is Super Mario 64, a landmark title that almost singlehandedly proved that gaming could succeed in the third dimension and provide an evolved experience compared to its 2D predecessors. Just as millions of other Nintendo Switch owners have done, I recently revisited the title, and walked away with ten worthwhile impressions, some giving me improved reflection on how far we have come in gaming in the past quarter-century, and others that reaffirm why this…

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