Still craving Switch discussion? Good gravy, you insatiable fiends. Fine, here’s some more. Continue reading “TOH Podcast 3 – Switch listener Q&A with Meg Bethany Read”
Tag: Wii U
Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Switch hands-on preview
I wasn’t fortunate enough to get to play the Breath Of The Wild Wii U demo back when it was doing the rounds after E3 last year.
By all accounts, the demo I played last week was the same as that one, with the only obvious difference being that this time it was running on Switch hardware.
Since the contents of the demo itself are more than half a year old now, I figured I’d spare you the same rundown of what it entails, what I got to see and the like. Every site worth its salt already has a hands-on preview of the Wii U version in its archives somewhere, so me adding my own would be like pissing into Lake Hylia.
What I can do, though, is tell you how it feels playing the game on the Switch, as well as going into other details like playing with the Joy-Con Grip and how easy it is to do the whole ‘switching from TV to handheld’ process. Continue reading “Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Switch hands-on preview”
My 100 best (and worst) ONM headline jokes
My six years at the Official Nintendo Magazine were (at the time of writing at least) the best six years of my career.
There were plenty of reasons for this: it was my first major job, it was the job I’d always wanted to do, and there was a massive reader base who regularly communicated with me (many of them still do to this day).
One of the main reasons, though, was that I always had the freedom to tell bad jokes.
I’ve told bad jokes all my life, but usually people at school and uni would groan and walk away. ONM was my chance to tell bad jokes to tens of thousands of people who were less tempted to bail because they’d already paid £3.99 for the privilege. Mwa haaaa.
Recently I was going through my ONM archives and I started chuckling at some of my worst jokes, many of which I’d forgotten over the years. It got me in a nostalgic mood, so I’ve decided to share said nostalgia with you.
I’m going to run a series of articles based on my time at ONM, sharing my favourite ‘funny’ moments. In the future these will include my best screenshot captions and my best review quotes.
Today though, I’m sharing 100 of my headline jokes – be it the headlines themselves or (most often) the snarky one-liners under the game name in previews and reviews. Continue reading “My 100 best (and worst) ONM headline jokes”
The 30 best Wii U games
This is the eighth in my ’30 Best’ series of articles in which I discuss my favourite games ever on a system-by-system basis for the first time in my career. In case you missed them, the full list of other ’30 Best’ articles can be found at the bottom of this page.
’30 Best’ will now be a regular series, thanks to my lovely Patreon followers helping me reach a stretch goal. If you want to contribute and help me reach my next goal (to start a Tired Old Hack podcast), please visit my Patreon page.
There’s a saying in gaming when it comes to Nintendo. Well, there isn’t really but I’m making it up now and I’ve decided it should be one.
When Nintendo does well, it does really well. Look at the Wii, the DS, the SNES, the Game Boy Advance.
But when it does badly – the GameCube, the Virtual Boy – it does really badly, finishing a distant last place against its competitors.
Such was the fate of the Wii U, a console that arrived on the heels of the wildly successful Wii and somehow went on to undo all the fine work Nintendo’s motion-sensitive phenomenon had managed. Continue reading “The 30 best Wii U games”
Lego Dimensions complete character guide – every Year One character reviewed
This week marks the beginning of ‘Year Two’ of Lego Dimensions, the fantastic toys-to-life game by long-time Lego game studio Traveller’s Tales.
Because Year Two introduces a whole bunch of new franchises to the mix, a lot of players will be getting into Lego Dimensions for the first time.
With that in mind, I’ve put together this enormous guide to all 46 characters released during the game’s first year: that’s the 44 main ones and the two limited edition characters Green Arrow and Supergirl. Continue reading “Lego Dimensions complete character guide – every Year One character reviewed”
The week in games – cancelled titles, starter Pokemon
‘The week in games’ is my new weekly series covering the week’s gaming news in a (hopefully) humorous way. If it seems familiar it’s because I tested it out with a couple of articles last year, but now it’s here to stay in a weekly form.
Losing its Spark
Microsoft has finally properly cancelled Project Spark. The free-to-play game is no longer available for download, and if you already have it online services will be cancelled from August.
Anyone who bought the retail version of the game will be getting the price refunded into their Microsoft account. The company will be holding emergency talks to discuss how to recoup the £79.98 they’ll lose as a result of this. Continue reading “The week in games – cancelled titles, starter Pokemon”
10 years as a games journalist – my most memorable moments
On 2 May 2006, I joined Official Nintendo Magazine as a Staff Writer.
After a quick glance at my calendar, I have determined that today is therefore my 10th anniversary as a video games journalist (or critic, or writer or whatever you want to call it: I still don’t really know myself).
Over the past decade I’ve loved every minute of working for ONM, then Nintendo Gamer, then CVG and finally as a freelancer.
And now I’ve got Tired Old Hack, which gives me more freedom to write what I want than I’ve ever had. In short, it’s been a bloody good 10 years.
With that in mind, although games are usually the main focus when I write, I hope you don’t mind if I make today’s article about my own career.
Here are 20 of my favourite memories as a games journalist over the past decade. These are not all of them, not by a long shot: they’re just the ones that stand out at this very moment. Continue reading “10 years as a games journalist – my most memorable moments”
What next for Lego Dimensions? Season two character predictions
The fifth and ‘final’ wave of Lego Dimensions characters is due to be released on 10 May, adding Slimer, Bane and Ninjago character Lloyd to the roster.
Once those three are out, that’ll be essentially be the entire first batch of Dimensions figures available to buy. But it probably won’t be ending there.
Warner Bros and developer Traveller’s Tales have made it very clear that there’s a three-year plan for Lego Dimensions, and so far we’re only 7 months into it.
It’s almost certain that more ‘seasons’ of content are on the way, adding even more characters as well as (hopefully) level packs and free-roaming adventure worlds to expand the game further.
On Friday, an apparent promotional image showing off a Supergirl minifig for Lego Dimensions was supposedly leaked, suggesting the second batch of content could be announced any time now.
With that in mind, I’ve put together this list of 20 potential new licences I’d love to see in Lego Dimensions, to join the 14 already in the game. Continue reading “What next for Lego Dimensions? Season two character predictions”
Lego Dimensions – Midway Arcade level pack review
Lego Dimensions is a ridiculously ambitious crossover of all things pop culture, bringing together characters from popular movies, TV shows, comic books, toys and games in one massive mash-up.
However, until now the latter category there – video games – has been a bit under-represented, with only Portal 2 flying the interactive flag. That’s finally changed with the Midway Arcade level pack.
Having already treated us with individual level packs focusing on The Simpsons, Back To The Future, Portal 2, Doctor Who and Ghostbusters, this sixth and final (for now) level pack is aimed squarely at retro gamers, particularly those who had a soft spot for ‘80s arcade games.
What may surprise you, though, is that this isn’t really your conventional Lego game level. Instead, it’s more of a retro gaming compilation, a bit like the old Midway Arcade Treasures games back in the day. Continue reading “Lego Dimensions – Midway Arcade level pack review”
World exclusive – A look at all the Sonic characters in Mario & Sonic At The Rio 2016 Olympic Games
Mario & Sonic At The Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the fifth game in the Mario & Sonic series, is released in Europe on 8 April, which coincidentally happens to be my birthday.
The last Mario & Sonic game featured 20 playable characters, ten each from both the Mario and Sonic universes.
Recently Sega dropped a bombshell by revealing that another TWENTY characters would be added to the Rio game, on top of the 20 already there.
Naturally, this has led to some wondering what Sonic characters are left, considering the previous game had fucking Vector the Crocodile in it.
Well, here at Tired Old Hack I can finally bring to you this world exclusive look at every character in Team Sonic, thanks to Sega who gave me unprecedented access because of the whole birthday thing or something.
Enjoy, and remember where you saw this first – for future news bombshells, keep it tired and keep it old. Continue reading “World exclusive – A look at all the Sonic characters in Mario & Sonic At The Rio 2016 Olympic Games”
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