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(10/12/18 6:46am)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of God Friended Me.
In the introduction of last episode’s review, I talked about Pure Flix films and how God Friended Me gave off a similar vibe. This episode, titled “The Good Samaritan,” makes me re-think that comparison a little bit.
Pure Flix films tend to depict atheists or the concept of atheism as an “antagonist” of sorts. Take the movie God’s Not Dead, for example. In that film, the only character that could really be called an “antagonist” is the professor who lost his faith when his mother died. He’s hateful, spiteful, and outwardly negative against the good religious people shown in the film. They aren’t trying to create an open dialogue; Pure Flix films are quite literally preaching to the choir.
God Friended Me takes a different approach. This episode literally has Miles Finer mention that he wants his podcast to create a dialogue between people with faith and people without, and the show almost reaches that idea. It doesn’t quite achieve in creating a discussion, but it does send a message of acceptance for people on both sides of the argument. It’s admirable that a show with a premise this dumb tries to do that. It doesn’t make it any better of a show to watch, but it’s still admirable.
(10/12/18 12:03am)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review is of the PC version and was conducted on a PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
For a franchise as legendary as Mega Man, it still remains a shock that the series was dormant for so long. Capcom famously attempted to destroy the franchise during the dark ages of the company, cancelling game after game after game at varying stages of development. The cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 remains the most heart-breaking, considering the game had a fully fleshed out demo before getting iced by corporate. The rise of Kickstarter didn’t do the Blue Bomber any more favors, as his bootleg brother Beck ended up in one of the highest profile disasters of 2016, Mighty No. 9. Even with an appearance in Smash 4, it seemed the character would simply fade to dust and nostalgic merchandise.
Then, out of nowhere following successful releases of the Mega Man Legacy Collections, Capcom drops their announcement of Mega Man 11, a modern revival of the classic series. With a promising demo and only good news coming out of development, it is my pleasure to say that Mega Man 11 is a fantastic return to form for a once-dead legend.
(10/03/18 4:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the Android version and was conducted on a Samsung Galaxy S6
(10/03/18 1:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode of God Friended Me.
(10/02/18 3:47am)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review contains spoilers for this episode of God Friended Me.
Have you ever seen a Pure Flix film? The films are cheap, contain varying qualities of acting, and have a message that, no matter how you view it, is definitely hamfisted. As in like a full holiday ham is delivering the message about God to the silver screen. Some of these films have managed to blend in with real films and get shown in actual cinemas, and they even have a streaming service for those who are interested in having their films on-demand. None of those films are particularly good, though some are entertaining in ways the directors likely never intended. Having seen more than my fair share of these films, I have to say the only one worth watching is Faith of Our Fathers, because it was so unintentionally hilarious that it was oddly compelling.
In a way, God Friended Me captures that kind of essence, creating a show that can in no objective way be considered “good,” but still manages to deliver something compelling to watch.
(10/02/18 1:42am)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review is of the Android version and was conducted on a Samsung Galaxy S6
Mobile gaming is, and has for a while been, the new wild west of video gaming. However, we aren’t talking about the lawless, stand-off at high noon, romanticized wild west that Flash gaming was. Mobile gaming is the wild west where everyone is trying to rob and scam you until you die of dysentery. There are so many devious mobile games that seemingly only exist to dupe naive kids into spending their parents money on games with titles like Strange Rope Hero or Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. At the very least, with more competent developers entering the mobile gaming scene, we start to see more quality, fleshed-out experiences that only nickel-and-dime you a little bit.
Nintendo, for instance, has been putting out a number of solid mobile games that don’t feel like extreme cash grabs to a casual player. Super Mario Run was a solid game, Fire Emblem Heroes was surprisingly good despite a lack of depth, and Pokemon Quest might actually be my favorite of the bunch because of how well designed its progression is. I’ve also heard that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp was pretty entertaining, despite not having played it myself. Now, with Dragalia Lost, Nintendo has proven that despite making a quality game, they too can aggressively nickel-and-dime you like every other mobile developer on the market.
(09/28/18 4:00am)
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
(09/27/18 6:16pm)
by Tanner Kinney
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Warner Bros. has a problem. The market is booming with superheroes and superhero accessories, with Marvel making a killing, and pseudo-superhero films fairing pretty well too. Meanwhile, DC was recently coming off the Christopher Nolan Batman films when this trend started, and so they attempted to keep that style. As it turns out, audiences don’t react well to dark, gritty, confusing, and boring superhero films. They managed to squander one of the most anticipated film concepts with Batman v. Superman, and not even their big ensemble Justice League movie did well. Now, with news of various characters like Batman, Superman, and The Joker getting recast due to their original actors abandoning the project, it seems like DC’s ship has holes that can’t be plugged by CGI lips and reshoots.
Can Warner Bros. still save their superhero goldmine? Or has it already gone too far towards collapse that it can’t be saved? Let’s examine what DC has coming up soon, and if there’s even a slim chance that they can start making money again.
(09/18/18 5:02am)
By Tanner Kinney
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Another year, another terrible awards show. The Emmys have a long standing history and this year is celebrating the diversity of their nominees and hosts. Unfortunately, that’s the only diversity the 70th primetime Emmys can celebrate. Despite their numerous hosts celebrating the “evolution of TV” and the “diversity of TV”, the primetime show is still too terrified to give an award to someone who might scare the mildly racist elderly people. Like really? Donald Glover loses so many awards despite being nominated for so many? And to shows that are objectively worse in quality? That sounds like a scandal waiting to happen.
Sure, you can see that more women are winning awards on primetime TV, but we’re still missing color. Even the hosts are making jokes about how white the Emmys are. When you have James Corden even making jokes about it, you’ve achieved something truly terrible. And just so we’re clear, making jokes about it doesn’t make it go away. Just Googling “Emmys 2018 winners” and scrolling that bar to the right reveals 50 shades of white. Maybe they are more deserving though? That’s a fair argument to make, so let’s look at some of the nominations.
The first example comes from “outstanding lead actor in a comedy series.” You have people like Anthony Anderson from black-ish and Donald Glover from Atlanta. Who wins? Bill Hader, you know, the guy from Trainwreck, that Amy Schumer comedy? What about lead comedy actress? Rachel Brosnahan, another white woman from an admittedly pretty good show. Alright, so how about “lead actor from a limited TV show or series”? John Legend as actual Jesus Christ? Nope, give it to Darren Chris, which makes my 12-year-old self very happy but horribly disappoints my 20-year-old self. Sure, you can point out that they gave an Emmy to Regina King and Thandie Newton, but that’s the only two out of so many other Emmys given out on the live show. And if you really want to talk about robbed, just look at Anthony Anderson's reaction to when his show lost best comedy to a show that had already been sweeping tons of other awards.
The only real justice in this show is RuPaul winning an award for best reality show competition, and even that was ruined by the award being presented by Rick and Morty. Does NBC even have a high enough IQ to comprehend Rick and Morty? Because, to be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand what in the world NBC was thinking with this show.
This trend here completely contrasts with how the Emmy’s projects their image. The hosts are all talking about how “progressive” the industry is, making left-leaning comments and bashing modern politics. They literally had a segment giving “reparation Emmys,” complete with bad jokes and actual real fake hip-hop music, which may be possibly the most poorly thought out thing NBC has done yet. The joke was that they were giving awards to black people who got robbed because “awards shows used to be so bigoted.” Get it? The industry was so racist giving awards to only white people! Good thing we’ve moved past that, giving awards to only a majority of white people.
The segment was not only painful, but horribly hypocritical and almost as tone-deaf as CBS’s The Neighborhood. It’s clear that the Emmys are just acting progressive for brownie points, despite the fact that they are still an Academy run by, and ultimately for, white people.
If you need another sign about how terrible this Emmy awards show was, they gave an Emmy to THE OSCARS! I didn’t even know that was a thing that was possible! That’s like if I reviewed my features and gave myself an award for them. It’s legitimately the most embarrassing thing I’ve seen in a long time. All I’m saying is: Glenn Weiss? More like Glenn White. Yeah, I get it, that joke wasn’t funny. Just like this joke of an award show.
The strangest thing? If you look online, you’ll see that that there are so many people-of-color winning awards. Awards offline, not on TV. Why is that NBC? What makes you so afraid of giving an award to a black person on live television? What demographic are you really targeting? You speak out about how progressive television is, nominate so many incredible black actors and actresses, and you give awards to people like Bill Hader? Henry Winkler, the freaking Fonz won an award, and he hasn’t done actual TV since he starting peddling life insurance to old people watching The Price is Right. That’s a sign right there that the Emmy’s have jumped the shark.
I think the answer to why the Emmys are doing this is obvious. Who is actually watching TV right now? Live, real television? Grandma. That’s who, and I’m not talking the sweet old Grandma who bakes you cookies; I’m talking your other Grandma. The Grandma you can’t invite to family outings ever since cousin Gary married that sweet black lady who works at Target. She can’t actually hear what’s being said on the TV, but she can see. She sees a person-of-color win an award, starts mailing letters to NBC full of complaints and comments that would make a 4Chaner blush-- Now, I’m not saying that NBC is catering to bigots. What I am saying is that there’s gotta be a reason somewhere. And if Letitia Wright's reaction to getting robbed for her award is any indication, it's the worst reason possible.
Now, when the Oscars roll around and they give a majority of awards to white people, are we gonna get angry again? Why do we have to keep getting angry? It’s clear the industry is leaning towards a private position that is nearly opposite to its public position. You can only claim “deserving contenders” for so long before people start to question what you consider a “deserving” trait. And when the Oscars are so white? I’ll be back here again, picketing with everyone else for more real diversity in this industry.
(09/18/18 4:47am)
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
(09/07/18 7:00pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the PC version and was conducted on a PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
(09/06/18 4:00pm)
By Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review is of the PC version and was conducted on a PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 960, i7, 8GBs of RAM.
Retro-style platformers are not a new thing. The popularity of indie games made it so any hack with GameMaker Studio could go about crafting their own platformer. I even attempted to make my own Mega Man style platformer when I was younger. That’s why, if someone were to deep dive into fan games based on a platforming franchise, they’d find pretty much only trash there. It used to be rare for retro platformers to break the mold. Nowadays, thanks to Kickstarter and publishers like Devolver Digital, more truly unique platformers make it to market. Most recently, a Ninja Gaiden/Shinobi inspired game titled The Messenger has proven that in a genre as overdone as the platformer, there’s still room to make something truly incredible.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QcMMp8vFvM[/embed]
(08/23/18 1:00pm)
There was once somebody that told me, “Being a child is like being high all the time.” At first, this concept didn’t make much sense, but it’s actually a pretty interesting thought. After all, there are many activities, games, songs, television shows, and movies that are beloved by children, but are later discovered to be utter trash. Even the imaginary games played in the woods were exciting and fun. Eventually though, adult sensibilities and responsibilities block the act of having dumb fun. Doing nothing and enjoying life, instead of grinding for wealth or power or social media clout. At least, for a lot of children there are no serious worries, only good times.
(08/20/18 4:36pm)
by Tanner Kinney
There was once somebody that told me, “Being a child is like being high all the time.” At first, this concept didn’t make much sense, but it’s actually a pretty interesting thought. After all, there are many activities, games, songs, television shows, and movies that are beloved by children, but are later discovered to be utter trash. Even the imaginary games played in the woods were exciting and fun. Eventually though, adult sensibilities and responsibilities block the act of having dumb fun. Doing nothing and enjoying life, instead of grinding for wealth or power or social media clout. At least, for a lot of children there are no serious worries, only good times.
Despite this idea being shown in the film Christopher Robin, the unfortunate thing is that kids would probably not enjoy watching this movie. And for adults, it leaves… mixed feelings.
(07/22/18 1:00pm)
One of the most iconic games of the golden days of game developer Rare is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. A game that originally was another collect-a-thon with cute animals and wacky antics, Rare rebuilt the game and made it an M-Rated classic. People always talk about how deceptive the game was, with its cutesy Rare art style combined with well-endowed flowers, heavy drinking, and a reaper named Greg. Yet, the game made its intentions very clear from the get-go, with plenty of warnings for those who aren’t comfortable with its brand of humor.
(07/17/18 12:17am)
by Tanner Kinney
One of the most iconic games of the golden days of game developer Rare is Conker’s Bad Fur Day. A game that originally was another collect-a-thon with cute animals and wacky antics, Rare rebuilt the game and made it an M-Rated classic. People always talk about how deceptive the game was, with its cutesy Rare art style combined with well-endowed flowers, heavy drinking, and a reaper named Greg. Yet, the game made its intentions very clear from the get-go, with plenty of warnings for those who aren’t comfortable with its brand of humor.
I mention Conker, because The Spiral Scouts is a perfect successor in the line of cutesy-raunchy adventure games, complete with excellent puzzles, incredible music, a lovely art style, and an absolutely disgusting sense of humor that is a treat to experience. What else could be expected from the minds behind Huniepop?
(07/13/18 9:00pm)
Marvel’s long-term plans led up to a really stunning and impressive film with Infinity War, where there were actual stakes, a threatening villain, and actions with consequences. Unfortunately, in an effort to not spoil the events of Infinity War, Disney-Marvel had to keep movies on schedule. Staying on schedule meant that, inevitably, the film to follow up Infinity War would feel like a step down on every level. Ant-Man drew the short straw, and got its sequel slotted not even three months after Infinity War.
(07/11/18 1:00pm)
By Tanner Kinney
Marvel’s long-term plans led up to a really stunning and impressive film with Infinity War, where there were actual stakes, a threatening villain, and actions with consequences. Unfortunately, in an effort to not spoil the events of Infinity War, Disney-Marvel had to keep movies on schedule. Staying on schedule meant that, inevitably, the film to follow up Infinity War would feel like a step down on every level. Ant-Man drew the short straw, and got its sequel slotted not even three months after Infinity War.
While Ant-Man and the Wasp can’t escape its fate of being pretty pointless and small compared to Infinity War, it’s still a good enough film that provides some good laughs and decent action despite its boring visuals.
(07/05/18 8:37pm)
Disclaimer: This review is of the Nintendo Switch version of the game and was played primarily in docked mode. This copy of the game was provided free of charge by the developer for review purposes.
(07/05/18 4:47pm)
by Tanner Kinney
Disclaimer: This review is of the Nintendo Switch version of the game and was played primarily in docked mode. This copy of the game was provided free of charge by the developer for review purposes.
When Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was announced for the PS4, long-time Playstation fans were both shocked and amazed. Finally, a developer was going to give Crash Bandicoot the love it was missing for so long since the IP was acquired by Activision. However, the more incredible thing is that for the first time, the entire Crash Bandicoot trilogy would be available on non-Sony platforms. Particularly, die-hard Nintendo fans could finally experience the trilogy on a Nintendo console. Aside from the fact that Nintendo has claimed the head of another former rival mascot (first Sonic, now Crash), portability for these games is also something that’s great to have in theory.
The Switch port has everything intact from the PS4 version, along with all additional content that was added after release but now with portable capabilities. It’s nothing too special, but for those who’ve never gotten to experience one of pioneers in 3D platforming, it’s a very good treat.
