Steam's Summer Sale for 2025 is now live and running until July 10. It's the perfect time to claim some things on my wishlist. And I'm glad the sale won't end immediately in July. I could use the vacation days.
The MEGA Fallout Red Rocket Truck Stop set is now available in Amazon Canada. The set has been released in November 10, 2024 but mainlythrough Target in the US. The Red Rocket Truck Stop is an iconic location in Fallout 4 and the MEGA set looks fairly faithful to the in-game gas station.
The Red Rocket Truck Stop is the closest settlement to Sanctuary Hills, and is the location of our beloved canine companion, Dogmeat. The Red Rocket Truck Stop serves typically as the player's second home in Fallout 4 complete with a Power Armor station, a weapons workbench, a cooking station inside, and a chemistry station at the back.
However the MEGA brick set can only fit the power armor station and a Nuka Cola fridge inside the interiors. It does come with the Wanderer and Dogmeat. It's a nice addition for any Fallout (4?) fan.
GOG's Summer Sale 2025 have gone live. The GOG summer sale this year will last until July 7! GOG (Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform to videogames (alternative to Steam)
However, GOGs charm lies in their brand messaging of ensuring players own of their games by providing offline installers of your game as backup. Not to mention offering DRM-free games meaning you can play without the Internet.
Return to Silent Hill is an upcoming live action movie based on the Silent Hill 2 psychological survival horror game. What I find interesting is how it will portray James, Mary, and Maria, on a live action movie; whether it will stay faithful to the game's story or not. The movie will release in US theaters on January 23, 2026. I remember that this movie adaptation was also announced around the time when the Silent Hill 2 remake was announced.
People forget that Call of Duty existed on previous Nintendo platforms. I remember that my cousins and I played a Call of Duty 3 online game steering the nunchuk left and right while aiming at players running across the screen. It was wild. Heck, there was Call of Duty: Ghost and Black Ops II on the Wii U. People forgot perhaps due to the Switch's huge success and that there was NO Call of Duty in it. There was an image as if Call of Duty and Nintendo are incompatible.
The latter is somewhat true as Call of Duty didn't run well on Nintendo consoles. That is COD wasn't as appealing graphic-wise and framerate wise compared to Playstation and XBox consoles. However, that may soon change for the Nintendo Switch 2.
Microsoft's acquisition of Activision means that it's time for Microsoft to deliver its 10 year deal with Nintendo of Call of Duty to Nintendo players. Although I still wonder how that will play out as all parties involved demand a much more powerful hardware. Now that the Switch 2 is released, we will see what happens with its custom Nvidia Ampere equivalent card (around 20 or 30 series).
Phil Spencer made the tweet as far as December 2022 of bringing Call of Duty to Nintendo. Maybe bringing back is more accurate. Phil is the current CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Although it's uncertain though what this commitment looks like: namely on ports of older previous COD games. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be the latest addition but there's no announcement to a Switch 2port yet. And despite Microsoft's agreement, there was no clear announcement that Black Ops 7 will be released for the Switch 2 system.
After rumours making rounds on the Internet about another Silent Hill remake, Bloober team posted a video on YouTube that the Silent Hill remake is in development. Silent Hill 2 was announced in 2022 and was released in 2024. We may see the Silent Hill remake on 2027 or early 2029!
I received this message while I was archiving my order:
Starting May 15, 2025, you will no longer be able to archive orders.
Archive orders lets users "hide" their order from the default order history view. Once archived, the past order is moved inside a "folder" called Archived Orders. While searching other sources, I found out that some Amazon customers will no longer be able to archive orders tomorrow (April 30, 2025).
It serves some purpose for those who want to de-clutter the order history which is my case. I keep an individual Prime account. My order history tends to get convoluted with subscription charges and free apps along with my Amazon purchases. However, customers who share the same account can use archive order to hide purchases such as gifts or suprises.
The issue is Amazon Prime subscription (and other such as Prime Music) have increased in the past years. And now they're removing a feature. This is my biggest gripe: paying more for less. You can hide orders in eBay.
This may also cause an issue about customer privacy. With Archived orders, past orders are not deleted. And removing it would only lead to a cluttered order history where everything is stored in order history -- so why remove Archived Orders when all purchases are present? It appears that this seemingly small move would push users to purchase individual Prime accounts. Alternatively, this may also have to do with targeted ads; generating ads based on your cluttered order history.
I'm curious why. If Amazon will develop a new way to organize purchases, then I'm all for it.
inZOI listened to a highly requested feature and added a gameplay option which turns off aging to player ZOIs and other ZOIs in the game world. This option will let players choose whether to pursue aging or not: which is playing a ZOI legacy playthrough, to age ZOIs and create a dynastic family tree. Or have a playthrough without the time crunch and create ageless (and endearing) ZOIs.
inZOI was released in March 27 on Steam. Players were discussing on the inZOI Steam page about their characters aging too fast. One thread piled up response about having an option to turn off aging as it makes the game progress too fast and less enjoyable. Some players want to keep playing the same character for a longer time. However with aging, players can lose their current ZOIs permanently.
With inZOI being new and all, having the option to turn off aging gives more time to learn, and explore the game without feeling rushed. The idea of an impending permadeath to your ZOI would make the game less enjoyable. I also had to stop playing inZOI temporarily because I wanted to wait and see; perhaps the modding community would answer; but I'm glad an official option was implemented.
The Sims 2, 3 and 4 had this aging feature from the start and it does create two modes of play for players. Well you turn off aging on Sims 2 via the game console. One playstyle is to enable it to create a long-running family tree. And the other is simply sticking with your original Sim because you love the character. inZOI's update has covered this gap removing worry about losing a Zoi and allowing for more freeplay.
Wow. Nothing big. But I just want to shout out that my Fruits Basket fansite is about to be 20 years old on October. I hosted my blog, alongside Fruits Basket roleplay blogs, galleries, chapter summaries, and character biographies. Due to changes on how direct linking work in the mid 2010s, some parts of the website have stopped working. But the site can be visited using Wayback Machine.
Doordash partners with Klarna to offer customers flex options to pay for food delivery orders and more. According to this partnership, Doordash will provide more options of payment:
Pay in Full: pay your order immediately.
Pay in 4: split payments in 4 interest free payments.
Pay Later: pay in scheduled time.
Note that this new arrangement will pilot in Doordash's United States market.
Doordash has service fees, aside from a customer subscription. The primary takeaway here is the ability to pay later or pay in installments. If it's not obvious, there's something wrong if you're looking to pay your fast food in installments. If you can't afford your fast food right away, maybe consider cooking or trying again another day? One couldn't help thinking that this would encourage to go into debt.
It's no doubt that financing payments is a unique arrangement for Doordash, primarily a food courier delivery app.
On the other hand, Doordash does deliver non-perishable items as well. Think about same-day Amazon delivery. For example, if someone needed a same day delivery for electronics or a home reno item, and a payment installment is available, then that would make sense. But again Doordash is primarily a food delivery app. Ultimately, this flex option will be available for food items. Hence, eat now, pay later.
How about creating a sister app and naming it Doordash Homes though?
Update: It's fixed now as of 5:58 PM Central.
So I just got back from work and ready to play Heroes of the Storm. However, I'm stuck at authentication. I tried playing on a different region, Europe, and I was able to log in. I tried using another desktop to log in but it still does not authenticate. I deleted the local cache folder, and still stuck at authentication. Tried different accounts and couldn't log into the Americas.
Checked in with Down Detector and it seems that many users are reporting the same issue today of not being able to log in (March 12, around 5:00 PM Central). It's weird because I'm seeing a couple of friends logged into HoTS and WoW. But they're probably logged into a different region. Let's see what happens.
Sony released a 200mb update for the PlayStation 3 labeled version 4.92. The system software update should improve the PS3's system performance. This is quite a pleasant surprise for the beloved console which is almost 20 years old. Better check this out when I get home.
Some of PlayStation 3's best games were the Uncharted titles, Gran Turismo 5/6, Resident Evil 5, and Killzone 2. I remember playing the multiplayer on Uncharted coop for FREE. In fact, you would sign up for a PSN (PlayStation Network) for free back then and play multiplayer sessions for free. Thus GTA V was PS3's best selling game and the Call of Duty franchise made a signifcant sales too. Free multiplayer, it was a highly underrated part of PlayStation 3 gaming. In addition, PlayStation 3 showcased a truly next-generation experience on graphics and hardware.
I've got to be honest, the leaked Sims: Town Stories doesn't look good. And the Google Play URL is no longer available (at least in Canada). Is there demand for another free Sims mobile? But I know a paid full Sims game for the mobile platform will work.
It's ironic how a free to play game doesn't sound fun over a paid one. That's because you expect a paid game to be fully supported and QoL managed from the start.
The Sims: Town Stories was leaked as both a town and home builder. You will meet familiar Sims NPCs like Bella Goth and Bob Pancakes. However, the game feels like an outdated and a redundant concept for its other Sim siblings on mobile. But it's similar to the MySims IP where you're tasked to "build a town and decorate the interiors". And then insert the possible microtransactions.
The graphics look underwhelming. The characters don't have the Sims charm on them. You'll be time gated on energy. And then, viola on two currencies. Perhaps they want to resurrect The Sims Social but even The Sims Social was fun at the start.
The Sims: Town Stories is another spin-off to the Sims franchise on the mobile platform being developed by The Sims Labs. The Sims Freeplay and The Sims Mobile are other spin-off mobile titles. They are all free but monetized through microtransactions. There's this growing feeling that Sims: Town Stories is not ripe yet. Perhaps the collective feeling that it doesn't look fun is the reason why it got pulled back to the drawing board.