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The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2026 11:03 am
by jfissel
World of Warcraft: Midnight (PC, Mac) – March 2
Esoteric Ebb (PC) - March 3
Gnaughty Gnomes (PC) - March 3
Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) - March 3
Scott Pilgrim EX (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC) - March 3
Homura Hime (PC) - March 4
Marathon (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) - March 5
Never Grace: The Witch and the Curse (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, PC) - March 5
Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch 2, Switch, PC) - March 5
Pokemon Pokopia (Switch 2) - March 5
Poker Night at the Inventory (Remaster) (PlayStation 4, Switch, PC) – March 5
Portrait of a Torn (PlayStation 5) – March 5
Slay the Spire 2 (PC early access) - March 5
Timberborn (PC) – March 5
Heart of the Machine (PC) - March 6
Lost and Found Co. (PC) - March 6
Mirage 7 (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC) - March 6
Over The Top: WW1 (PC) - March 6
Sumerian Six (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S) – March 6


Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 38 games

Beat the YK3 story and currently working through the rest of the trophies for that part of the game. Then comes the Dark Ties spinoff game with Mine.

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Sun Mar 01, 2026 5:48 pm
by isthatallyougot
Have any of you guys got anything special a'brewin' for the rest of the year?!? RE9 just came out, the DQ VII remake (j/cane?), whatever? I've got lots of things I'd like to try if I could ever tear myself away from my true love!!!! Not bloody likely! ;)

Man, OOTP just sucks me in and won't let go, ha! Well if you can't live for your bliss, life ain't worth too much, I reckon. So, in the honor of the coming spring, baseball, optimism, happy vibes and the ever-recurring and natural renewal of seasons and cycles (and argyle's presumably sweet new set-up!), I offer a couple tracks in that spirit for the virtual spinner:

(I could easily have thrown out Here Comes the Sun here, and it's surely a deserving classic, but it gets/has gotten an abundance of play over the years.)




Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:10 am
by canedaddy
isthatallyougot wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 5:48 pm Have any of you guys got anything special a'brewin' for the rest of the year?!? RE9 just came out, the DQ VII remake (j/cane?), whatever? I've got lots of things I'd like to try if I could ever tear myself away from my true love!!!! Not bloody likely! ;)
Good question. I'm rarely buying games on day 1 these days, but there are a handful slated to come out this year that might change that (GTA VI, Marvel's Wolverine, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Blood of the Dawnwalker). We will see!


Played recently: Horizon: Forbidden West

Finished: nothing

Added to backlog: nothing

I wasn't super excited to start Forbidden West, maybe because I heard so much negativity online, but I finally fired it up and I'm really enjoying it so far (even though some of the criticism is undeniably true). Beautiful game, fun world to explore, robot dinosaurs, I cannot complain.

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2026 5:00 pm
by argyle
Games added: Halloween / Ash vs Evil Dead double-pack (Switch)

Last week: Finished F:NV - Old World Blues

This week: Playing Dead Island 2, Silent Hill 2 Remake


Played some Dead Ilsand 2 last night (it's been on Gamepass where I tried it out, but it was $7 for the game & all expansions on the MS store so I went ahead & bought it). It's dumb fun, so I think I'll stick with it for a bit. Trying to catch up at work this week so I have very little brain power left at night.


Oh, here's the pics I promised of my turntable setup!

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Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2026 7:50 pm
by isthatallyougot
argyle wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 5:00 pm Games added: Halloween / Ash vs Evil Dead double-pack (Switch)

Last week: Finished F:NV - Old World Blues

This week: Playing Dead Island 2, Silent Hill 2 Remake


Played some Dead Ilsand 2 last night (it's been on Gamepass where I tried it out, but it was $7 for the game & all expansions on the MS store so I went ahead & bought it). It's dumb fun, so I think I'll stick with it for a bit. Trying to catch up at work this week so I have very little brain power left at night.


Oh, here's the pics I promised of my turntable setup!


PXL_20260303_032722222.jpgPXL_20260303_032741489.jpgPXL_20260303_032758167.jpgPXL_20260303_032812344.jpg
VERY cool! Thanks for sharing. I see your homage to Roxette (I remember how much you love them) on your wall. It's a shame that Marie's life ended so relatively young. Well, since you've been so busy, maybe you can just listen to music rather than gaming for some chill time.

I definitely want to hear your SH2 remake impressions. It's HIGH on the list of my all-time favorites - the original, and I was very skeptical of a treatment doing it justice, but despite my reservations, it seems to have hit the mark.

I just recently re-watched an older classic in Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time in many years. What a film!


Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2026 11:52 am
by canedaddy
That is a dope setup, argyle! What is the thing that looks like a controller on top of the Sharp machine at right?

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2026 3:37 pm
by jfissel
isthatallyougot wrote: Sun Mar 01, 2026 5:48 pm Have any of you guys got anything special a'brewin' for the rest of the year?!? RE9 just came out, the DQ VII remake (j/cane?), whatever? I've got lots of things I'd like to try if I could ever tear myself away from my true love!!!! Not bloody likely! ;)
GTA VI for sure, 007 First Light most likely. Unsure about other new games yet to release, but Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Wolverine might get a spot. Other than that, DQ7R is a buy for me at some point for another 2026 release. I would like to play Indiana Jones and Clair Obscur this year as well.
canedaddy wrote: Mon Mar 02, 2026 10:10 am I wasn't super excited to start Forbidden West, maybe because I heard so much negativity online, but I finally fired it up and I'm really enjoying it so far (even though some of the criticism is undeniably true). Beautiful game, fun world to explore, robot dinosaurs, I cannot complain.
what was the negativity? I don't even remember at this point, lol.

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2026 10:36 am
by canedaddy
jfissel wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 3:37 pm what was the negativity? I don't even remember at this point, lol.
One thing I recall is the gripe that NPCs gave you hints/suggestions before you even had a chance to look where to go or what to do, and that is 100% true.

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2026 4:52 pm
by jfissel
canedaddy wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2026 10:36 am
jfissel wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 3:37 pm what was the negativity? I don't even remember at this point, lol.
One thing I recall is the gripe that NPCs gave you hints/suggestions before you even had a chance to look where to go or what to do, and that is 100% true.
Ah yes, I remember a few times where I just wanted to think for a second and a character said something. That wasn't patched out over the years?

Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 426: 2/28/26: Marathon & Pokemon Pokopia Edition

Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2026 10:40 am
by argyle
isthatallyougot wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 7:50 pm VERY cool! Thanks for sharing. I see your homage to Roxette (I remember how much you love them) on your wall. It's a shame that Marie's life ended so relatively young. Well, since you've been so busy, maybe you can just listen to music rather than gaming for some chill time.
I have been doing that as well. It's very nice having my turntable back in operation - I enjoy putting on an album and listening to the whole thing as intended without skipping songs, etc.
isthatallyougot wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 7:50 pmI definitely want to hear your SH2 remake impressions. It's HIGH on the list of my all-time favorites - the original, and I was very skeptical of a treatment doing it justice, but despite my reservations, it seems to have hit the mark.
It's one of my favorites too. I really don't think anything can top the experience I had with that game when it first came out. I had a ritual of sorts with it, I would only play it very late at night with all of the lights out. Really set the mood. It made a lot of that game really stick with me. I haven't gotten very far in the remake - been more in the mood for hacking zombies to pieces after getting off work this week - but I'll probably play it some more this weekend. I'm trying to look at it as its own thing, because I just think comparing it to my memory of the original is going to hurt it. But that's hard to do.
isthatallyougot wrote: Tue Mar 03, 2026 7:50 pmI just recently re-watched an older classic in Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time in many years. What a film!
Tam put on one of the most recent Dracula remakes last weekend, I think it was called Dracula: A Love Tale. It was surprisingly good, and some of the design choices reminded me of Bram Stoker's. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than Nosferatu, which was the one everyone was ga-ga about a year or two ago.
canedaddy wrote: Wed Mar 04, 2026 11:52 am That is a dope setup, argyle! What is the thing that looks like a controller on top of the Sharp machine at right?
Story time!

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So last week, the conference I was at was a technology conference that had the theme "Game On!". So all of their designs, decorations, etc. were game themed - lots of old-school stuff like Pac-Man. They had a thing going where if you participated in certain events, had a good converation with a vendor, (or almost any reason, really) they would give you these poker chips that you could "redeem" at their store for swag. T-shirts, water bottles, etc. I got a couple pretty early on the first day, so I swung by to get a t-shirt in case they ran out of my size later on. When I got there, I saw 2 of those controller things on top of the prize display shelves. They're infinity mirrors - they have a reflective metallic sheet over some LEDs, and when you turn it on the lights reflecting make it look like it just goes forever. Very cool. So I got my shirt, and then asked the lady how many coins I'd need for one of those. She didn't know - the other stuff was listed on a sign next to the shelves, but not those. So I just laughed & said "Maybe you guys will have figured it out by the time I have more coins" and she laughed as well, we moved on.

The last day of the conference I swung back by to cash in whatever I had left at that point, and I asked again about the infinity mirror things. Different lady was there this time, and she tells me that they aren't prizes, just decorations, but that she's had a LOT of people ask about them. Another lady working with them says she ordered them off of Amazon, and they were really cheap. I laugh & say OK, and say I'll just take a water bottle then. The first lady hands it to me then takes down one of the controllers and says "Here you go, since you've been such a great attendee." I thanked her very much, and...now it sits on my shelf. :D

BTW, that thing it's sitting on is a Blu-ray player that a friend gave me several years back - he botched a firmware update & now it only plays region 2 Blu-rays. But turns out it makes an excellent CD player. ;) The silver stereo there I bought waaay back when I was still in college, so I'm still getting my money's worth out of that.