Well if it isn’t another weird week

NBA 2K15 (XBONE): Fourth Appearance, Fourth Straight Appearance

Today’s entry is about Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and how I wish he would shoot more. In MyCareer, I constantly feed him the ball when he’s open, and he constantly feeds it back to me, convinced that he won’t make an open shot. The real MKG isn’t quite like that, and the roster update reflects that. Also, I keep losing games, and I don’t know if it’s really supposed to be that way or if the mode is supposed to have you end out of the playoffs at the end of your rookie season. I know you’re supposed to be a free agent at the end of your rookie season, so I’d imagine there’s a little bit of incentive to go somewhere else built in. Also, I noticed that I got into the starting lineup far faster than I did in 2K14, where I was almost the entire way through the season before my player was starting. It’ll be interesting to see where it all goes.

NCAA Football 2003 (XBOX) : Second Appearance, Second Straight Appearance

Oh my goodness. Had any of my equipment worked like I would’ve liked it to (i.e. my capture card doesn’t emit the grainiest thing possible, my microphone didn’t suddenly develop a weird buzz, my hallway remains free of loud vacuums) this would be the greatest comeback in history. 14-0 with 1 minute and 38 seconds left in the game and I came out on top 17-14 because video games are weird. I missed two field goals before my last three possessions, and I didn’t pay for leaving points out on the field at all. To top all of that off, I made the last field goal. If you look at the 29:30 mark, you’ll see I had a player leave the game with a migraine. Immediately after getting that news, there’s a 71-yard touchdown pass, followed by a successful onside kick (which I believe to be a first for me in NCAA Football 2003). On top of all that? I know next to nothing about the Old Oaken Bucket or the football programs of either Indiana or Purdue. I don’t even understand why they play for a bucket, but that’s because I’m an outsider. This comeback was a weird combination of luck, vacuums, and Indiana.

Goldeneye 007 (N64): First Appearance

Thanks to the work of many dedicated Counter-Strike modders, I know many of Goldeneye’s maps like the back of my hand. However, that doesn’t mean I have as many good memories of Goldeneye as I do Counter-Strike. That’s mainly due to the poor aging that faces many N64 games (or just games of that era, for that matter). There are fewer games that aged well on the N64 than aged poorly off of the top of my head. Just for an experiment, here are all of the games from the N64 that I think aged well off the top of my head:

Wave Race 64, F-Zero GX, Paper Mario, NBA Hangtime, Super Smash Bros., Star Fox 64 (Though not having a save function dates it in a completely different way than these others), Doom 64

Here are a few that immediately come to mind that didn’t age well:

Super Mario 64, Turok, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark, Cruis’n USA, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Duke Nukem 64, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Blast Corps

Those are just a few, and don’t think I’m being scientific here at all, but it’s really surprising what still feels good after 18 years of N64 games, and where the cracks have started to show.