My Year in Gaming: 2018 in Review

Another year is drawing to a close for me and I figured I should write about the year I had in gaming in 2018. I have made a surprising amount of purchases this year in terms of Games, gaming systems, and Audio Video equipment this year and I want to go over the more interesting of this in this here blog. As far as the games go I will only go into the ones that I played a good amount of and not the ones I have barley played or ones I have not played at all yet.

New AV Equipment
This year I most certainty spent to much money upgrading my entertainment center and game capture setup. On the upside I also feel like I got what I paid for with said purchases. I just want to highlight the big things I got this year.

4K LG OLED TV: OLED55C7P
I already cover my new LG when I got it but long story short it is an awesome    TV. It has really good HDR support and has really good picture quality. Every single game I have played and movie I have watched on it since getting it looks better from being on this screen, not just the 4K and HDR stuff. Whats more its input lag is much lower than my previous Samsung Plasma TV.  Getting this TV did cause me to not stream due to incompatibilities with my Elgato HD60 pro (because it did not pass through let alone record 4K or HDR signals) until I made another purchase to deal with that problem. 
AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K Capture Card: GC573 
Like I previously stated my old capture card was not going to work with the 4K and HDR Signal that was being sent from my Xbox One X to my new TV. This made it so that if I wanted to use the new stuff that I could not stream or record. I knew that Elgato released a 4K catpure card but that it did not do HDR at all ( it has since been updated to pass it through though). I looked into splitters and down scalers to allow me to play in 4K and HDR but record and stream in standard HD but it seemed like a road to no-wheres-ville. The AVerMedia 4K Live gamer not only offered 4K HDR pass through but record and stream and was $100 cheaper on top of that. Needless to say I grabbed that shortly after it was available. Aside from some HDR blue line problems (cause by the Systems more than the card) it has been mostly easy to use. 

Denon Surround Sound Receiver: AVR X3400H
Thanks to an episode of My life in Gaming I learned of a Surround Sound receiver that worked as a splitter ans switch box that also worked well with a certain upscaler I was interested in. This offered me the promise of not having to swap HDMI cables when I wanted to stream and record, that everything that was plugged into the receiver also went to both the TV and the capture card and could be switched between with a couple of button presses. The fact that I had been in the market for a new reciever for years made this an easy purchase as my old Pioneer did not even have HDMI support and was $200 when I got it back in 2006 and I used a $100 rebate (the point is it was cheap). This new Denon is future proofed (for the moment) with all of the different HDR formats, Dolby Atmos, and many more things supported. The fact that it also sounds good and is easy to setup and use puts it over the top for me. For $500 it was a very good purchase for me this year. 

Open Source Scan Converter: O.S.S.C. 1.6
I had been using my cheap RGB SCART to HDMI upscaler since I got it in 2015. While it was and immediate improvement over simply plugging my Sega Genesis into the TV via composite cable, it did not take long to see the weaknesses of is scaling. The old scaler stretched the image, introduced ghosting to moving sprites, and had noticeable input lag. The XRGB Mini Framemeister was too expensive and its days of support were numbered. The Open Source Scan Converter was something I knew about but it did not have HDMI output back then. the 1.6 update of the O.S.S.C. added HDMI and made it viable for my setup. I also knew that it output strange resolutions that do not work well with most TVs or my Elgato Capture Card. Thanks to the previously mentioned  My Life in Gaming  episode, I learned that the O.S.S.C. worked well with my new TV, Capture Card and Denon receiver. The O.S.S.C. supports RGB Scart, Component and VGA inputs. It does not support Composite or S-Video , even with and adapter. I did have to buy a generic remote for it and it does show some flaws in some game systems more (the Jail bars on my Model 1 High Definition Graphics Sega Genesis) but it is so much better than my old upscaler that it is not even close to being funny. The improvement form the old upscaler to this is almost as big as moving from composite to the old upscaler. It (O.S.S.C.) also does its magic with no added input lag and does not stretch the image. 
 

Systems I Bought
I have made a few Video Game System Purchases this year. My entertainment center has expanded to a small shelve that sits next to the TV to make room for the new additions to my setup.

Dreamcast
I have a thing where I want all of my systems to be black (I see a red Wii and I want it painted black) and one system that always bothered me with its color scheme was the Sega Dreamcast. To my knowledge it is the only Sega system release in the US that wasn't black. I knew about the Black Sega Sports version bout the orange Sega Sports logo always put me off of trying to get that version. This year I changed my mind about it and after looking for months I found one in good shape at a pawn shop for cheap and I grabbed it. I do not have much of a game collection for it yet ( id did come with Power Stone though) certainty nowhere near what I had for it back in the day. I am going to try to steer clear of burned games as I understand they are more likely to wear the systems laser more quickly. Dreamcast games have been difficult to come by lately so things could get difficult.

Playstation 4 Pro
Back when I got  my TV I wrote in my blog that I want to eventually get a PS4 Pro and In November I did just that. I got a used PS4 Pro with a copy of Horizon Zero Dawn Complete for $335. It wasn't the best deal I could have gotten but it was the one I did get. I have been buying up the PS4 exclusive games that I have been interested in and I have gotten most of them ( I still need to get Spider-man and Tetris Effect) I have not played the games for this system much since I got it but I will be doing plenty of that this winter.

Playstation 2
Continuing my Nostalgia for the 6th generation of consoles I purchased a PS2 slim. I had a PS2 fat back in the day with plenty of games for it. PS2 games are cheap now a days (with some exceptions) and I have enjoyed revisiting some of them and playing ones I did not back in the day. I also made sure to get the 7001 model which still has the on board PS1 CPU and have been using this to play some PS1 games as well.  Some of the games I had back in the day (looking at you GTA) I bought for the OG Xbox in the past few years and I would prefer to play them there (well, on the Xbox 360 anyway)

Notable games I bought and played
2018 was a year in which I bough a lot of games but did not play a lot of them. It is more than a little dumb but it is what I did. I wanted to just go over some of the memorable games I played a good amount of that I bought this year.

• Lumines HD: I never played the original release of Lumines (never having a PSP) but I did have the Vita game and I enjoyed it immensely. When I heard that a HD update was coming out for new systems and it supported 4K on the Xbox one X I knew I had to get it and it is awesome. Now I remember why I spent so much time playing Lumines on the Vita, because Lumines is simply awesome and it is even better in 4K. 
• Forza Horizon 3: One of the games I have been meaning to get since getting an Xbox One X is play ground games Forza Horizon 3 but I wanted to wait for it to go on sale. When I saw I used copy for $26 I bough it. 2 Months later I bought the full package in an Xbox Live sale for about $40 with all of the D.L.C. and expansions and sold my used copy for $20. Forza Horizon 3 is by far the best driving game I have ever bought or played it is just that simple. It looks simply gorgeous and drives like a dream. I know that Forza Horizon 4 came out this year and I'm sure I will get it eventually but the color palate of being in Australia being so much brighter that what one normally associates with jolly old England that it will take a while before Forza Horizon 3 gets old for me. 
• Megaman 11: I was very disappointed with the way Might Number 9 turned out but when I heard of Megaman 11, I was ready to believe again and that belief was rewarded with what my be my game of the year for 2018. Megaman 11 has a hard start with its difficulty but when I learned how to buy upgrades, E tanks and extra lives it became much more enjoyable. The visuals are exactly what I wanted from a modern 2D Megaman game and it even supports 4K. The controls are tight and the gear system the game introduces  is actually good. Aside from the bouncy level (which is too long and annoying) I think the levels and bosses are great. Megaman 11 is simply a must buy for 2D Megaman game fans.   
• Army Men: RTS (PS2): Yeah, I bought a console RTS and that makes me a moron, I get it. This is a game that I bought when it came out and I enjoyed it then, and I enjoyed when I bought and played through to ends credits again this year. I wanted this game back in the day because all of the other Army Men games did it wrong. None of them were the RTS that I had in my mind when I played with the actual Army Men figures. I did not imagine a 3rd person shooter or a helicopter game. Army Men RTS is a basic game with not much dept but it does a good job with what it has to offer. It does the level lord thing of tiny characters in real world environments. It has a basic but effective visual style, simple controls and it is fun to play. 
• Dog's Life (PS2): This is a game I remember being featured in a Giant Bomb video and it looked fun. After watching that video again this year I seeked it out at my local used game store and bought it. It is a simple 3D over-world style adventure game that mostly involves fetch quest (get it?) and it is just goofy fun with plenty of charm. You play a dog trying to rescue his love interest from dog nappers and goes though several different environments in that search. I have not finished this game but I can tell that I will because I just enjoy it.   
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 4: I hardly played the online of Black Ops 1, I did not play the online of Black Ops 2, and I did not play Black Ops 3 at all. I mostly been getting the later Call of Duties for their story mode. It does not make sense that I would get Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 with those facts established but that is exactly what I did. I have enjoyed my time with Black Ops 4, just sticking with regular multiplayer (Black Out scares me). It did not take me long to adjust to the healing not being automatic anymore and I did quickly settle on my hero of choice (prophet). I am not good at this game and it is taking me a long time to get the guns that I want to put on my custom classes but Black Ops 4 is an enjoyable one of those games. I got it new on a black Friday sale for $38 for the Xbox One (where it's 4K and HDR on the Xbox One X). 

 Summery
This year has been an odd year for me in gaming. 2018 has seen me spend more money on games, game systems, and AV equipment and not much time playing the things that I get. I can't really say that I haven't had the time to play them I just haven't played them. This is something I look to rectify for next year. I am happy with the purchases I have made and the games I have played this year. I just have to get ready for what should be an awesome year in gaming in 2019.

I got a 4K HDR Capture Card (AVerMedia GC573)

I recently purchased a new capture card,he AVerMedia GC573 LIVE GAMER from Amazon for a little under $300. This card is capable of not only passing through 4K HDR signals but recording them as well. I wanted to write up a quick post laying out my reason for purchasing this card as well as my experience setting it up and what I hope to accomplish with it going forward.

Problems created by new TV
Back in February when I got my TV (my LG 55C7P OLED) I knew there was going to be a problem in doing my game streaming / recording thing because the capture card I was using at the time, the Elgato HD60 pro not only could not record in 4K or HDR, but it could not even pass the signal through to the TV. This meant that if I wanted to record or stream Xbox One X enhanced games, I would have to lower the system settings to 1080P and turn off HDR and thus reduce the quality of my gaming experience (and not taking full advantage of the expensive new TV I had just bought). The other option was that I could only record / stream games that were not X enhanced (or games on other systems). I choose neither as I have not streamed a play though of a game since completing Okami HD. I have also not been playing many games in general since then as I had fallen into a bit of a depression (common for me) that has resulted in the last 6 months flying by for me with no real point to it. Both my gaming and my blogging as well as other projects I had in mind suffered as a result. I knew I had to find a way to solve or get around this capture card issue one way or another.

Search for a solution
I had actually began looking for a way to solve this capture card issue before I even ordered my TV but at the time the options were not so good. I first noticed that Elgato had released a 4K Capture card for $400 (the one that Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb bought) that seemed promising until I read that it did not record or pass through HDR signals (an firmware update has since added HDR pass through but not recording) and that it was rather bare bones in its feature set when compared to my lower end HD60 pro. Based on what Jeff has stated in episode of the Giant Bombcast, he has not been very satisfied with his Elgato 4K60 Pro so gave up on that. I then looked into 4K splitters and downscalers as a way to at least allow me to play games at 4K HDR while recording them at 1080P SDR but I was overwhelmed by the complexity of that arrangement as well as the concerns I had about the amount of lag that would be introduced from adding two more HDMI devices to the setup. I did find one device that would do splitting and scaling but it was $400, the same price as the Elgato 4K60 Pro. I had given up hope until a little under a month ago when I did a google search for 4K HDR Capture cards and found an article about AVerMedia and its plans to release a set of budget 4K capture cards and one of them was exactly what I wanted and it was $100 cheaper than the Elgato 4K60 Pro. After a little hemming and hawing I ordered the card a couple of weeks ago and it arrived on July 10.

Setting up new Capture Card

The card arrived a day earlier than I expected. I unplugged the desktop tower and removed it form its cozy spot under my desk (gouging the bottom of it in the process) removed the side panel and went to insert the card where the old one was installed. The new card did not fit the expansion slot as it had a different and larger connector. Out of desperation (and fear that I would have to return it) I tried one of the free larger expansion slots where graphics card usually go and it fit (if a bit wobbly) also taking the chance to go over the inside of my messy and cluttered Tower with a compressed air can. After putting the PC back together and hooking all the USB and HDMI cords back into (no small feat mind you) I started tinkering with it. At first I was getting about 18 FPS when recording at 4K HDR which made no sense. I had looked up the required specs and my rig (with its I7-6700K and GTX 1060) met them for 4K 60 recording. I tried tinkering with the setting but the best I could do was 4K 30 or 1440P 60 and HDR was out of the question. I had resigned myself to the idea that my PGU was not good enough and started formulating plans  to upgrade either around black Friday or spring of next year (hoping by the the rumored Nvidia 11 series would have come out). When I tried to stream I was getting only 7 kbps up which really made no sense as my internet upload speed was about 11 Mbps. I feared once again that I would have to return the capture card as I it might have been faulty. Before I went through that annoying step, I gave it one last try, I opened up the case once again and tried a different empty GPU expansion slot and really made sure the connection was solid. I then went into the Bios and set both expansion slots into 3rd gen mode. One or both of those changes must of worked because when I booted it up an ran Recentral (the cards default capture software) I was now getting 4K 60 even in HDR. I made a quick test video and uploaded it to my YouTube channel which I will embed  below. Needless to say I was impressed by the results.

(Video is in 4K HDR)

Despite being only about 10 minutes long the test video was over 6 GB in size and took over two hours to upload and process. As my long play videos tend to be 1-2 hours long I know that I will have to lower the settings from the "optimal" preset (150 Mbps). I will try 75 Mbps and see how that goes in terms of video quality and file size and upload times. I could go down to 50 or up to 100 but I will have to do some more work on it. At 150 Mbps the video quality was indistinguishable to my eyes from when I was playing the game so I can definitely go lower than that and still get good looking results. I plan to get back into doing long play videos and really exploring and making use of my awesome new TV and Xbox One X. I have not yet decided what my first game will be with this new capture card (and I still need to do some test streams as well). I will be uploading these long play videos instead of streaming them as at 10 Mbps (which is what I was streaming at) too much detail will be lost for my liking. Things do seem to be looking up for me (at least for the moment anyway).

Pictures of my Entertainment setup (Summer 2018)

Since it has been a while since my last post and I have not done Videos on either of my YouTube Channels in a while I might as well contrive an excuse to make a post about something. To that ends I will post some pictures of my Entertainment Center as it is in early Summer 2018. I gave a glimpse of it when I got my TV back in February but this will be a little more in depth. I have also made some changes and additions to my set up so this post will features those as well.

This  desk is placed behind the couch which is angled so that people sitting on it do not obstruct the view of the TV from the desk. The TV is placed between the two PC monitors. The game rack to the right does an okay job of concealing the many wires that run between the PC and the TV

This setup is designed to accommodate multiple things.

• It has the couch close to the TV for that big screen experience for console gaming, movie, live TV & streaming, and couch PC gaming.
• It has a multi monitor setup for the desktop situated behind the couch giving me a good view of the TV from the desk even when people are sitting at the couch (good for groups and lets play videos). 
• The PC Tower is right next to the dining room where my Oculus Rift VR Room scale setup is located.

The net result of the setup is a relatively cramped but effective living room space that seems to suit my needs quite well. Most people would probably look at my small living room and think that a more open setup would be better for a normal person but since I am far from "normal" I can deal with its tightness. I am glad this setup works for me as well as it does.

View from my desk position 

Angled shot of desk 

Game Rack

 Entertainment Center 

Desktop Tower

Oculus Rift Setup with 3rd Monitor rotated 

Another Angle of Oculus Rift Setup 

Oculus Rift Sensors arrangement 

E3 2018 Thoughts

It does not seem like its been a year since E3 2017 but it clearly has. So its time for another E3 Blog post. I am still not good at doing these at a regular basis but hope springs eternal that some I will be. Like in many years before, much of E3's surprises were leaked ahead of the show leaving not much left to be learned from these press conferences. I do always end watching them either live if I can or after the fact if I can't. Rather than give a general though of each of the press conferences I am just going straight to the games that I am interested in and the ones I know I will be getting. For the first time in a few years, this E3 seems devoid of new hardware announcements, meaning it is all about games. As I have stated in earlier posts, I own an Xbox One X, and a Gaming PC from 2016 with a I7-6700K, and a  GTX1060. I may end up getting a PS4 Pro (especially if there is a good sale on one lets say, around Black Friday) but for the moment I am more focused on my Xbone (a name I use with pride). I am also focusing mostly on games that at least seem near or that I am really excited for.

Games I'm going to get

• Ori and the Will of the Wisp: My biggest game from last year's E3 is also my biggest game from this year's E3, what a surprise. They actually showed some game play footage and it looks like there will be some neat new mechanics (different attacks and sand diving) and possibly a new character to play as. The game still looks gorgeous and now it will support HDR as well as 4K on the One X (so it should look really good on my LG OLED). Ori and the Will of the Wisp will come out in 2019  
• Cuphead in the Delicious Last Course: My favorite game from last year is getting some DLC with a new area, new boss fights, new levels, a new playable character Miss Chalice ( the one you kept saving from ghost in crypt levels by parrying to get new supers). The specifics do not matter to me as I will be buying me some more Cuphead no matter what. The Cuphead DLC will come out in 2019. 
• Devil May Cry 5: Devil May Cry 4 was not my favorite in the series ( it was 3 for a long time, now its DMC from 2013) but I did enjoy it for what it was. Now it looks like Capcom is pushing its 2013 reboot to the side for a sequel  to 4 called Devil May Cry 5. It looks like it stars an older Nero possibly facing off against Dante or cooperating with him, its not clear. Regardless I am very much looking forward to some more Devil May Cry. It is set for release in spring 2019. 
• Doom Eternal: Not quite Doom 2 in name, Doom Eternal takes the fight to Earth. There was no specifics and no release date and I have not yet even finished Doom 2016 (even though I have it on both Xbox One and Steam) regardless I will be getting it as Doom is awesome and I do feel bad for not having finished it yet (not sure if I want to start over on Xbox or continue with my Steam play through). 

Games I am interested in

• Tunic: An isometric 2D Zelda style game with a sword wielding fox wearing a tunic is more than enough to get my attention. No release date was included but I will be keeping an eye on this one. 2D Zelda style games always get my attention. 
• Session: Microsoft's presser had what appeared to be a off brand Skate game called Session, which seams to take place at least partially in New York City. It seems unlikely that either a new Skate or Tony Hawk game will be coming out any time soon so this will have to due. No release date was given but there is a demo/beta playable build of it for PC that I might have to check out.  
• Gears Tactics: One of the 3 Gears of War games, Gears Tactics was the most interesting to me as it is clearly XCOM but with Gears of War stuff. I probably will end up getting Gears 5 but I wanted to highlight this game more as it was unexpected (at least to me anyway). No release date but they said more details will be coming soon. It also looks like this is a PC only game.
• Forza Horizon 4: I finally got me a copy of Forza Horizon 3 used from a local game store just in time for the announcement of Forza Horizon 4. This one takes place in jolly old England and features changing seasons, actual players in the world, not just Driveatars, and 60 FPS on the Xbox One X (which I have) as well as 4K and HDR (although I'n not sure if you can have both 4K and 60 at the same time or if it will be different modes like Hitman) I am still getting used to Horizon 3 and have not yet even bought the Hot Wheels expansion yet (I do plan to) so It might be a while before I pick this one up but I am interested. It is due out October 11, 2018.
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice: A From Software game that I am interested in, Sekiro is getting compared to Tenchu and looks a little like Devil may cry with its combat and traversal. It is also more colorful than the typical From Software game though it is still messed up in its character designs. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is expected in early 2019. 
• Fallout 76: This might be the first Fallout game that interest me and I'm not sure why. Fallout 76 takes place in West Virginia and is set before all of the other games in the series. 76 is an online game with "dozens" of other players and features base building, and base destroying (nukes do come into play here). For some reason I in interested in this game even thought it doesn't seem that different. I won't have to wait long though, it is due out November 14, 2018.

My list seems shorter this year than last year and I am okay with that as I seem to have less time to play games anyway. I think I am pretty satisfied with what I have here. One thing that occurred to me is that Xbox Game Pass might be the way to go as I use it to get Forza Horizon 4, Crackdown 3 (not mentioned but we shall see) Ori and the Will of the Wisps and give Sea of Thieves a try. $100 on top of the $60 for Gold seems like a tough pill to swallow though. Regardless this was a pretty good E3.

I got my New TV

Not long after my last post, I purchased and received my new TV, an LG OLED55C7P to replace my Samsung Plasma. This new TV is not only a 4K TV but an OLED with good HDR support. I have read multiple sources saying that this is the best TV of its size and I got it for a pretty good price too. I have included some photos of it starting the day I received it.

 My TV Arrived  in a suitably large shipping box.









Inside that box was the TV's own box.











After removing the it from its box, I did confirm it turned on before proceeding to the next step.

I mounted the TV to my existing entertainment Center.

I re-assembled my messy entertainment center close to what is was before. I have since cleaned up the wires behind the TV a bit and it does look noticeably nicer than this. 










Current Stuff I want to do with it.

• Replay some old games in 4K: There are some games that I already own that are either Xbox One X enhanced that I played once but want to play through again with the new TV. I have Wolfenstien 2, the new Colossus, Gears of War 4, Halo 5, Quantum Break, and Okami HD. I also started playing Starcraft Broodwar Remastered but I had not finished it. I an nearing the end of an elongated play through of Half Life 2 as well. I have Just Cause 3 for Steam but I only got past the intro and just mess around in it when I do play it. Finally I am in the middle of a play through of Doom 2016 for steam that looks real good in 1080p so it should look even better in 4K.  
• Play some new ones: Just some Game I want to get  for my new TV (that are currently out) at some point include Forza Horizon 3, Assassins Creed: Origin, Rise of the Tomb Raider (after I play the first one, whenever that is), and plenty of games that have yet to come out that I mentioned in an earlier post (of stuff I am looking forward to in 2018) 
• 4K Emulation: I very much want to see some of the Nintendo Games I emulate on Dolphin and Cemu running in 4K as it is unlikely Nintendo will make a 4K capable systems anytime soon. On Cemu there is Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, Smash Brothers, and Splatoon. On Dolphin there is Zelda: the Windwaker, F-Zero, Mario Galaxy and Sunshine games, Sonic Colors, and Other colorful games for either Emulator than seem neat. I'm not sure if other emulators are going to be worth trying out in 4K but I will have to try it and see.   
• 4K Movies: I am not going to re buy again my entire movie collection in 4K Blu Ray. I will only buy the ones that I think will benefit from the extra picture quality. I am saying this as much to myself as to any person reading this. There are some recent movies that I do not own that would benefit from being on 4K Blu Ray. I want to get Planet Earth 2 on 4K Blu Ray. When I first set up Netflix on my new TV it prompted me to "upgrade" to a 4K version for only an extra $3 a month so naturally I clicked no. I may decide to do that upgrade if there is enough 4K content on Netflix to make it worth my while but that is a tough, hard sell.

Stuff I might get at some point

• PS4 Pro: I had gotten rid of my PlayStation stuff a few years ago to buy more games for my Xbox and to stream line my collection. That was from a time where I had less money to get things like that. I now have reason to get a PS4 Pro, if I can get it for a good price that is. There are games for it I want such as Horizon Zero Dawn, Shadow of the Colossus, The Las of Us Remastered, the upcoming Last of Us 2, and other Sony exclusives that I can't remember off the top of my head. 
• Better Graphics Card: At some point, I am going to have to admit that my GTX 1060 is not good enough for gaming at 4K and I am going to have to upgrade. Right now is not a good time to buy a new graphics card with the Bitcoin mining related inflated prices going on right not but since I just dropped a good chunk of change on the here TV I wasn't going to get one now anyway. At some point I will upgrade though, being the original plan all along 
• Better Up Scaler: My cheap, basic RGB to HDMI upscaler that I got for $50 back in 2015 is not very good. It is a big improvement coming from composite but if you want a real upscaler you need to drop some bigger amounts of money on something like a Framemeister or an OSSC (Open Source Scan Converter)  an once again That is more than what I want to spend at the moment. I do not think that there is a viable 4K RGB Scart to HDMI converter but by the time I am ready to upgrade there may be one. Only time will tell. 
• Better Surround Sound Receiver: My Old, cheap Surround Sound Receiver circa 2006 that does not even have an HDMI port (I use Optical Audio for everything) was in more need of an upgrade than my TV but I rarely make the most optimal decisions. I'm not sure if I want to get a better 5.1 system or if I want a more extensive (an expensive) Dolby Atmos System, which my TV and Xbox One X both support. The new receiver should at least support pass through of that and 4K and HDR signals (and there is more of those formats than you would think). I recently upgraded my speakers so I will just focus on the receiver first. 

Concerns I have moving forward 

• Streaming: My current Capture card, an Elgato HD60 pro not only does not capture at 4K or HDR, it does not even pass through thos signals to the TV, which means that when I want to stream games, I have to either play non 4K HDR games or sacrifice picture quality when I stream. One might think that the recently released Elgato 4Kpro capture card would be the answer. Unfortunately that card is almost $400 and it does not do HDR. Not that my internet can even support 4K streaming at this point anyway so I have to wait for a bunch of things to change or fiddle around with HDMI splitter / Down Scaler which does not come with guarantees but will cost some money. When I get to games like Ori and the Will of the Wisp I should have a workable solution to this problem ( I hope).
• Playing Older Games with Up Scaler: Older games with my upscaler might be fixed when I get a better one (see the above sections for that) but it might not as we are talking about games originally rendered at 240P  being up-converted to 4K through at least 2 layers of up conversion. At some point it stops looking good no matter how good the equipment is. Emulation might be the only way to go with playing retro games on this TV. Or using my plasma (which is still in my possession) might be a better answer but as it is, that TV is just being stored in a some what out of the way location. i have to figure out what I goning to do with the old TV before I do anything like that. 
• Watching DVDs: This one is more of the same with the old content being up-converted to this here 4K TV but I do have some DVDs that might look pretty bad in this manor. Thankfully regular Blu Rays look pretty good on it as 1080P source upcales to 4K pretty nicely. Thankfully my collection of DVD is not that big so it should not be that big of a deal.  

Looking ahead to 2018 in Gaming

With the new year upon us I am writing a post about what I am looking forward to in 2018. One of the things I want to do is write more posts on this here blog of mine, hence this post.

The Games I am Looking Forward to
There are a decent number of games coming out this year that I am a actually looking forward to this year. I will go through some of them below but I doubt that I will actually get all of them let alone play them all to completion.

• OwlBoy: A neat looking pixel art style game that is colorful an looks like it could be be fun and is a Metroidvania like game. I know it has been out on other platforms but it is now coming out on the Xbone. 
• Sea of Thieves: A colorful pirate theme M.M.O. like game (in the non subscription Destiny kind of way). It actually has a very good look to its, which makes sense considering it came from Rare. The more I see of Sea of Thieves, the more I like it. I am a little concerned that it might not have enough content to it but as it is only in beta form right now so there is plenty of time for that stuff to be unveiled. 
• Darksiders 3: It looks like Darksiders is going back to its Zelda roots with he third game and that makes me happy. A current gen Darksiders after having been impressed from my play through of Darksiders for the Xbox 360 last year, it only makes sense that I would be excited about this release. 
• Anthem: Another Destiny style game that looks good, but in a different way. Anthem is in a seemingly post apocalyptic sci-fi future (it kind of looks like Star Wars, a little). I have heard that this game might have been delayed until 2019 so I should remove it from the list but oh well. I wanted to at least give this game a mention. 
• Mega Man 11: A new 2D Megaman game that looks like it could be good. I played through the Megaman Legacy collection on Xbox One in 2016 and enjoyed it (though I did save state my way through the more difficult sections). I will probably wait for this one to go on sale before I get it, because I am cheap after all. I am also glad I never really got caught up in the Mighty Number 9 hype as I would have been to soured by that experience to give this game the time of day. As always, only time will tell. 
• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Edition: a Massive collection of like 12 Street fighter games from the first to 3, third strike. I'm not  normally a fighting game fan but I am a sucker for these type of compilations. Unless this release ends up being Super Hyper Turbo EXpensive I will most likely end up getting it. 
• Metro Exodus: This game is on here solely because of how good it look, but wow it looks really good. I know by reputation that the previous Metro games are difficult, dense, and hard to get into but hope springs eternal that this new one will be significantly more approachable.  
• The Wolf Among Us (Season 2): I have had the first season from games with gold for a long time now and I still want to finish it at some point. Maybe the release of season 2 will be what it take for me to actually finish it because it really is pretty good. I just have not had the patience to do so as of late. 
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps (This year ?) Another game with a questionable release time, in that it does not have one. I do not care, because I want this game. The announcement of the sequel  to my favorite Xbox One game and my best game from 2015 alone was enough to make last year's E3 a memorable one for me. The trailer that was shown makes this game look even better than the first. I can not wait to play this and I hope it comes out this year.

Potential Hardware Purchases 

• 4K OLED TV: My first hardware purchase of the year will almost certainty be my largest. I will be buying my first 4K TV, an OLED (LG OLED55C7P) My current TV is a 51 inch plasma circa 2011 and since OLED's are considered the successor to plasma TVs, I figure that this would be the only kind that would be a true upgrade to what I already have. This one is currently the top rate TV of its size according to Consumer's Report. and since I already have and Xbox One X and a PC that can do some games in 4K. I very much look forward to seeing games on it. 
• Sega 32X: at some point I would like to complete my Sega Genesis monstrosity by getting a 32X. I actually had one of these set ups back in the day but I ended up trading it for a PS2 when that system was still new. I am a annoyed that I will have to buy a new RGB Scart cable (it uses the model 2 AV cords and I have a model 1 Genesis) but there are some of games for the system I would like to play and I think I can get one for a reasonable price from nearby used game store in my area. 
• Dreamcast (With VGA/HDMI connector): Another Sega system, the Dreamcast, makes it on this list and whats more it is another one I had back in the day before I traded it (in this case it helped my buy an original Xbox, seeing a pattern here) I found about a VGA box that outputs directly to HDMI and it seems pretty good. Dreamcast systems these days are pretty cheap but unreliable so make sure to buy one from a reputable place. On a personal note, the Dreamcast was the first time I had a "current" system as I always had were old ( I had an NES and a Game Gear when the Playstation was coming out. It would be nice to have that again. 
• Xbox One Duke style Controller: I was very exited when I first heard the news of the Duke Controller remake for the Xbox One. It was announced at the same time as the OG Xbox Backwards Compatibility program (maybe that had some thing to do with it) and I new I had to get it. It is coming out at the end of March and it will be $70 and I will totally get one. I always preferred the Duke as opposed to the more popular Japanese style S controller as I did not like the placement of the Black and white buttons on the S (and the size of the Duke never bothered me anyway)  

Writing more blog posts more about games (and possibly movies )
Its pretty obvious from the long time in between post that I do not use my blog nearly enough. I intend to change that this year. I am not sure how often I will post but I hope that by simply making public my desire to do so will help. I have the rather unfortunate habit of coming up with ideas and not doing them. Since this a blog primary dedicated to games that I play or think about I will be doing more posts on the games that I play (or want to play anyway). I also see a decent number of new movies every year so I might blog about that as well if it seems worth while.

Stuff I will be keeping an eye on 
There are a few games that I will be keeping and eye on but do not expect to buy for one reason or another so I made a list for those as well, and here it is.

• We Happy Few: A game with a neat premise and introduction but the procedurally generated levels built around a survival stealth mechanic is not really my cup o tea. This is the definition of a game that I came up with this list for as I am still interested in it because of the premise.  
• Red Dead Redemption 2: A game that I have been recommended many times and did buy used last year was Red Dead Redemption. Open world games have not done it for me as much the last few years (even the good ones), as such I have been resistant to wanting to give this game a fair shake. I does look good, and on Xbox One backwards compatibility it runs and looks better. The new one looks even better but I do feel that I should play through the first one before I commit to getting the second.  
• Shenmue 3: As a PS4 exclusive for someone who does not as yet have that system, this game has a big thing going against it (although I could get it for PC) I also did not have that great a time paying the first one (and had to hand it off to a friend for the dumb stealth sequence that I could not do) nor have I played through the second game (even though I rented for the Xbox back in the day). I never the less want to see how this epic concludes, assuming this is the last one of course. 
• Detroit: Become Human: Another PS4 exclusive means another game I can not even get but as I live in the Detroit area, any game that features my home town (let alone takes place entirely in it) is going to get my attention. I did buy the previous game from That Game Company, Heavy Rain (although I did trade it in with out ever playing it) and those games do look amazing, I think I would rather just watch someone play it instead of playing it myself. 

I should not have taken as long as I did to make this post as one of the things I want to do is post to my blog more often. I have not really spent much time really typing stuff since I finished college all those years ago. These were just a few things I though to write down that I am looking forward to this year, 2018 in Gaming.

My 2017 Gaming Year in Review

With 2017 coming to a close I though I should write a few things about the year that I had personally in gaming. While I am not sure what the point of this is, I thought it would be a good idea to write about a few of the things that for whatever reason I did not write about when they happened. 2017 turned out to be a pretty good year in gaming for me as I played plenty of new games as well as old ones I had not played before. I also purchased a few interesting pieces of hardware and started a new venture that I hope could turn into something more than just a hobby (though even if it doesn't, it is still fun to do).

My PC Build from 2016
While this is mainly about 2017, I start it off what a little from the previous year, 2016. In December I assembled my first  desktop PC from parts purchased on Black Friday. I build it with the intention of upgrading it in the future while still making it a capable machine in the present. I chose a Core I-7 6700K CPU, a GTX 1060 GPU, 16 GBs of DDR4 RAM, 500 GB SSD, 2TB HDD, and a Liquid CPU Cooler. All together my build came to about $1300. I wanted to build a system that could eventually handle 4K graphics with a simple GPU but could DO VR or a 1440P monitor. I hooked it up  to my living room TV, a 51 inch plasma circa 2011. I have a few other monitors hooked up to it as well. My hope is that this is a good platform for my gaming and general computing needs for about a decade. Only time will tell, of course.

Emulation
One of the first things I did with my new PC was to try out some emulators I had been wanting to use for a while, most notably Dolphin. While it might have been possible for me to have tried it before with my laptop, I wanted to be able to run it with as much power as I could throw at it. I wanted to be able to see some of the Gamecube and Wii games being rendered in High Definition (something that Nintendo at the time said no one wanted). I was suitably impressed with the results. Not only was Dolphin quite a bit easier to use than I expected (Version 5.0 had been released no too long before hand) but it made some of these 15 year old games look pretty good. Nintendo has always had a good, simplistic art style that scales wonderfully in HD. I especially enjoyed seeing The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker and Mario Galaxy in 1080p.

Streaming
Starting early this year, I began to experiment with streaming some of my games. I started with Twitch directly from my Xbox One. I then moved onto a dedicated internal capture card for my PC, which allowed me to record and stream any system that could hook up via HDMI. I was limited my by slow Internet upload speed, witch was capped at about 2 Mbps and resulted in a lot of bad streams with low quality video and frequent buffering for any unfortunate individuals who watch any of them (sorry). Since then, I have upgraded my internet speed to a more reasonable 10 Mbps on the upload side and started streaming at that speed with Cuphead for the Xbox One. To say that the improvement is noticeable is an understatement. I have also switched to streaming on You Tube (my Twitch stream archives wound up on You Tube anyway) and while it will be a long time before I can even start to monetize my videos (let alone get any money from them) it is still enjoyable for me to do so.

Games with Gold
I managed to play some great games this year with my Games with Gold one Xbox Live. I just want to go through some of the standouts that I played through this year.

• DarkSiders: I had heard about the comparisons to Zelda for years about Darksiders and had always considered getting at some point but for what ever reason I did not take the plunge. This year I got it for free and played through it from start to finish. (actually streaming it the whole while too). I was pretty good, and very much a game that was deliberately taking after Zelda (bomb plants anyone?) I am looking forward to Darksiders 3 (which should come out next year) however I don't have all that much interest in trying the second game as I heard it was pretty different and not in a good way.
• Giana Sisters: In my ealier days of streaming and wanting to do more of the games with Gold games, I was less picky about the games that I did. One game I played through that I enjoyed quite a bit was Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, (specifically the directors cut  version with the D.L.C.) It was a nice looking game with some interesting platforming and was worth playing through even if it is not quite the game I would usually play otherwise.
• Bayonetta: One game I should have played sooner was (considering my affection for Devil May Cry) was Bayonetta. A very Crazy, Character action game that just goes off the walls at all times. It took me too long to adjust to the different style of combat from most other games in this category. When I did figure it out I was glad I put in the effort and I was certainly glad to have played this game through. As the equals are Nintendo exclusives and I don not currently own a Switch, it is unlikely that I will be able to play those anytime soon.

New Purchased and Completed Games
I purchased a decent number of new games this year (by my standards anyway) I will make about a paragraph for each of the note worthy ones I finished this year as some of them I already did a more detailed post of.

• Wolfenstein 1 and 2: I actually played both of the recent Wolfenstein games this year and I enjoyed both of them for the most part. They both had better story telling than game play but it  was kind of a throwback style of game that we haven't seen much of since the days of Bio-shock and the like were popular. I had a difficult time adjust to the fact that you can not play these games like a Call of Duty, that you have to keep moving.  They are true run and gun style games where constant moving and shooting (circle strafing anyone?) are required for success and even enjoyment in playing. It also would be a better idea to play them on easy mode as it would allow you to get to the good sections faster and more easily.
• Snake Pass: This was a game that caught my attention for looking a whole lot like Viva Pinata and for having a cool original game mechanic. It is a 3D plat former where you can't jump. You play as a snake (duh!) and you slither and wiggle your way up post using your length and gripping ability to climb to platforms. It is a difficult concept to get use to and it takes a while to master it but once you do it is immensely rewarding to complete what would otherwise be the most forgettable part of most 3D plat-formers (that would be the part where you jump from platform to platform, hence the name of the genre).   
• Sonic Mania: It is hard to imagine a good Sonic game coming out in 2017 but that is exactly what happened. It was pretty clear to me for a few years that Sega could not be trusted to make a good game with the blue blur and that some one else with an untainted mind needed to come in and save the day for this much miss used hedgehog. Sonic Mania comes off as the 2D Sonic game for the Sega Saturn that we never had or even knew that we wanted.  The game combines old style levels and new ones in a compelling package that is more than just nostalgia service. Sonic mania shows why 2D platforming still exists and is still a blast to play. I look forward to what ever christian Whitehead (the main developer) has in store for Sonic next.
• Cuphead: My most anticipated game this year by far is also by a greater distance the best. I still cannot believe I got to play this game. To look this good and to control this well and be oozing with so much style and substance is astonishing. This is the game IO show to people who have no knowledge or interest in video games and tell them, "look at how good this looks"  and I explain to them how it is all hand drawn and is inspired from 1930 cartoons and the like. I don't know if it is reasonable to expect a sequel to this game anytime soon, or if ever, but I do very much want one anyway. 
• Yooka-Laylee: At the same time that Snake pass came out, it much more widely know game was came out from a kick starter campaign aimed at recreating the Banjo Kazooie style by the Ex Rare people who made them to begin with. I bought the game on a Black Friday sale for about 8 bucks and played through it late in the year (hence the lack of a dedicated post as I was busy with other things).  I had no expectations going into this game and no nostalgia for the games that inspired it. I enjoyed most of the time I played it and felt it was a reasonably nice game to play at a leisurely pace. The last boss did sour me quite a bit on the whole game as it did reveal just how flawed it is but leading up to that point when only a small number of those problems (camera, collision detection, flying controls, annoying AI patterns, ect.)  presented themselves at time it was easier to ignore them. I felt it was worth playing through but bear in mind that I spent only 8 US dollars to do so.

Oculus Rift 
I spent much of this year not really being able to take advantage of my new PC that I built last year. Most of the things that I throw at it have been too easy for it. As mentioned earlier I had planned to get a VR head set. When I saw the Oculus Rift with the touch controllers on sale for $400 I decided to take the plunge into the virtual world. I can say that I am reasonable impressed with the hardware. Thankfully my set up with my living room where the PC and TV are located is right next to my dining room, which was easily converted into a small room scale space. The games that have impressed me the most are Robo Recall, Super Hot VR, and Rez Infinite. I might go into a more in depth post about my VR experience and set up later down the road, we shall see. 

Project Scorpio
In perhaps what one would consider my most questionable decisions I purchased and Xbox One X, specifically the project Scorpio edition. I finally got tire of playing most of my games at a sub 1080p resolution, which is what my launch model Xbox One was mostly putting out. This was more of a future proofing  buy as I knew I would eventually get a 4K OLED TV. Even with my PC the fact is I do most of my gaming on my Xbox as that is where I have the most games ( I do download every Games with Gold game every month after all).

Sega CD
With the purchase of my Scorpio I was able to trade in my launch Xbox One for a Sega CD. I have been wanting one for a few years now and with a near black Friday sale I was able to execute this trade. there are a few games for the system that I would like to see with my RGB Scart to HDMI upscaler. This was mostly are neat thing to get that ended up not costing any money as the regular trade value that I would have gotten for my Xbone what have barely netted me a game. 

Overall it was a pretty interesting year that I had in gaming in 2017. I manage to play plenty of neat and interesting games, get my hands on some new hardware,  discover a new hobby (or maybe more, one can dream after all) and do so while still doing good on the budget front. I plan on doing a post about what I hope/ expect from 2018 in gaming. Needless to say I very much look forward to the new year in gaming.