Catching Up

Hey gamers. Thought I would do a quick blog post on what I am playing and working on right now.

Battlefield 6 dropped on October 10th and by 5pm EST I had it purchased, installed, and ready for me. Got in a few hours of gaming that evening before the busy Canadian Thanksgiving weekend took over. Banged out a few rounds of conquest and man was it a good time had by all. EA has finally put out a product they can be proud of. I am still waiting to see how they screw it up though. After this buyout by the Saudi Royal family and a $20 billion debt on their shoulders I am just counting the minutes before they start gouging us.

At the same time a mod for Rising Storm 2, Black Orchestra I have been following for a long time dropped its beta. So I had to give that a taste. The mod adds WWII (the series roots) back into the game with the goal to port Red Orchestra, Rising storm, and all the previous mod's maps into the newer engine. I got to try one Eastern Front map as a German and then a pacific map as an American. It played well and brought back the Red Orchestra feels. Firing the bolt action KAR98 with one mouse click then having to click again to pull back the bolt to clear the chamber is iconic red orchestra for me. The mod doesn't change any menus and it literally looks like nothing has changed, but you can see the Black Orchestra lobbies. I am not sure if they plan on changing the aesthetics of the menus in their full release, but it would be a nice touch. They do plan to switch from manual installer to steam workshop at some point. Excited to see the future of this one.

I also recently bought Spiderman Remastered as I wanted to see how my new pc would handle a game originally developed for the consoles. It was a silly move because I have no idea when I will have any time to play it with BF6 dropping and all the other stuff I got going on. I basically beat the intro and haven't played it again. God I am terrible!! I also got back into Lord of the Rings Online. LOTRO is one of those MMOs I jump back into every now and again. I just love the idea of an MMO set in original Tolkien Lord of the Rings. I am leveling a Dwarf Champion and its just old school MMO good times. I was also playing Be a Pro in NHL 25 until the Xbox Game Pass price hike which sent me straight to the unsubscribe link in settings. Let us not forget squeezing in Football Manager 24 when I am laying on the couch with my laptop. Survived relegation in my first season with Lusitania Acores in the Portuguese Liga 3. You could say I have my hands full.

I am still working on my retro database for Eastside Hockey Manager. Although I have made significant progress in the year since I started there is still a long way to go before the database is in a playable state for beta testing. Professional North American clubs are almost complete, then tackling Junior. With my new PC I can now run seventh generation emulators. So I have taken my understanding of modding NHL 06 & 09 on the PC and applying it to console. It is completely different. Some in good ways some in confusing horrible ways. With some reading blogs, questions in Discord, and trial and error I think I am getting the hang of it. NHL 09 is my favourite and way better visually than the PC version. Also there are no controller compatibility issues. With the PC versions being so old now you have to struggle with D-Input vs X-Input. Emulator uses modern controls so skill stick is fully functional. The only issue I am getting is some textures not rendering properly. Either way I have updated NHL logos and ice surfaces. Working on updating jerseys. Roster work will be tough. Hardcode limitations are also annoying. Max 30 club NHL, touch icing, and 4 player over times cannot be changed. Unless I decide to take a computer programming class.

So that's what I have been up to lately. Just living life and gaming when I can. As I approach the new year want to review the blog, be more intentional with posts, maybe give the site a refresh and new look. I want to keep gaming and blogging.

As always thanks for stopping by and stay safe out there.

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