Gaming Humpday Update 9.18.2019: The Archive

I love this too much to be having to meet so seldom! A whole year has passed since my last Gaming HDUD. And in that year so much has happened. I’ve beaten games and games have beaten me. Heck at this point in my life I feel dirty even calling myself a gamer. I’m more of a… a collector. Yeah, that makes way more sense. I mean, I get excited like everyone else for a new title. Ride or conduct the hype train, and go out and buy something on day 1. Then… Then? Then it sits there. Collecting dust or taking up hard drive space. And the crazy thing is that I’m happy? Like having it on the shelf fulfilled the urge of playing it? I know, I know. I’m texting my shrink right now, we have to get to the bottom of this. 

But until then! Let’s talk games, eh!? 

First and foremost, there is a pile of clean laundry here that has needed attending to for weeks so let’s get to that. On the top of that pile rests the official announcement of the fall of the Future Monkeys. If you weren’t aware, myself and my partner in crime, Beardy McWhiskey (real name), hosted a podcast called Future Monkeys. No, don’t bother trying to find us now!

The monkey was set free on a deserted island where it can’t bother anyone. It’s happy and free, so don’t be sad. We had a good run of 111 episodes, spanning about 5 years. Time was our final boss, and it won in the end. We just didn’t have the time to dedicate to it in our schedules. Two dads trying to do our thangs and it was hard to juggle it all. It was mutual and understanding in the end, so we closed the book on Future Monkeys on a high note. 

It’s ironic that the last Gaming HDUD I did a year ago, I talked about how we just got back together to do the podcast again after a hiatus. I’m not crying, you’re crying. 

With that said, underneath that lies the rest of the laundry pile… Future Monkeys was a podcast, but it was also a blog. And a nice, spiffy one too, thanks to our Monkey Behind the Curtain, Ve6a5. For years and years I attempted to balance life, this blog, and that blog, all at the same time and I’m surprised I still have any desire to look at a keyboard. I really wanted to utilize my namesake here – The Man, The Chef, The Dad – and bring my games coverage here. But with Future Monkeys existing, I knew that would’ve been the better place. And I had no problem doing it. I loved making content over there and the community made it worth it. I guess there lies the bittersweetness of setting the monkeys free. Now, I get to focus on one blog. What does that mean? It means whatever I’m writing about gaming is going to happen here, and whatever I wrote about gaming at Future Monkeys .. is preserved here as well! Hence, The Archive.

So it took some time but I got it all transfered over and formatted correctly. Below you will find all the posts I’ve published with Future Monkeys over the years, now here on Man, Chef, Dad. And in order from newest to oldest. Yes, I maintained the original dates so everything is in the correct time that it was posted. Check them out if you never have before, and enjoy. OH, and pay no attention to the FutureMonkeys.com watermark on some photos. Can’t really fix that.

UNBOXING | The Division 2 Ultimate Edition Steelbook
UNBOXING | SteelSeries Arctis 3 Bluetooth Gaming Headset
UNBOXING | Kingdom Hearts III Deluxe Edition (PS4)
UNBOXING | Diablo III Loot Goblin amiibo
UNBOXING | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild amiibo Cards
The Anthem of Gamer Zero
GAME REVIEW | Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
REVIEW/Prep Guide | BASSTOP & MASCARRY Nintendo Switch Replacement Shells
GAME REVIEW | Batman: The Telltale Series
UNBOXING | Nintendo 2DS XL Poké Ball Edition
UNBOXING | Metroid Samus Returns amiibo
UNBOXING | Metroid Samus Returns Special Edition
UNBOXING | Destiny 2 Limited Edition
GAME REVIEW | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Game of the Year 2017)
UNBOXING | Horizon Zero Dawn Collector’s Edition
UNBOXING | No Man’s Sky Limited Edition
UNBOXING | Song of the Deep Collector’s Edition
UNBOXING | Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Special Edition
Opinion | Big Games: Massive Worlds with No Time to Save Them
UNBOXING | The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD with Collector’s Edition Guide
The Hype Train | No Man’s Sky
GAME REVIEW | Lifeline (Game of the Year 2015)
UNBOXING | Destiny: The Taken King Collector’s Edition
GAME REVIEW | Disney Infinity 3.0 Rise Against the Empire Playset
UNBOXING | Disney Infinity 3.0 Boba Fett
UNBOXING | Disney Infinity 3.0 Rise Against the Empire Playset
UNBOXING | Disney Infinity 3.0 Saga Bundle
Speaking of Destiny…: The Cost of Entry
GAME REVIEW | The Wolf Among Us

And there you have it! Lots of unboxings. I love unboxings, didn’t you know? I’ve been doing them for yeeeeeeeeeeeeears. I’ve been writing about games for.. geeze, for about 13 years now. And it all started with unboxing videos. Game reviews, opinion pieces, there’s a lot of stuff there. I’m still bummed that I lost all the content I wrote when I started out. That’s about 5-6 years of posts gone to the winds. My faves from this list?

Definitely all the Disney Infinity stuff. My god, I miss that game. I loved reposting that, it brought back so many memories. Other notable things are the Nintendo Switch mods which I’m super proud to have sat down and written it all out. And the Zelda amiibo Cards which are the freaking best and worth every penny. 

One thing’s for sure. I still love to write about games. More than I like playing them? …Hard maybe. hahaha

To end this link-filled madness, I’ll put this here.

I found it on reddit, like all good things. It really hit me hard. The truth behind it is so deep that it almost hurts. I’m part of, essentially, the first generation that was born into gaming. And I remember those early years quite clearly. The excitement of just walking around on a level and seeing every corner of where I can venture to. So many aspects of gaming – and life – were simpler back then. So much was being discovered and created before our eyes, we were able to see it evolve into what it is today. Now? Now we have so many games available that we couldn’t possibly play them all. My buddy Ve6as and I were discussing this on Twitter. Today, games don’t leave anything to the imagination. Not like they used to. You have a world to explore and a universe to save. But the day a game comes out there are dozens of guides telling you what to do first and how to do the thing and where everything is on the map. Gaming when we were growing up was all about that fun and excitement. That willingness to explore and discover and feel like you’re the first one to find that secret room or hidden item. I love how the internet connects us all and how far we’ve come with technology. But the price we’re paying is our innocence. Our will to take that adventure and meet it head on with no help. 

I’m guilty all the same. I haven’t bought Borderlands 3 yet but I already know about loot farming and character abilities and all that jazz thanks to researching it on YouTube. From now on though I think I’m going to try and do right by young me. Young me would just jump in and not care about how long it was going to take me to finish a game or the right path to take to get me the best weapons fast. Nope, I’m nowhere near the adventurer young me was. But that needs to change. And I’ll think I’ll start that at the end of the week when I pick up The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening on the Switch. Which btw, I’m going to be unboxing the Dreamer’s Edition with the amiibo right here, so stay tuned!

Alright that be that. I hope you enjoyed this update. I also hope to continue it on. So many things to talk about! And the final boss is less than kind.