Issue 5

Reggie Fils-Aime Aims To Give Back To The Bronx

If you love Nintendo, you probably love Reggie. For 13 years, Reggie was the face of Nintendo of America. In which time, he brought incredible announcements like the 3DS and the Switch. We have a lot to owe to Reggie, like his commitment to the video game community and the "my body is ready" meme that will never die. Instead of retiring to some tropical island somewhere, he's decided to further give back to the community by teaching at Cornell and joining the New York Videogame Critics Circle Board. The NYVGCC is a non-profit organization that focuses on helping the less fortunate in the Bronx area benefit from games and technology. It's encouraging to see such a well-known face from the industry continually give back to the community around him. If you want to know more about the NYVGCC, you can check their website out here. Cheers to Reggie!

Image credit: Reggie Fils-Aime Twitter

Runescape's Microtransactions Are Out Of Control

This article is interesting for a few reasons: the first and most obvious is how many microtransaction opportunities there are in Runescape. I played the classic version when I was younger, but I stopped playing before the microtransactions began to infiltrate. I'm shocked at how many pay-to-win options there are now. The second reason is because Kotaku's reporting in this article is somewhat weak and hard to read. In the article, Cecilia D'Anastasio (the author) states: "After Kotaku spoke with seven Runescape players, it was clear that the Parliament’s statements and recent actions sent a shockwave through the community." Since when does seven players accurately represent an entire community? That's lazy reporting. You can do better Kotaku! The last reason is that Jagex, the developer of Runescape, was recently awarded the Corporate Social Responsibility award by Gameindustry.biz, which you can see in the link below. I guess we know where Jagex gets the money to support charity!

Image credit: Runescape Twitter

Video Game Companies Awards

I often get so caught up in the bad news of video games, like the terrible ways corporations treat their employees, that I forget to celebrate the good guys! Luckily, Games Industry is handing out awards to video game companies who have done good in the industry. Read through and recognize the hard work some of these big companies put into giving back to the community (the jury is still out for Jagex.)

Image credit: Games Industry Twitter

A Look On The Bright Side

Welcome back to Load Save! This week, I ask you to look on the bright side of the gaming world. There's some bad apples out there, but we can't forget that video games bring so much good! We have a good amount of articles this week that highlight the good in the industry, so take a look to brighten up your day! I'm going to start adding a "What I've been playing" section to this intro to let you know what I'm up to!

I've been playing a lot of Astral Chain recently! I had a little bit of trouble getting into the game at the start (because I really sucked at combat), but now I'm hooked. I'm loving the connection between the player and the Legions and I'm pretty invested in the story. There's so many games out right now that I want to play, I need a calm season to catch up! What are you playing right now? Respond to this email or tweet me @SethMcMorris and let me know!

As always, enjoy the read!

Development

Farfetch'd Finally Gets An Evolution: Garfetch'd

Okay, the evolution isn't actually named Garfetch'd. But imagine a mix between Farfetch'd and Garfield. Enjoy your nightmares!

The tease from last week for this was pretty fun. We all knew what was coming, but it was still a cool way to generate some more hype around the new Pokemon titles coming out in November. The ridiculously named "Sirfetch'd" will be a Pokemon: Sword exclusive. As someone who can never decide which edition to get when a new Pokemon game is released, stuff like this makes it easier to decide. It also raises the question: what exclusive evolution will be announced for Shield? It just might make me change my mind again. What evolution would you want to see for Shield?

Image credit: "Meet Sirfetch'd in Pokemon Sword!" Video

Luigi's Mansion 3 Set To Have Paid DLC; Super Mario Odyssey Still Has None

Nintendo isn't known for doing DLC for it's games, but I'm not totally against it. In this case, it'll be a good way to have some more Luigi's Mansion fun after you beat the main story. It is interesting to see that a pretty linear game like Luigi's Mansion is getting DLC when a huge game like Super Mario: Odyssey never got any DLC. I'm not salty or anything, but there could've been so much more to experience in the world of Odyssey, and DLC would've worked so well. I guess we'll just have to wait until Super Mario: Odyssey 2. What DLC would you want in a Nintendo Title?

Image credit: Luigismansion.nintendo.com

Reviews

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening review: The Perfect Time To Jump In

Nintendo is ruthless with these releases, and they're not stopping anytime soon. Link's Awakening is the Switch's flagship Legend of Zelda Remake. While it's not as big of a game as Wind Waker, like the Wii U had, it's still a classic Zelda adventure that hyped up fans. On the surface, the reimagining of this game is incredible. This video compares the original Game Boy version to the newly released remake and it's astonishing to see the differences. I chose this review because it focuses on the Link's Awakening being a great game to get someone into the world of Legend of Zelda. I agree with the points it makes about new Zelda games being difficult to get into because of the underlying assumption that the player knows how to play a Zelda game. The games that got me into Zelda were the two titles released for the DS, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Before these games, the difficulty of Zelda games kept me away from enjoying the experience. It looks like Link's Awakening is doing what the DS titles did, which is provide an experience that young gamers can play to enjoy the world of Zelda without being beaten down by difficulty. This seems like the perfect game to launch with the Switch Lite and I can't wait to try it out!

Image credit: Zelda.com

Untitled Goose Game Review

In a world where we judge video games by their graphical prowess, ability to tell a riveting story, and gameplay mechanics, it's nice to see a game like this that says "hey, come have a laugh." Untitled Goose Game is exactly what is sounds like: a game where you play as a goose. If this is your first time hearing about it, take a look at a trailer here. It's not trying to be something it's not, which I love. This looks like a game that will be on a great sale sometime soon, so keep an eye out and pick it up for a laugh. Unrelated to Gooses, where do you go for reviews? Do you have a certain reviewer/website that you trust or do you look around? Let me know!

Image credit: goose.game

Nintendo Switch Lite Pleases Consumers

If I didn't have a Switch, it would be very hard for me to decide if I wanted to go with the Lite or the original. Currently, I play the Switch in handheld mode a lot. I never felt a need to connect to a TV when playing, even with the heavy-hitters (BotW, Super Mario: Odyssey, etc.) Recently, the only times I felt like I needed a TV was for playing Smash with friends and with playing Astral Chain (I can just see the enemies better.) But these two occurrences aren't convincing enough to buy the Switch Original just to connect to the TV. It seems like the Lite meets a lot of my wants, like the better size for portability and a really nice D-Pad. I'm glad to see Nintendo kill it with this release and I'm very interested to see a Switch Pro in the future. What do you think? Is the Lite a money-grab or is it a much needed improvement? Shoot me an email or tweet to let me know!

Image credit: Nintendo

Community

Control Was Inspired By A Community-Run Fiction Archive

I love reading about developer's inspirations when creating a game. Control has such a bizarre story that you immediately wonder where they got their inspiration from. The SCP Foundation is your answer. If you have time, read the link in this article to one of the SCP Foundation's articles. It's crazy and so well done. Even better, the creator of SCP is happy that they inspired the game, and said that Remedy Entertainment "did something with it that we could not do in a thousand years." You gotta love it when everyone's happy.

Image credit: Control

A Look Inside The GTA V Roleplay Community

GTA V will never die. This article is a fun look into the phenomenon of role-playing in GTA V Online. It's incredible that Rockstar has continued to support GTA's Online for six years after its initial launch. The streaming of role-playing centric servers show how fun it can be and attract thousands of viewers. I've seen people role-play as driving instructors (in this article) to promiscuous taco truck drivers. It's a crazy world out there, but I'm glad people can live out their fantasies through GTA. I can't wait to see what the next trend will be in Los Santos.

Before You Go

Same Place Next Week?

Thanks for reading through! It looks like Nintendo is going to continue to kill the game for the next few months, and I'm here for it. But to be honest, I'm just killing time until Death Stranding releases. I'll be MIA for a month once that comes out, the hype is unreal. Have I missed any big releases or news stories over the past few weeks? Respond to this email and let me know! Let me know what games you're looking forward to to close out 2019! I'll see you next time!