Personal Gaming Thread

[Jason]

I couldn't say if it's better, but it's definitely worth completing it if you didn't back in the 360 days.

[Brad Company]

Undead Nightmare is a must.

[Ted]

Took a break from Red Dead Sunday and had some days off this week. 

Fight Night Champion is on gamepass so I resurrected a fighter, or should I say his started a career with his "son" and finished it off today.

Started using some custom sliders after about 20 fights, which to my amateur eyes made it feel more like boxing. I wished I had discovered them before the career start.

Just the summary with some thoughts:

John Zehnder Jr
Heavyweight
6'3" 242 lbs Big Boned body type

Final record 28-16-2

Doctors forced retirement at 32 y.o. due to neurological issues from too much damage taken during career..
 Zehnder started getting warning letters after failing post fight physicals in 2018 at age 26.  Right after his last fight in January 2024 they said he was done.  I should go back and count the letters.  I think there were about 10 failed exams.  After  2 or 3 letters I played him more defensively and careful, but against higher ranked fighters with the custom sliders there was only so much that could be done.

(I think it would have been more meaningful if they had forced retirement earlier.  I remember feeling pressure about it the first 2 or 3 times, but then it kept happening with no real penalty so I just kept pushing forward to see where the limit was.  I'm pretty sure accumulated damage started being an issue after the custom sliders because of the significant change to boxer damage and boxer power.  It was really a great change and forced me to change tactics while also feeling it was even on both sides.  I was just as dangerous as the AI and capable of ending a fight quick against a careless opening or mistake, and they could too.)

Champ twice and both times was forced by the commission into an immediate title defense fight and was unsuccessful. His last fight was one fight after the failed title defense. Beat Tyson for the first belt and some AI generated fighter for the second.

(Honestly, I never expected Zehnder to even get a title shot.  He just would muddle around trading wins with losses, never really getting any streaks going.  Yes, he moved up the rankings, but didn't break the top 20 for YEARS.  Then, when he did, momentum started building and I seem to remember him cracking the top 10 after a handful of fights.  The first title shot against Tyson was a surprise. I didn't expect the invite and I think Zehnder just defeated the currently ranked 5th or 6th fighter. He just turned 31 before the fight and was 23-13-2.  I didn't think Zehnder could win.  Luck was on his side because he cut Tyson in the first round under the left eye.  Then Tyson walked into a straight right in the 4th and went down.  Commission demanded a title defense within 13 weeks which reduced training time and Zehnder lost that to an AI.  The second title and it's defense were similar stories, but a different belt and against AI.)

Did all the promo events offered to him, but never seemed to get traction on the marketing side of things.  Retired with 31/100 popularity.  This kept him in "club fighter" status, never reaching contender status, and only getting champion status by default because he was champion for a few months total.

(I could take or leave this part.  It's a necessary element to move into the status levels above champion as you can't get superstar or GOAT unless your popularity is really high.  I just didn't know what else to do besides the offered promos to get there.  And since my goal with Zehnder was just to play out the career and let the chips fall I didn't focus on it.  Maybe there's more to it.)

At time of retirement was ranked 6th overall heavyweight.  At that time the only remaining imported fighter not retired was Tyson, but he had only fought once in the previous 2 years. 

(I think his overall record was 62-8.  Zehnder was his 8th loss.  His one fight after me was a win against one of the AI.  Tyson was ranked 7th.)

Ali retired at 33, Frazier at 35, and Foreman at 48.

(I had imported all of the heavyweights into the Legacy, but Tyson was the only one Zehnder ever fought.  Zehnder was going to fight Tommy Morrison, but Morrison retired just before it was to be scheduled.  If I am able to import Zehnder into legacy for future careers that will be cool.)


I thought FNC was good and then I started using the sliders and now I think it's great.  I wish the series would restart with a current version.

[Jason]

It's amazing how well FNC still holds up today graphically and gameplay-wise. Id' love a new version even if it didn't include licensed fighters, but everything needs licensed athletes these days to sell well. I'm hoping Undisputed lives up to the hype when it's finally released.

[Brad Company]

For anyone needing an HDMI 2.1 switch, I can recommend the Ilano from Amazon. Works flawlessly passing 4K/120hz + VRR and ALLM. Using short (3ft.) cables, it doesn't even require usb power.

https://www.amazon.com/llano-Bi-Directional-Switcher-Splitter-Supports/dp/B09PT97CQK

[Jason]

That's nice, but I wish it offered at least 3 inputs for that price. My current Amazon Basics HDMI splitter has 5 inputs with 4K@/60Hz support in which 4 are in use.

I did something I'd never thought I'd do. I purchased a first-person shooter, and not just one. After watching Power On: The Story of Xbox with my son, I wanted to try Halo after watching the episode about it. The Master Chief collection was on sale for $15, so I went ahead and bought it. My son said he'd play co-op with me.

What's funny is that I had mistakenly purchased the PC version of the collection. I was under the assumption that all first-party Microsoft games worked on both PC and Xbox (Play Everywhere?), but I couldn't find it in my library to download later that evening. Once I realized there was a separate Xbox Series X/S version, I requested a refund through the Microsoft Store. To my surprise, the refund was approved within minutes and the money was put back on my Microsoft account. That's the first time I've ever done a digital refund for anything and Microsoft made it easy and fast.

Finally, my son and I wanted to play Gears of War Ultimate Edition now that I have my Series X and S setup in different rooms, but I no longer have an GPU/Xbox Live subscription. Fortunately it offers LAN play which works perfectly. I hope Halo does too. What's even more surprising is that you can still create a party and chat without Xbox Live Gold.

We had played all the Gears games last year, but I was using my Xbox 360 and we then switched to split-screen on my Series S when we got to Gears 4 and 5. This was also before Gears 1 through 3 had FPS boost.

[Jason]

Finished up Gears of War Ultimate Edition. I didn't realize there was an extra chapter that was deleted from the Xbox 360 version, so that was a pleasant surprise.

[Ted]

...
I did something I'd never thought I'd do. I purchased a first-person shooter, and not just one. After watching Power On: The Story of Xbox with my son, I wanted to try Halo after watching the episode about it. The Master Chief collection was on sale for $15, so I went ahead and bought it. My son said he'd play co-op with me.

...

One of the best gaming memories I have is completing the original Halo couch co-op with a buddy.  I don't complete the majority of the games I play and this might have actually been the very first. 

[Jason]

I know I'm about 25 years late to the party, but LAN play is awesome. My son and I started our Halo campaign last night using it. I'm so glad Microsoft still offers LAN play as a feature in a lot of their games.

[Jason]

We're on chapter 7 of 10 of Halo and the good news is that first-person view doesn't seem to bother me. I played for about 3 hours straight today and didn't even have a headache afterwards.

The bad news is that the campaign is really lacking in story. It's easy to see that it was designed for online multiplayer with the campaign added as an afterthought. Both players play as Master Chief but the game acts as if there's only one, almost every chapter involves running around similarly looking rooms fighting waves of enemies and objectives are not always very clear.

We're still having fun with it and plan to complete it in the next few days, but we're hoping things get a little better with the Halo games designed for the Xbox 360. Maybe we'll watch the series on Paramount Plus when we're done.

[Brad Company]

The series peaked story-wise and otherwise with Halo 3 and ODST.
The TV show is good, but is not faithful to the source material.

[Jason]

ODST does not have online multiplayer, so I was hoping the campaign would be good. The collection only goes up to Halo 4, so I'm glad the last 2 of 3 games are considered the best.

[Jason]

We completed Halo last night and we're glad to be done with it. Hopefully Halo 2 is a big improvement. If not, we'll jump to Halo 3.

Why would a first-person game add tricky platform jumps? That's exactly what Halo did in its final chapter last night. Luckily my son was able to handle it to complete the mission.

[Jason]

Completed the first two chapters of Halo 2 and it's a huge improvement over the first one so far.

[Brad Company]

We completed Halo last night and we're glad to be done with it. Hopefully Halo 2 is a big improvement. If not, we'll jump to Halo 3.

Why would a first-person game add tricky platform jumps? That's exactly what Halo did in its final chapter last night. Luckily my son was able to handle it to complete the mission.

You obviously haven't played much Destiny.