Thankfully, it wasn't the most expensive purchase, but I still regretted it. I wanted to create a nice sky atmosphere for my parents when they watch movies at home with this LED light projector. Visually, it's not too shabby, but sadly it makes an annoying humming sound that just ruins everything...

Proof that Star Wars did indeed happen a loooooooong time ago!

Driver: San Francisco

This game features various missions with points and timed races. Sometimes you had to accumulate points, sometimes you had to hold out as long as possible, sometimes you had to be as quick as possible.

Across various challenges, I once held six world records in this game. A few users would battle me after Ubisoft shared my screenshots on Twitter but they didn't last. It was a very exciting time. Apparently, the game sold a lot better than expected, so I wasn't just battling a small number of users either.

Sadly, the franchise seems dead at the moment, which is a real shame. I'll always have these memories though! 💪

Angelina Jolie

in Hackers (1995)

This movie is still special to me and Angelina Jolie is probably 80% of the reason. When this movie came out, the combination of tech and a fantastic looking Jolie had my full attention from beginning to end. I rewatch this movie almost every year. 💙

With The Grand Tour now being official over, I've started re-watching the old TopGear specials again. I've seen them all a million times and I'll watch them a million times more.

Some are better than others. Back in the day, the scripted moments were sometimes a bit cringy, but I still love the show.

When they were in India and tried to revolutionize Dabbawala'ing, there was a moment where causing an accident was just way too obvious. Thankfully, those moments became a lot rarer.

Welp, guess I know what I'm gonna be doing tonight! 🍿

SIFU has been out for a while but it's still the hardest game in my recent memory. It's stylish as hell, especially if you love kung-fu movies, but you can't really button-mash your way through this game.

Well, you can, until you get to Sean. He's the second boss in the game and unless you know how to dodge, you'll have a hard time getting past him. It took me several sessions across several days to beat him - and I still felt like I got lucky.

And it's not like exploring will provide you with any advantages over Sean and you cannot power level to become stronger either. Not the first time anyway IIRC.

I'm not a person to throw a controller at the wall, but I got close to it with this game. 🥲

I've recently been trying to finish the Cyberpunk DLC and this band has been pumping out metal videos full of cyberpunk vibes. It just gels with me, though I have been a fan for a long time. Celldweller's FiXT music label is just full of talented folks!

I used to use rechargeable battery packs for my gaming controllers but after a few years, they just didn't hold their charges as well as they used to.

I've since upgraded to the best solution for wireless gaming with a controller ever. A friend suggested I get these Panasonic Eneloop Pros. These are magic. They last forever, I was literally stunned. If you're using wireless controllers, like the Xbox ones, for gaming, I highly suggest you give these a try.

As a PC gamer, there are currently only a handful of games I look forward to. It doesn't look super bright, honestly. Many other games are only planned for consoles.

GTA VI isn't going to come out this year, I assume. I've been playing these games ever since the the developer was still called DMA Design. Rockstar is still treating the franchise as if modding on PC hadn't been the one thing to keep GTA alive and relevant all through the years before GTA Online came around, so I don't plan on supporting this game even if it does release for PC in 2027. One less purchase won't matter to them but I'll be at peace.

DOOM The Dark Ages is going to be big but I will wait until reviews come out. Compared to 2016 DOOM, DOOM Eternal felt so bloated that I still haven't completed it to this day. Unless they tone things down a bit, I'll probably skip it.

So this only leaves two games for me, at the moment: Atomfall and...

Assassin's Creed Shadows

Image source: Xbox

We, the AC fans, have been dreaming of an Assassin's Creed game set in feudal Japan for so many years. I was super excited when they announced that it was finally in the works. Unfortunately, it's going to release during a very difficult time for Ubisoft.

The company is struggling, some will say rightly so. Some questionable game releases, NFT stuff, legal troubles with shutdowns of live-service games and people leaving the company have all impacted Ubisoft.

Assassin's Creed Shadows was delayed last year and I, personally, am glad it didn't release in November '24. The changes they've made and shown us so far have definitely made me more excited about the game. It looks like it won't necessarily play like other third person action games where you can choose between stealth and brute force. I've loved stealth games ever since I was a kid playing early Splinter Cell games. I'm hoping this will be similar to the current-gen Tenchu game we never got. (Curse you, Sekiro!)

For work (and hobbies), I am involved with Japanese culture every day anyway, so I'm very happy that after finishing Ghost of Tsushima on PC last year, I can keep my streak of exploring Japan in open-world games going!