Holiday Gaming Gift Guide - The 2024 Christmas Special from Building Better Developers

Welcome to Building Better Developers, the Developer podcast, where we work on getting better step by step professionally and personally. Let's get started. So this episode, because it's like a festive kind of night and things like that, because hey, we've got bright lights on and they're not, you know, errors from code we've written or something like that. I want to talk a little bit about, because it's the gift giving season. So I want to talk a little bit about gifts and go a little bit on that. One of what I like to do is talk a little bit about, I guess, gifts for yourself, something that you can give yourself during this time, because if you're like us, you work a lot of hard hours, you have a long year, you know, you're just like, you have to do some self-care along the way. You have to have some time to like downtime and chill and stuff like that. So you know, if you don't have a hobby, get a hobby. You need to find something that you can do that allows you to like take you away from the work for a little bit. Now myself, and I'm going to call out Michael as well, because I know we tend to be gamers. He has more gaming than, does more gaming than I do, but you know, I've got a, I definitely have my gaming time as well. And I think a gift that I think about, I want to go like two ways on this. One, in the last few years, depending on how much of a gamer or not you are, last now several They've worked better and better on handheld consoles, basically. So the things that traditional like your Xboxes and your PlayStations and all of those now there are really high end handheld systems out there. Two of which that I have become very happy with as they have progressed is one, the Switch. The Nintendo stuff eventually became the, is the Switch, which you can plug in and you can use as a regular console, but it's also really nice to travel with. A lot of stuff you can do there. It's got all the console, all the controls you would normally want. And also the Steam Deck, which is a little bit more, it's because it's got a very broad number of games that it supports. You can get a little hit or miss in that. There's some stuff that will support with like quotes around you, but you really want like I've got, for example, I've got one game that I'm playing that's Fallout Vegas that it supports it, but I really would never want to play it other than with a controller that actually have like a Bluetooth controller into it. If you want to do it through the handheld, like set the handheld a little bit further away and use a, you know, use a controller to do it. All that to say, one, one of those, if you're, if you're a gamer and you want to be able to get away from your console, if you're like an Xbox or a PlayStation 5 or something like that, then check one of these out or both of them. Price wise, they're, you know, comparable to a typical console system and stuff like that. You can get some accessories and that so you can keep adding to it. And they all, they both have digital stuff so that you can download things in. You don't have to carry discs around with you or cartridges or things like that. You can for the Switch at least. I don't think you can be, there isn't even, I don't think there's a cartridge form for Steam Deck, but you can bring this stuff in and it allows you to play whatever games you are. So, the follow up to that is I was wandering around looking for something because I was like, hey, I want to get like another Switch game because I've been working my way through it. Stumbled across a thing called Unicorn Overlord. I was like, what kind of crazy name is that? It can't be very good, but it actually fell under the list of things that was like my kinds of games. So I started looking at it. I was like, this might be pretty good. And it turns out it is like one of those, it's a perfect kind of Switch game. It's one of those you can sit down, you can play for a little bit. Yes, it's got a long story, but you can like do it for a little bit. You don't have to get too lost in it. You don't lose like days dealing with it. So those are my, you know, that's like a very specific, you know, here's a game that maybe you want to take a look at, or if you really want, like I mentioned, Fallout Vegas or Skyrim or one of those, it's like just huge games that could take up the entirety of next year for you. But also this, you know, it's a little one. And then like I said, it's just a, I think it's really handy to have one of these little portable systems. That's my thoughts. Where are you at with your, your gifts, self and other gifts stuff for yourself, Michael? So it's funny about that Unicorn Overlord that I remember seeing that one. And the first thought I had was another game that came out for the Xbox 360, I think was Brutal Legends. That was another one that was like, I don't know if I'm going to like this, but it was like, was it John, Jeff Black, John Black was like a heavy metal guitar was the antagonist, was the hero. And it was like heavy metal bands and it was like, what the hell is it? It was the funnest game I had played that year. It was like, good gracious. I kind of hope they make a sequel at some point because I really want to see like updated bands like they build the battle stages. It was really cool. I've got both of those consoles and it's kind of funny because there's actually a app you can download and install on the Switch that lets you remote play to your PlayStation 5. So I've actually instead of breaking down buying that portal or whatever that PlayStation handheld thing is, I just use the Steam Deck and it plays pretty well. It's actually interesting enough that the Play Now or Remote Play actually works on my iPad too. So I can actually even remote play to the PlayStation. So there are so many ways you can actually kind of stream to your PlayStation, which is kind of interesting. I digress a little bit. When it comes to the holidays and gaming, I'm not allowed to buy games for myself anymore after my birthday in September. I'm basically cut off. I'm told no, no, no, no, because more than once I have gone out and bought myself a game and then there's a copy under the tree for me at Christmas. And then I get yelled at because I basically buy my own Christmas gifts every year. It's kind of hard though, like some of the really good games don't come out until like November. It's like, come on, I know you guys are doing this to sell out. But in the digital age, really? Come on. Things I've been playing right now that I kind of like, like Diablo 4, the new season was kind of cool, kind of running out of content, though. I'm looking forward to Pillars of Eternity 2. I have a suspicious feeling that's going to be under the tree for me. So I'll lose some hours playing that. And I kind of got into kind of a Destiny-like spinoff called The First Descendant that came out around July. It's interesting in, it's got a pretty decent story and solid enough graphics. But what I don't like about it is the microtransactions. So like the game microtransactions you to death. So it's once you beat the story, the end game, unless you like really do the grind, really feels like work. So it's like, okay, I'll wait till the next season comes out, new content drops. Now it's like, oh, okay, it's fun again, get through that. But the end game material, not really for me, but the main story is kind of cool. It's Destiny-ish, but kind of more down to earth kind of thing, better scenery and effects. As far as gifting, similar to me, my son-in-law is a big PC gamer. I kind of got away from that because I need hiring machines for writing code, not gaming, because I find myself if I buy a gaming rig to write code on, I play games on it and I don't write code. So I try to keep my sections separated. But he picked up, I guess Stalker 2 is the new one that came out. It's like a Ukrainian kind of sci-fi horror first person game. Looks really cool. It's only on PC and I guess Xbox at the moment. I can't try it on my PlayStation yet and it won't play on the Steam Deck. So it's really graphic intensive, but it looks fun. It looks interesting. So just some ideas for you if you're out there. I do like to switch and I'm actually hoping there's a copy of the Mario and Luigi Brothers under the tree this year, because I did come out after my birthday. So those are just some of the things I like to play on those as well. Those are some, yeah, I mentioned there's always a, with those there's always the idea of like going back. I like sometimes to go back to some of the old things you mentioned, so like the old school games and that, because I do have like, I have a collection and I've been like whittling it down because I had so many of them, but I do have like practically every handheld that's, like I've got way back to like the Game Boy Advance all the way through like PSP and stuff, all of that kind of stuff. And I've got games that work on all of these things and I can still play them and I do from time to time. I like, I'll decide, hey, I've got another one, I'll crank out the little Game Boy Advance. I've got some little arcade style game or something like that I'll just do because I know I'm going to be sitting there like at a, you know, graduation sitting there and doing nothing for an hour while I'm waiting for stuff or something like that. And those are always fun to have. It is fun to go back to some of those things that I've beaten years ago, like the old, like the Crash Bandicoot series or Spyro the Dragon or some of those kinds of things and just go back and it's, it is fun and it's like some of those things that say it's always great to get the new games, but sometimes nice to just like chill and do either like an old school arcade kind of game or something that you've already like, you know, solved essentially where you can just go in and, you know, beat up on some people or something like that. Or like Skyrim I mentioned is I've got a couple of those where I'll just sit, it's basically I've like one, you know, gotten all the main stuff and I'll just go wander around and look around the world and go beat on some stuff or something, you know, hack something with a sword or shoot it with an arrow or whatever happens to be because they're, and they're great drinking games. So the kind of stuff when you've been sitting there, you just like, you've had a lot of food, you've had a couple of glasses of wine or whatever your drink is. And you're just like, you know what, I just want to chill. Don't want to think about it too much, but I do feel like I feel better doing a game than just sitting there, you know, taking a nap. Those are some good things to take a look out for as well. Or even your little phone games like that sometimes are really good. Now it's funny because you talked about playing the old games and that. So what are your thoughts on the old playing the old vert, like being basically have the old game updated enough to play on a newer system. It's still the old game or a remaster of the game, not a, not like Final Fantasy seven where they basically rewrote the whole game, but like a cleaned up version. So like you mentioned Spyro, so they have a remastered version of Spyro. They even did one for medieval and some of those are pretty cool, but partially because you can't just take the old game and plop it on the new system. It doesn't play right. But what are your thoughts on that? You know, between. Yeah, I love that. Like Wasteland is one that I had was like an way, way back. I remember on PC playing Wasteland one and always just drooling for a Wasteland two when I got done with it and they've come back and remastered those and done Wasteland two and then created Wasteland three. I think that was one was not even a remaster. So that was one I love the heck out of those. I actually one of the things I keep, I got on one of my like, you probably want this list but I haven't bought it yet as a remaster of Wizardry. That like is the way, way back original. That's the first RPG game I ever played on a, on a PC. I mean that would really count. There was a couple others, but they weren't that level of RPG. At that time, that was like, that was just crazy. You know, whole different level of RPG I'd never seen on a computer. And so I've spent over the years, I've spent hours through all of the various Wizardry things, but they've gone back and done the original one and it's on the handheld. Think it's on Steam Deck or Switch or maybe both. So they basically, they've just upgraded the graphics. It's essentially, well, I understand it's the same story. A lot of the same everything. And it's a very good, like just, it's not quite a, you know, a grinder type kind of thing. It is a little bit. It's got, but you know, or I guess a good deal of it's just like wandering around beating up monsters. So more of the grind kind of stuff. It does have a little bit of story and then you've got some, you know, your basic like work your way up in levels and all the different magic items. And it's one of those you can switch classes so you can like work your way all the way up and then start all over again and work your way up. So there's, there's some value to it. A lot of those I actually really enjoy because I don't want to get too far into, I worry sometimes I'm going to learn some, get into something new and it's going to suck up countless hours that I really don't have. So going back to those old schools, actually that's what I did not, I guess last Christmas I finished Bard's Tale. The like the new, they've got a new Bard's Tale 4 or whatever. I can't remember what they called it, but it's basically Bard's Tale 4. I went back and did that. That one's like a nice bonus because it's based on an old school property. It's sort of the same, but then they can update it enough that it's like it is a new game. So those, I'm a big fan of those kind of things. When everything take those and sort of say, hey, this old thing, we're going to come back and revamp it for the modern stuff. Even actually one of the first Switch games I got was Advance Wars 1 and 2. They just combine those in. They updated them a little, which is nice, but it was like, it's another one. It's a very fun, I can sit there and knock it out. And I don't know if I've got like a half hour, an hour to play, I can go through a campaign and then I'm happy and can move on to my other things. So yeah, those are great. How do you feel about those, the remasters and such? So interesting enough, I did not like the new Bard's Tale. I did not like the updated version. I like the old school, like first person view. Because to me, I think the best dungeon crawler was probably Bite and Magic 3. It was like the first person kind of that style, but that was probably like the best control, story, everything. And then plus we kind of grew up with that style where you're in the dungeon, you move. So we went from like the old keyboard, Zork, you know, and for North as for South, you for controls, you actually now kind of move through the dungeon. And I really like those styles of games. So there was one I ran across last year and I don't remember if I sent it to you. It's on the iPad. It's called Legend of Grimrock and it's kind of the old wizardry style. But what I like about it is it's got all the touch interaction. So you have to actually pull chains to open doors, pick up keys, unlock things. So there's a little more of that human gesture interaction with it, not just the controls, which makes it a little more fun for me. And along that lines, it's like some. So one of the best remastered or I don't want to say remasters, but just kind of restore was the Baldur's Gate series. So when they release the enhanced version of that, that is the perfect game of an example of a PC game being ported to mobile where it was designed for mouse clicks, which is perfect for touching, dragging. Awesome. Baldur's Gate 1, I finally finished that last year. Be careful with the enhanced versions because they also come with the expansion packs and the expansion packs basically are like endless dungeon crawlers. And if you accidentally get out of the main story to that, it's hard to get back with your character to the main story. So I had to start over a few times because I kept doing that by mistake. It's like it's 40, 50 hours a day and you forget. It's like, oh yeah, I want to do it. It's like crap. No, where's my save? Go back. But yeah, that one's cool. My all time favorite one though was Icewind Dale. It was a very compact, very short story. But man, the graphics just distort by the time you're done with that game is like is very satisfying. It's like you are very happy with the way that ended. Unfortunately they lost the source code for Icewind Dale 2. So we will never see the light of day of that one again, unless someone completely reverses engineers it from a CD. If they find a copy of it somewhere, it's gone, unfortunately. But yeah, those kinds of games were fun. The TSR games were a lot of fun back in the day. Some of those have been remastered and enhanced. I've liked them. I would love to see Buck Rogers redone. That was I don't know why, but that was one of the best sci fi. It was like pools of radiance with Buck Rogers and laser guns. And it was like, this is awesome. But it's a little pixely. It's like, man. And then that other one that you turned me on to was a dear. Oh, Avernum. Yeah. Spiderweb software stuff. So I just found out that I think Steamedek or Epic, one of the ones had a game that actually plays on my Mac. And I was like, oh, check this out. It's the old school graphics, but it looks like the whole game was enhanced. So it looks like the old school style, but it does look like it was polished and kind of updated from modern day. And I'm just clicking around playing with that. I'm like, wow, this is cool. And one of the cool dynamics I found with it was you have to actually open up your inventory slot at different places on the ground to actually see things on the ground. I had never run into that before because some of the other, like the earlier ones didn't have that mechanic. So I don't know if that's something new they added with this game or if just the later ones have it. That was really cool. I'm like, hey, what's that on the ground? How do I get that? And then I'm like, oh, hey, okay. That means I can't, but you can't walk around with your inventory open. That's the only thing that's a little weird about it, but I can see the quirk with it. Like I can see the appeal to it. It was kind of cool. So I'm giving that one a shot this season while I'm waiting on what's under the tree and trying very hard to get away from like games as a service right now. Cause I'm just a little burnt out of like, you know, always have to log in and make sure you get your daily things. Always have to make sure you do the seasonal content to get like the bonus. It's like, come on guys, make a game, make a story, make it good. You know, it doesn't necessarily have to be Skyrim, but Astro Bot. Perfect example. It is like a 20 hour game and it is like nostalgic, perfectly made game. You can play like at the end of one level, you're playing a Pescape at another end of level, you're doing Ragnarok or God of War. It was just cool. It was like, this is like the game was solid. And even at the game award show this year, they called out, you know, thank you, Nintendo, Mario, you like set the stage for this. And it was like a throwback to like everything good and happy with video games. It wasn't like nothing really. Yeah, there were some like things going on, but it was goofy enough that it wasn't like mean or bad or it was like it was a feel good game all the way through. Yes, you got frustrated. Yes, there are speedrun challenges and you will probably rage quit and throw your controller on the last bonus level. But that's the only level I haven't beaten. I get 10 minutes in almost to the end and die every freaking time because the platform just booms, just right. But I digress. But yeah, so again, I like a lot of the restores and some of the remasters I like, like, like I said, medieval, but like the Legend of Cain one that just came out, it looks kind of cool, but I almost feel that's more like a reskin than a remaster. It's like, don't charge me full price for a game that all you did was just kind of update the graphics a little bit and fix the controls. That's like that should be like 20 bucks. So that's my only kind of bad thing about some of these remasters. Yeah, so that's just a couple of brief thoughts. Yeah, Might and Magic 3 I think was probably the best because it was also sort of it was basically open worldish. It was like I always liked the Might and Magic game mechanics and stuff like that. And it was just it really added all the pieces. That was probably the epitome of like old school stuff. I'd forgotten about Buck Rogers. Like there's a Buck Rogers and Buck Rogers 2 were the two that were the old SSI. And I loved almost all of the SSI stuff. And those were those were phenomenal. That and another one, Wizards Crown was one of these. It was game mechanics, very different from some of the other RPGs, but one of my all-time favorites. So there's a lot of yeah, there's a lot of good stuff out there. So you know, that's something else. If you know, to gift yourself as maybe go back and like look back 10 or 20 years and see what's out there, you might find something that's really cheap that turns out to be a great way to spend some time over your holidays. While you're out there, though, you can feel free to shoot us an email at info at developandorder.com and let us know. Game recommendations, we are totally happy to hear those as well because there may be something we missed somewhere along the way. So let us know. As always, you know, hang out, you can hit us up on Twitter or X. You can check us out on Facebook and go out to the developandorder.com site and you can spend some time searching through all of the content we've got out there. I think we're literally, you know, literally thousands of articles are out there now or thousand plus articles are out there. Lots of stuff for you to take a look at. As always, feedback, however you can get to us. You know, if you want to send us a letter, if you want to send us smoke signals, we also have comments everywhere, whether you're watching podcasts, whether you're out on the development or YouTube channel, all of that stuff. And notice that because we don't communicate very well, we'll be pretty good, like very graceful about whatever it is that you send us. So if it's a little hard to read, we'll figure it out. We'll learn whatever your language is to figure that sucker out and be able to take your feedback and make sure that we build a better season and a better series and season as we go into next year. That being said, I'm going to wrap this one up, get some fresh caffeine and stuff like that. Have yourself a great holiday season. Have a great day, a great week. Be safe, go out there, have some fun, enjoy your family and time. And we will talk to you next time. Thank you for listening to Building Better Developers, the Develop-a-Noor Podcast. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon, anywhere that you can find podcasts. We are there. And remember, just a little bit of effort every day ends up adding into great momentum and great success.