Blog Herding – The Best Blogs Of The Community (May 7, 2015)

This week's slew of blogs touch on a variety of gaming topics, from virtual reality Pokémon to PlayStation 4 Trophy screenshots! Please take time to read through them and let your voice be heard via the comments.

We also have our second playdate detailed below, this time featuring Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U. Due to some technical difficulties, I don't yet have a dedicated playdate group up.

Now then, enjoy this week's edition of Blog Herding!

Community Blogs For April 30 – May 6:     

My Five: Favorite Star Wars Games of All-Time
Blogger Jack Treese celebrated May the Fourth Be With You by writing about his favorite Star Wars games. While my favorite (Knights of the Old Republic) doesn't make his shooter-heavy list, he makes a good case for each and every one of his choices.

Guess That Game (May 2015)...
It's time for another guessing game courtesy of firedude3663! This month's entry was made to be a little more challenging, and it was for me. Can you beat my personal worst of 14 tries?

The Hilariously Lackluster Trophy Screenshots On The PS4
Rebekah loves the PS4's screen capture feature. When an update rolled out that makes the PS4 automatically take a screenshot when a Trophy is earned, she got an idea: Why not share those many "exciting" moments? The results are...well, see for yourself!

Five Sequels That Tried Too Hard To Be Unique
Jon_G knows that sequels are a tricky thing to get right. Here he writes about five of them that tried too hard to be unique, mostly failing due to changes in tone and gameplay. What do you think about the sequels he includes?

Nintendo Screen Shot Scrap Book #2
Happydude633 is back with what he is hoping will be a bi-weekly feature: the screenshot scrap book (including the image above). The second iteration features Metroid Fusion and Kirby Super Star. As a huge fan of both games, I enjoy reliving some of their moments with these screen grabs.

The Best Possible Idea for Microsoft's HoloLens in Gaming
The future or wishful thinking? Whatever your opinion of Vurtax's blog about using Microsoft's HoloLens for Pokémon is, you have to agree that this particular vision for the franchise would be utterly amazing. Perhaps something like this is the next great jump in gaming, kind of like 2D to 3D was?                           

DLC: How the Industry Priced Me Right Out of Preorders
Uesugi-dono is done buying DLC for games. Too often a game gets re-released as the "Game of the Year" edition or "Complete" edition, often at a lower cost. While he's sad it will impact his up-to-date blogging, Uesugi just can't justify spending $60 on a game and then more for extra content that will become cheaper at a later date. Perhaps the potential $100 needed for all of Batman: Arkham Knight's content helped with this decision?

31/31 Day 2: Hyping the Hard
General Mills44 wants to dispel a rumor: Bloodborne isn't actually that hard. It's challenging, sure, but not hard in the way that most people hear or read about. It's a fair point he thoroughly explains. And let's be honest: It's not Battletoads. I've yet to beat the infamous speeder bike level.

Writing Challenge Responses:

Community Writing Challenge: Go Go Gaming Gadgets
Aside from sounding awesome, Rebekah's Knucklehead Radar in Destiny is super helpful in keeping her aware of anyone looking to creep up on her like a Tenchu ninja. She also writes about a fantastic gadget in Okami, and the Pokeball... a morally questionable device at best. I believe in leash-free Bulbasaurs.

Community Writing Challenge: My Favorite Gadget
Boxcar182 picks a slightly innocuous gadget for the challenge: the sledgehammer. It gets the nod ahead of more advanced gadgets due to how devastating it is to Mars' infrastructure and the lives of city planners in games like Red Faction: Guerrilla. Boxcar also explains how awesome a last stand with a sledgehammer can be. To steal slightly from an older Batman, it sounds like a good way to die.

Community Reviews:

52/52 Week 18 – Broken Age Act 2 Review
It's taken a while, but the second act of Broken Age is here, and TheDarkestLink has written a critique on the adventure game from Double Fine. He liked it so much that he would rather you stop reading his review and download it ASAP.

Community Writing Challenge:

This week I'd like everyone to write about what their dream game would be. For me that means an open-world Feudal era Japan, action-RPG mechanics, a branching storyline, and graphics on par with Yakuza Ishin! on the PS4. What's the dream game you'd like to play, or even create? Or has it already been made?

Community Playdate:

This week we'll host a Super Smash Bros. playdate on the Wii U. Please add me via my Nintendo Network ID (Louis_Kensei). We'll play on Sunday, May 10, at 7 p.m. CST for an hour or two. Please leave your ID in the comments below, or send me a private message. Just like the previous playdate, come back to the comments section on Sunday if you have any questions or want to follow along with any updates I may post.

I hope you enjoy the blogs! Please contact me via my Game Informer page or on Twitter at @LouisGarcia12 with any blog news or playdate suggestions.