TGIF: Gaming Trend’s Weekend Lineup

Summer means two things for gamers. The annual Steam Summer Sale and Summer Games Done Quick.

Millions of gamers will be feverishly refreshing their Steam pages to take advantage of the incredibly popular deals on hundreds of games. It’s scary to think about how much money will be spent over that 12-day period.

To help ease the pain of buyer’s remorse after emptying your digital wallet into Valve’s Scrooge McDuck-esque vault, think about taking some of that money and donating it to a great cause. SpeedDemosArchive is back with a marathon of the world’s best speed runners to raise funds for Doctors without Borders. Last Winter, they raised over $1 million at their AGDQ 2013 event and this summer they are looking to repeat that success.

We all love Skyrim, but instead of buying it for the third time on a different platform, take that five bucks and help those in need–and watch some awesome games being played in the process.

Josh Devlin, Reporter

So, I’ve been doing those exact two things; watching SGDQ 2014 and buying games on Steam (don’t worry, I donated). I also bought Shovel Knight on Wii U because it looks amazing. The developers over at Yacht Club Games seem to have melded the best aspects of all the classic NES- and SNES-era games together to create a game that feels entirely fresh and new. I can’t wait to digdeep (shovel humor) into that game.

Ron Burke, Editor in Chief

“I’m gonna play Knights of the Old Republic 2 again”, says I.  Two hours into the game I realize “wait…I’ve never seen this content!” and it’s now my mission to actually finish this classic game.  With the restored content mod installed, off I go!

I also picked up an nVidia Shield.  It does an incredible job with emulation (unofficially, of course) so I’ve been tinkering with that.  Movies look great too, so this will be perfect for my vacation next week.  My birthday is July 3rd, and my father-in-law has his 55th on July 4th – time for a surprise party!   I’m gonna do a lot of reading, but for the plane ride?  It’s all classic MAME, all the time.

Lucious Barnes, Staff Writer

Knight of the Old Republic, Knights of the Old Republic 2 (thanks for that, Ron…), Strike Suit Zero: Directors Cut, both of The Witchers, Plauge Inc: Evolved, the Banner Saga, and Ikaruga are the titles that are currently sitting in my Steam Summer Sale shopping cart… and I’m pretty sure the next three days will see that list grow by end.

I don’t have the money for all these games (stupid rent) and i don’t have the storage space (stupid physics) but I won’t that stop me. My gamer’s blood screams for more… MORE! I will do all that I can to see it done!

I can always donate blood, sift through the couch cushions, and go through the pockets of winter clothes to find the cash. You’d be surprised how many different meals you can pull out of a single sack of potatoes if you’re creative enough.

Justin Pauls, Staff Writer

Valiant Hearts and some time with Transistor are my likely gaming targets. I won’t be heading out to the lake as my daytime job has been kicking my butt, and being on-call is never conducive for planning ahead.
Oh, and I’m on the fence about getting the new Transformers game – I mean, it looks alright and the Cybertron series was always fun, but Bayformers? Sorry, but the Grimlock I grew up with didn’t even like Wheelie sitting on him. He’s not a 25cent ride in front of the grocery store, Michael. That, and from a couple of the Twitch streams I’ve watched, it is not a $60 game I want to commit to.

Victor Grunn, Reviews Editor

Battlenations has picked up its long-awaited 4.0 patch, adding 80 missions, a revamped UI, and more to my favorite iOS addiction – right alongside a boss strike with community-voted rewards. Really, even with the excitement of a new job, this has been sapping away a good amount of my time and attention – and the latest Legendary Raptor promotional unit is making my rebel-slaying abilities more potent than ever before.

What are you playing this weekend? Tell us in the comments section below.