Hello! Welcome to this inaugural edition of Morning Checkpoint. Each Saturday I’ll help you get caught up on last week’s best gaming stories while having some fun and learning a few things.
This week won’t have any reader questions or stories, but hopefully, that will change next week! Send any questions, stories, ideas or whatever to MorningCheckpoint@gmail.com or leave a comment below. Either works!
Great Kotaku Content From The Past Week
Like most weeks, Kotaku was filled with some great stories. Here are a few of my favorites!
This might have one of my favorite opening paragraphs ever.
“Gail Gygax and I were sitting in the living room of a lace-trimmed, flower-filled bed and breakfast in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin when she told me about the time she discovered what she believed was a plot to kill her.”
Even if you don’t like D&D you should read this story. It’s amazing.
Finding rare old games is always cool, but even cooler is finding an old game that nobody knew about. This is the case with UWC, a wrestling game that was recently discovered by a Nintendo collector.
I had no idea what Left Alive was, but after reading this great story by Heather I now know two things: It sounds cool and it sounds like a bad game. You should read this post too, especially if you are thinking about picking up Left Alive.
Tweets!
I don’t watch TV anymore because I cut the cord and watch YouTube and Hulu ad-free now. So I haven’t seen this ad from Claritin, but it is something.
Lady, you need to take better care of your carts. That is way too much dust.
News
- EA will not have a big E3 press conference this year.
- Octopath Traveler is getting a prequel game for mobile devices.
- H1Z1 is changing its name again, it will now be called Z1 Battle Royale.
- Remote Play is now officially available on iOS devices.
Some Good Comments
Once the cloned cougars are determined to come out healthy, then the cowboys will be able to get approval to move on to human trials. For now, the cloned cougars die almost immediately, but progress is being made!
-Shigmiya64 from “Red Dead Online Players Are Cloning Hundreds of Cougars”
Cloning a few sheep is one thing, cloning a shit ton of cougars is a whole another thing. Probably harder and for sure more dangerous. Luckily, they don’t live long. Yet.
I remember people messaging me asking if they can buy the Artifact beta (or was it alpha?) code after finding out I was going to PAX West. A few people actually offered me up to $100 per code. I told them I’ll see if I can get it, but after finding out how much of a shitshow their booth is, I told them I won’t be able to get it. People were lining up all day long, and it’s like a 5 hour wait to check out the demo (so you can get the code) on the Artifact booth. It was definitely the busiest booth in the convention, and the star of the show.
And here we are. I wonder how those guys are feeling right now.
-Kodokljo from “Artifact’s Few Remaining Players Are Desperate To Know What Valve Has Planned”
I too wonder how those folks feel today? Are they even playing the game still? I can’t imagine paying $100 for a beta code and then getting Artifact and realizing that you might have just wasted your money.
Trailers & Videos You May Have Missed
This is a wonderful example of a trailer that I have zero interest in but that at least one person reading this will get super pumped about. It’s not even that I don’t like baseball, this trailer is just so dry and filled with menus. But if you care about these things, this trailer is for you!
Star Trek Discovery content is coming to Star Trek Online which reminds me that I need to really watch Discovery at some point. I just never liked mirror universe stuff and the new series seems to be way too focused on that stuff.
This game just looks like a good time. It really reminds me of Just Cause, which makes sense considering who is developing it. But it’s Just Cause with what looks to be good combat. So colorful too!
This looks very silly and I’m happy. More silly Mortal Kombat, please. Two Johnny Cages? Yes, thank you. I’ll have some of that.
Tell Me More!
Who is your favorite Mega Man robot master? There are a lot of them for sure, but which one is your favorite and why do you love them so much?
I always liked Pharaoh Man. The dude is kind of a hypocrite though. He collects rare treasures and also hates tomb robbers. He also gets nervous around women, which is just adorable.
Morning Checkpoint is all about catching you up on the past week, getting you ready for the next week, answering some questions, sharing stories and having a good time. You can email me anything you want or drop a comment below. Suggest tweets, comments, ideas, new sections and more for next week and thanks for reading!