When Sims 2 came out, I was more than ready for it. I ditched Sims 1 without barely a look back, and was immediately in love with Sims 2. Someday, I want to get it re-installed on my computer, and mess around with my favorite town, Strangetown, some more. I wasn’t really into building back then, nor did I make my own characters very often, but man did the storylines behind Strangetown and Pleasantville pulled me in and I spent so much time playing the sims that came with those towns. I still have all of the original discs from all of the expansions for Sims 2 (and somehow I missed getting the Ultimate Edition).. so I’d need to literally get those discs to work on my PC to re-install it. Last time I tried, I ran into some disc errors, and lost my patience, so I never finished it… hence why this game is NOT on the list of games I will be playing this year. It did still need to be mentioned, though.

I’m taking a break this week. I have a lot of stuff I want to catch up with, and that are starting to stress me out, so I’m taking some time to hopefully get some work done on them. Then, to “make up” for missing three days, I’ll be doing a long stream on Saturday to celebrate 500 followers. I haven’t been able to pick the game on my own, though, so I’m asking for your help to pick with a Twitter Poll!

I have Misery2Mansions scheduled for this week, but one of those three days I may do building instead. As for Spyro, I plan to play some of the first Spyro on Monday, and possibly some of Spyro 2 on Tuesday.

I am going back to posting weekly schedules. The monthly schedule may be saving me time, but it’s letting me forget things that I shouldn’t forget. Like community Games Day. (Which I have rescheduled for this coming week.)

is another game I’m fairly sure you’ve heard of, if not played. This game has been around for a long while, and has played a significant role in the history of games. I, personally, have been playing it since the days of Civ 2, and own pretty much every iteration and DLC ever published for the game. You could call me a little bit obsessed. For at least Monday, I will be playing Civilization 5, which remains my favorite of the series. I own 6, but it just hasn’t grabbed my heart like 5 did. There is a chance I might play 6 on Tuesday, however, just to give it another try.

Playing this game again brought back SO many memories. Good ones, bad ones, in-between ones… it was truly a fun revisit. It honestly made me put this game on the list for a future long-play on my Twitch Channel. There is SO much to love about this game, and the game of the year edition I was playing (un-modded) seemed to be WAY less buggy than I remember the game being when I played it originally. Again, a game I highly recommend!

I honestly have sat here for the past couple weeks trying to figure out what to say in this wrap-up that I hadn’t said already, and I’ve come up super blank. It’s a great game, I enjoy playing it, and if you’re into management or building simulations at all, this is totally a game you’d like. Highly recommended!

If you’re into real-time strategy at ALL, you’ve played- or at least heard of – the Age of Empires series. It’s been a staple of that particular genre for a very long time. I was hesitant to back a new iteration of the game at first, but after watching some gameplay, and then trying it out myself on Gamepass, I went in with both feet. This is a GREAT version of the game, that not only improves gameplay, but adds some REAL history into it – making it an educational game. Which is something I really enjoy, and the videos and articles in game about the real history are well-filmed, and well-researched. It’s like watching a documentary that you can actually play along with. (Which, for me.. is a super good thing!) If you’re not into the history, I suppose you could skip those – but why would you play this sort of game if you don’t like the history???

Starting Wednesday, (tomorrow), I will be publishing the Game of the Week a bit earlier, so everyone will be able to know what’s coming sooner. Also: I just published the March Shell Challenge, so check that out, as well!

This game holds a major place in my heart, and I look back very fondly on the HOURS I put into this game in the past. It’s been a very long time since I played it, however, so this will truly be a trip down memory lane. In fact, initially, I wasn’t even sure I could include it in the Game Awards, because I had no idea whether I could find a copy that I could make work on modern machines – especially since there was, ultimately, a sequel to overshadow the genius of the first one (the second one wasn’t as fun, in my opinion). Luckily, I discovered that GOG has a version that does just that… which was quite a shock to me. I doubt most of you have even heard of this game, it’s that obscure. The game is set in a fictional Chicago during Prohibition, and really does a great job of making you feel like most of your gang activities must be carefully hidden by having an elaborate system of “front” businesses for each of your venues. In fact, one of my memories of this game is literally printing off page after page of the game manual and carefully cutting and gluing it together to make a real manual so I could have a better reference to figure out what can go where. (In fact, I think I still have that little booklet somewhere in one of my storage boxes… LOL..)