Top Releases:

• Gears of War: E-Day (PC/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 6^th
• Star Wars: Galactic Racer (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 6^th
• Forever Ago (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Hellraiser: Revival (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Order of the Sinking Star (PC/PS5/Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Silver Pines (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th

Gears of War: E-Day (PC/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 6^th

Developed by: The Coalition/People Can Fly
Published by: Xbox Game Studios

Star Wars: Galactic Racer (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 6^th

Developed by: Fuse Games
Published by: Secret Mode

Forever Ago (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th

Developed by: Third Shift
Published by: Annapurna Interactive

Hellraiser: Revival (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th

Developed by: Saber Interactive
Published by: Saber Interactive

Order of the Sinking Star (PC/PS5/Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 8^th

Developed by: Thekla, Inc.
Published by: Arc Games

Silver Pines (PC/PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th

Developed by: Wych Elm Games
Published by: Team17

Ports and Expansions:

• Dragon’s Dogma II: Dark Arisen (PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Once Upon a Katamari – Rolling Live Highlights (PS5/Switch/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Two Point Museum: Rides & Relics (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Dave the Diver Complete Edition (PS5/Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Kingdom Hearts Collection [I~III] (PS5/Switch 2/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 6^th
• The Crew: Motorfest (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Earth Defense Force 5 (Switch 2) – Releases Oct. 8^th

Everything else:

• Echo Weaver (PC/PS5/Switch 2/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Gear.Club Unlimited 3 (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 8^th
• Horse Club: Ride West (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 9^th
• Sesame Street: Friends & Fun (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Oct. 9^th
• Truckful (PC/PS4) – Releases Oct. 9^th

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Games:

In notable games, 2016 gave us Paper Mario: Color Splash, a game that had a world I really enjoyed exploring and a story I found to be cute & often hilarious. However, the combat in Color Splash was, like many Paper Mario titles, unnecessarily complex and obtuse. The use of cards to perform actions became an exercise in tedium, especially when enemies were simple to beat, making battles feel unnecessary and time consuming. I never beat the game, it’s just sitting on my Wii U hard drive, waiting for me to return to it; I probably won’t

From 2006, we have the PS2 game God Hand, a 3D brawler published by Capcom, which was also the final game developed by their internal team at Clover Studio. Directed by Shinji Mikami, God Hand was supposed to be a big title for Capcom but was, instead, panned by critics and became a huge financial flop for the company. The game’s over the top style and bizarre humor did not sit well with many critics and players, who were used to a more serious tone in their action titles.

With the failure of God Hand, and the staff at Clover already feeling like Capcom was stifling their creativity, Mikami and his cohorts at the studio, Hideki Kamiya and Atsushi Inaba, all left the studio. Clover would fold shortly afterward, with much of the staff joining the newly created Platinum Studios. They would go on to create a slew of titles that kept the spirit of God Hand, like Bayonetta, MadWorld, Infinite Space, and Vanquish, earning a slew of fans in the process and helped to usher in a new style of action titles that would dominate gaming through the 2010’s.

From 1996, we have Marathon Infinity, the final title in Bungie’s original trilogy. With the title only released on the Apple Macintosh, the audience for Marathon Infinity was much smaller than Bungie’s previous release, Marathon 2, which also found itself on IBM PC’s (and it’s multiple compatible machines). It was, though, very well received by critics and was seen as one of the gold standards when it came to gaming on the Macintosh.

Following the release of Marathon Infinity, Bungie would step away from the world of first person shooters and put out the RTS title Myth: The Fallen Lords, and would partner with Rockstar to release the third person action game, Oni. While Bungie intended their next title, Halo, to be a PC release (exclusively on Macintosh), they would be acquired Microsoft in 1999, leading to the Halo’s shift to the Xbox, becoming that machine’s killer app in 2001.

Movies:

In notable films, 2016 saw the release of Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, a fantasy adventure film based on the novel written by Ransom Riggs. The film was a modest financial success, earning over $100 million in the US and $318 million worldwide. However, Fox’s new corporate overlords at Disney didn’t think this was enough to justify further entries in the series (despite there being several novels), and fans were left with just the one film. I recently watched this, during a Tim Burton kick I found myself on, and thought the movie was cute but a bit predictable.

From 2006, we have Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, an adaptation of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, and would go on to become one of the most successful films of the year and eventual Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards. Further, The Departed also led to Scorsese’s first Oscar for Best Director, with trophies also going to William Monahan for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Thelma Schoonmaker for Best Editing. Mark Wahlberg would receive a Best Supporting Actor nomination, the only award the film got for its acting, despite impressive performances from Leonard DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Alec Baldwin, Vera Farmiga, and Jack Nicholson.

From 1996, we have the film Bound, the directorial debut of The Wachowskis, who would eventually go on to international fame following the success of The Matrix. Before that massive hit, though, they were best known for Bound, a film that dared to ask “what if Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon had sex together on screen“? While the film has been praised by the LGBTQ+ community, most red blooded frat boys in the 90’s were only interested in the crazy hot sex scenes in the film, with two hot chicks, brah.

There is, of course, more to the film than just sexy ladies doing sexy things to each other, but that was lost on most of the audience that (barely) watched it in theatres and on VHS. Over time, however, Bound would find its intended audience and its message would get to them, earning a cult following among fans of queer cinema.

Albums:

In notable albums, Solange put out A Seat at the Table in 2016, earning the singer her first #1 album on the Billboard Top 200. The album would appear on over a dozen “Best of 2016” lists at the end of the year and earn Solange her only Grammy nomination & win for Best R&B Solo Performance on the song “Cranes in the Sky”. Currently, the album is listed at #312 on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

From 2006, we have the album The Crane Wife from the indie rock group the Decemberists. A big critical success, The Crane Wife was noted by multiple outlets as one of the best albums of 2006 and was named the #1 album on NPR’s listeners poll. I only know this album because of the video game Rock Band, where the song “The Perfect Crime #2” was releases as DLC. From then on, there wasn’t a Rock Band session in which I wouldn’t demand we play the tune and is, still, one of my all time favorite songs to play in the game.

From 1996, we have one of the biggest albums of the 1990’s, Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist Superstar. Not only was this album huge in the 90’s, the persona of Marilyn Manson would become of the biggest “boogeymen” of the decade, giving right wing politicians and religious leaders someone to blame all of society’s biggest problems on. While it’s easy to just say that they didn’t like Manson because he was “weird”, it’s also pretty clear that they did not take too kindly to his distaste and criticism of their organizations.

Antichrist Superstar was conceived as a concept album/rock opera about a supernatural being that comes to Earth and rises to power using populist rhetoric to trick the masses into believing their lies. This being eventually becomes a demagogue, ruling over the world with an iron fist, spreading hate & despair through misinformation and humanity’s inherent nature to despise those we don’t understand; sounds kind of familiar.

With a massive arena tour, Manson and his band would bring their “sick & sadistic” show across the United States, leading multiple religious groups to picket the concerts. They claimed that Manson would engage in depraved sex acts on stage and would force his audience to be participants in ritual sacrifice of both animals and humans; oh, and he also removed two of his ribs so he could suck his own dick, AND he was the kid from The Wonder Years.

While the album would only debut at #3 on the Billboard Top 200, the controversy surrounding Manson would only propel sales of the album. At the end of the day, Antichrist Superstar would sell over 7 million copies, worldwide, and make Manson one of the most infamous and well known celebrities in the United States. Marilyn Manson would follow up the album with two further releases, marking it a trilogy, with 1998’s Mechanical Animals and 2000’s Holy Wood (which the band say were released in reverse chronological order).

Following the 1999 Columbine school shooting, Manson would become one of the biggest focal points, due to unsubstantiated claims that the killers were fans of the band and were wearing his t-shirt during the attack. Both proved to be false, but that didn’t stop the media, politicians, and the public, from seeing Manson as the problem with the youth of America and not, you know, the myriad other issues that could have been contributing to the hatred and evil in the minds of these two individuals. Manson’s career wouldn’t reach the same heights as his Antichrist Superstar days and has, in recent years, become a pariah after multiple sexual abuse allegations.

Paper Mario: Color Splash (Wii U) – Released Oct. 7^th, 2016

God Hand (PS2) – Released Oct. 10^th, 2006

Marathon Infinity (PC) – Released Oct.15^th, 1996

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Finally, I know some people were bummed out last week that I didn’t do a write up on the notable releases, especially for the launch of the Nintendo 64, so I wanted to apologize for that. Sometimes I’m curious how much people actually pay attention to and/or read the notable releases section, so it is nice to know that it does offer some interest to you out there. That being said, I also have real life obligations I need to take care of and so this non-paying gig here at The Avocado will just get lowest priority on my list from time to time. Now, if you’d like to hear my thoughts on the Nintendo 64’s debut and its launch titles, check out this video I made:

If you like what I’m doing here consider supporting me on Patreon. You can also find me on Blue Sky where I occasionally make jokes and talk about stuff I like. I used to eat a lot of corndogs but then I got Type-2 diabetes.