Articles – Autosave.tv

Articles

News

- Now’s a Great Time to Start Playing Final Fantasy XIV
  April 24, 2019Features / NewsDespite the usual MMO baggage, a welcoming and helpful community elevates the experience There is a soft spot in my heart for MMOs and likely always will be. I spent a good chunk of my high school and college years tackling challenges, exploring worlds and just goofing around with my friends. And while the genre’s day in the sun may be nearing that western horizon, plenty of people still call MMO servers home. So, when Twitch Prime offered a code for the base game version of Final Fantasy XIV on PC (along with 30 days of game time), I needed little persuading to download the launcher and set up an account. It’s been two weeks since I set foot in Eorzea, and I’ve already found plenty of reasons to stay. Here’s why you, too, should walk a few malms as the Warrior of Light. It’s Free Okay, this is an easy one. Even if you’ve never played an MMO, or a Final Fantasy game, trying out FFXIV costs you nothing up front. In order to play, you’ll need to either be in possession of an active Twitch Prime account or sign up for one. Twitch Prime also comes with a free 30-day trial, so the fresh babies out there are really getting the cherriest of deals. Once your account is established, you can claim a unique activation code from the Prime Loot page. Download the launcher, install the game and set up a Square Enix account that’s required to log in to FFXIV. Here, you’ll use that Prime Loot code to claim not only the base game (known as A Realm Reborn, or ARR) but 30 days of play time for absolutely free. And that’s it! You’re ready to jump into character creation and begin adventuring through the world of Eorzea. I recognize that not everyone wants to provide money or information to the monolithic corporate mega-giant that is Amazon. That’s totally cool, and no one should begrudge that choice. I, myself, have slowly begun untangling from their clutches of convenience in the past year. But cancelling your Twitch Prime account is a fairly simple process you can do immediately after claiming your rewards, and it won’t lock you out of either the game or the 30 free days. It’s currently full of new players Beginning a game years after release can feel weird. Hardly anyone is still talking about it online, and your friends are likely trying out the newest, shiniest products on the market. This is doubly so for MMOs, where established communities have staked out their spaces in forums and in the world, leaving the odd fresh recruit struggling to penetrate the social spaces that make online games so interesting. Luckily, a few factors have combined and flung the doors of FFXIV wide open for a flood of Lv. 1 adventurers trying the game for the first time. The promotional code from Twitch Prime is a big one, of course. But we’re also experiencing a substantial migration of players from World of Warcraft. Like your parents switching satellite providers when the promotional rates expire, dedicated MMO players can tend to switch games when the content well runs dry or they feel unhappy with the current direction of the game. World of Warcraft’s latest expansion, Battle for Azeroth, has been highly divisive among players for a number of reasons, ranging between loot systems to story decisions. The disgruntled, calling themselves “WoW refugees”, raised stakes and took advantage of the situation to try something different, swelling the ranks of incoming new players. But wherever they come from, these baby recruits will need to learn the ropes. You will not be alone in messing up your rotation, getting lost in a sprawling city hub, or not knowing how to talk in party chat (I profess to experiencing all of these and more). The daunting task of learning a new game with years of content and improvements layered on top is much easier with company. The community is super helpful Amble into the official forums, or subreddits or Discord communities at the moment, and you will likely be greeted with either posts from new players expressing their wonder and joy at exploring a new world or veteran players providing helpful tips, summaries and guides for making the most of your time in Eorzea. I’m not exactly sure why, but the FFXIV community always seems to make the most of surges of new players by polishing the door handles and putting on the friendliest, warmest greeting possible. As a new player, you benefit from their sharing of knowledge both in- and out-of-game. FFXIV contains a couple of systems specifically tailored to help on-board the uninitiated. Around Lv. 15, expect to encounter the Hall of the Novice, a training ground for party-size content that teaches skills like avoiding AoE spells, protecting vulnerable healers, and providing support to your tanks. Rewards of stylish, quality gear make it very worth it, no matter your MMO familiarity. In addition, veteran players can elect the position of Mentor and help shepherd new players, called Leafs due to the plant sprout displayed next to their names, through their first few dungeons or group quests. This doesn’t promise your experience will be positive because people are sometimes garbage and abuse systems, but the community at large seems determined to make those first 20 or so levels fun for all. I would highly recommend visiting the forums and communities surrounding the game, whether you need help or not. For me, that sharing of experience and passion is a big selling point for MMOs, and while FFXIV isn’t immune to turmoil, infighting and bad actors, you’re much more likely to happen across fan art, interesting stories, and heartfelt testimonials. A Qualification Despite all the good I’ve laid out, FFXIV is still an MMO. I understood what I was in for—grindy early levels where you must kill X of this and collect Y of that—so the lackluster writing and design of early zones hasn’t turned me off. Eorzea is also a very different look from World of Warcraft’s Azeroth or Guild Wars 2’s Tyria, which could cause some aesthetic whiplash. All I can recommend is downloading some podcasts or audiobooks and leaving your mind open. By all accounts, the story and zone design improves by tremendous leaps by the time you reach the end of ARR. So, if I’ve convinced you to give FFXIV a try, you have until May 3rd to deliberate. And if you find yourself traipsing across the Cactuar server, feel free to hit me up with a message. My Arcanist-turned-Summoner, Rinde Forstelys, will likely be Ruining her way across the land with a kitten and a Carbuncle in tow. It’s not my old home, but I’m nonetheless starting to feel pretty cozy....
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Shows Off New Hero, Wall Running
  April 16, 2019NewsI want to believe it will make it to the final game, okay? While the biggest news from The Star Wars Show Live might have been the announcement and trailer for Episode IX, rumors that Respawn was working on a new game in the massive franchise had many watching a livestream earlier today for more details. Official tweets preceding the event promised “no microtransactions” and “no loot boxes”, along with a single-player experience that breaks from the recent trend of Star Wars games published by EA. Several Respawn employees, including founder Vince Zampella and game director Stig Asmussen, took the stage to discuss what players could expect from Jedi: Fallen Order. Zampella was quick to reiterate the promise of no loot boxes or microtransactions of any kind, a declaration that had the audience cheering. This might ring a little strange coming from the head of a studio currently developing a massively popular game with microtransactions, along with the fact that publisher EA has a sordid history with implementing loot boxes in Star Wars titles. Despite all that, the team was excited to share details about the characters and world in which Fallen Order will take place. Much of what we know about the game comes from a trailer shown during the event. Asmussen pointed out that while it is a story-based trailer, everything shown was rendered in-engine using assets players will see in the game. We will play as Cal Kestis (voiced by Gotham actor Cameron Monaghan), a former padawan who survived the calamitous Order 66, in which the Empire labeled Jedi as traitors and carried out a systematic genocide against them. Since that time, Cal has been working for a scrapper guild and doing his all to hide his connection to the Force. Throughout scenes of rainy scrapyards, crowded subways and other urban environments, Cal stresses the importance of staying under the radar and never revealing what he is capable of. We also see the inquisitor known as the Second Sister, who will be a recurring antagonist in the game. She was accompanied by Purge Troopers, Imperial soldiers specially trained to fight Jedi. To help him survive, Cal will join a “family of sorts” in the classic Star Wars style – a motley crew of dissidents and resistance, barely escaping aboard a ship. Also in classic fashion, Cal will be joined by his droid companion, BD-1. Equipped with a powerful spotlight and other tools that players can upgrade throughout the game, BD-1 will be a dependable ally and source of light within an otherwise dark story, according to narrative director Aaron Contreras. The combat will focus on an action melee style that is easy to pick up but provides depth for those who invest time in mastering it. “It was important that we strike that balance,” Asmussen said. “Combat is key to us.” The team did not confirm whether the wall running mechanic from the Titanfall franchise would make it into Fallen Order, but the trailer clearly displays Cal sprinting along a fortified wall to bridge a blasted out ramp. So, consider it a maybe? While there’s much here for fans to gush over (famous sound designer Ben Burtt created original content for the game; there is an older black woman, played by Debra Wilson, who is a former Jedi Knight and part of Cal’s crew), it is disappointing to see another young, white man garner top billing as a Jedi. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will launch simultaneously on Xbox One, PS4 and PC November 15. ...

Features

- Animal Crossing-Themed Fanzine ‘Share the Warmth’ Supports LGBTQ Youth
  April 19, 2019FeaturesI hope Kapp’n shows up somewhere. Love that salty yokai sailor. Jayme Brodie (@jaymajaym) had never coordinated a fanzine before, but she couldn’t think of a better first project. In October of 2018, she felt the drive to create something. As an artist on Twitter, she frequently saw mutuals and friends contributing to online zines, printed collections of work (poetry, prose, digital art, etc.) that adhere to a theme or subject matter. It was an intriguing idea. Brodie took bookmaking classes in high school and had since flexed those skills through a number of physical publications, but those projects were always individual efforts done at her own pace. She felt like it was finally time to invite others onto a team. “I thought, ‘What would be my first dream project that I would want to do and see other people do?’” The theme would be Animal Crossing, Nintendo’s much-loved village simulation series known for its adorable animal residents and crippling mortgage systems. Thus, the Share the Warmth Fanzine was born. “What are things that I love and don’t see enough of? It was one of the first things that came to mind and just felt right,” Brodie said. “It would be something that would make other people happy and feel a sense of community.” All proceeds, minus the costs of production, would benefit The Trevor Project, an American non-profit that lends aid and resources to at-risk LGBTQ youth. Planning for such a project was daunting, at first. Brodie wasn’t sure she would receive enough applicants to fill out even the most meager spread. But anyone plugged into art Twitter knows its capacity to signal boost a good idea. By the time she cut off applicants, she had been petitioned by 357 willing artists. Deciding who to accept was one of the toughest parts of the project. The contributing artists all shared a love of Animal Crossing but came from different stylistic backgrounds, which Brodie said will lend the zine a unique yet cohesive look. The artists I spoke with loved the idea as soon as they saw it. “Centering the illustrations around a feeling instead of just a set of characters is really nice and gave me a lot of inspiration when trying to think of where to go with my piece,” said Veronica Agarwal (@anuanew). Another artist, Glo Wan (@glooblin), agreed. “I think Share the Warmth allowed the artists to explore what was memorable and meaningful to them when they played the Animal Crossing games, making the zine a bundle of good memories.” They were also pleased to see the zine benefit The Trevor Project. Many of the artists and Brodie herself are part of the LGBTQ community. “In a lot of my work I try to tell stories that show lgbtq characters in a wholesome and soft light because I feel that a lot of media doesn’t allow us to simply exist without some sort of suffering or challenge first,” said Sara Cal (@nonotsara). “As an LGBT+ person who’s been suicidal in the past and felt like I had no one to reach out to, organizations such as the Trevor Project are greatly appreciated and highly needed,” said Céli Godfried (@pianta_) . Along with providing material meant to educate young people and their family, The Trevor Project combats inordinately high rates of suicide and suicide attempts by LGBTQ youth through intercession and empowerment of individuals and those around them. As the zine progressed, Brodie was surprised to find a knack and a passion in the role of editor. In fact, she is a bit abashed at how much she loved planning and preparation. ““There were a lot of spreadsheets. Still are,” she added. “That might honestly be my favorite part of this.” It came as no surprise that New Leaf and the ever-helpful mayoral secretary, Isabelle, are highly represented within Share the Warmth. As for the shop owner/real estate magnate Tom Nook? Not so much. Each artist brought a personal history with the series into their art submission. “I wanted the lettering for Share the Warmth to have a wooden feeling to it, both as a slight nod to Animal Crossing’s wooden sign logo and because there is a lot of nature in the game,” said Wan. They started with the Gamecube version and had a hard time grasping the full game at such a young age. Regardless, the atmosphere hooked them. “I think the game does such a good job at making you invested in the lives of these very flawed, yet delightful villagers,” Wan continued. Cal never actually owned a copy of New Leaf, instead constantly borrowing it from a friend and hoping they didn’t delete her town from the cartridge. Her submitted work incorporated an interesting physical medium. “If you look closely at the piece I did for this zine some of the patterns I used are actual doilies and envelopes that I use as stationary. It’s a love letter… for your eyes,” she said. Saturday, April 20, is the last day to submit an order for the zine. Brodie worked hard to provide different tiers that include postcards, charms, and more. She even established her own independent publishing company, Pink Clover Press, in order to produce full-color prints of the 50+ page artbook. Recently, she has had more time to reflect on the path to realizing Share the Warmth. “To be able to hold the book in my hand is really weird, but not in a bad way. I’ve been looking at the InDesign file for months now,” she said. “I want to continue doing this kind of work. It’s just me, still, but I want to keep publishing zines and small books under this press.” Brodie wanted to eke out her own small corner of the internet to allow people to express gratitude for a series that had so often provided a refuge of acceptance and love, along with providing material aid to those who weren’t so fortunate. Everyone involved seems to agree on its success. “It’s clear that everyone working on it really cares about the zine and Animal Crossing, and that care extends to each other as well,” Agarwal said. “This zine is beautiful and I’m really proud of everyone’s work,” Godfried said. “As someone who’s been on a downwards spiral, its subject and goal really spoke to me. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or reach out to others when you feel stuck. You can be proud of surviving, and you’re not alone.” You can read more about the Share the Warmth Fanzine and order your copy on their website. The last day to order is Saturday, April 20. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. If you are an LGBTQ youth who needs help of any kind, The Trevor Project has resources to help....
- The Konami Code and What Came After Part 2: Cheat Codes, A History
  April 4, 2019FeaturesThe first video game was created by a physicist named William Higinbotham in October of 1958. It was a very simple tennis-style game called Tennis for Two, and was similar to Pong, which came about in the 1970s. It took about two weeks to design and build. 28 years after Tennis for Two debuted, 14 years after Pong came out, and after decades of improvement to the software and hardware of video games and their consoles, the first cheat code was invented. Years of hard work were spent on making video games enticing and exciting, finding the perfect balance between challenging but feasible. It took one developer to decide that they had gone too far, and gave players a powerful tool that would change the way video games were played. In the 34 years of cheat codes’ existence, they’ve developed alongside consoles and computers, but where exactly did it all begin, and how do cheat codes end up in games in the first place? The Konami Code The first cheat code was the now famous Konami Code – “up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, select, start”. The code was first used in the 1986 release of Gradius for the NES and popularized in America in the NES version of Contra. The code was created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who developed the home port of Gradius. He found the game too difficult during testing, so he programmed the code to give the player a full set of power ups, normally obtained gradually throughout the game. The code was entered during the pause menu. It wasn’t until after the game’s release that the code was discovered, and there’s no information about who found it first or how. At that point, the other developers couldn’t do anything about it. If they tried to remove the Konami Code, it could cause bugs or glitches in the game. Since then, cheat codes of all forms have come to exist on almost every console ever created. What are cheat codes, and how are they found? Just so we’re all on the same page, a reminder that a cheat code is “…a code, method, or device used by gamers to advance levels, or to get other special powers and benefits in a video game.” These codes are input at specific points during the game via a keyboard or controller, and consist of a specific series of alphanumeric sequences or controller button presses. Players use these in order to create an advantage or disadvantage beyond normal gameplay. Cheat codes are not, by design, meant to be advertised publicly. Their original use was to aid in the development and testing of game modules and therefore, they were kept hidden from the general public. These could then be passed on to reviewers or playtesters who got early access to the game in order to allow them to advance faster. However, there are some commenters who think that cheat codes were then implemented in order to “make a game more accessible and appealing to a casual gamer.” Others say that they’re meant to expand the number of ways people can play a game. Purposeful or not, cheat codes became more than hidden gems buried deep in a game’s code. According to a paper by an Associate Professor of Telecommunications at Ohio University, Mia Consalvo, as more codes became known to the general public, a “cheat industry emerged” and flourished, and “Cheat-enablers such as cheat books [and] game guides… cemented cheating as part of gaming culture”. Guides usually served as walkthroughs, but codes were included as a kind of “bonus content.” The guides allowed players to see how the developers wanted the game to be played and how they were supposed to advance, but they were also given the option to cheat a little and jump ahead. Cheat books and later magazines and other serial publications were more straightforward – they featured full lists of different cheat codes for computer and console games. Soon, as the internet became more of a household staple, forums and websites (like my beloved GameFAQs) were the cheat code information hubs. At this point, players began to speculate that the developers themselves were leaking codes to websites. If they were to be used beyond playtesting and make for a more easily accessible game, then it tracks that developers would want to share cheat codes eventually. Anonymously leaking them onto forums added to the mysterious nature of the codes, but personally hunting for cheat codes was more rewarding for some. Tech-savvy players could easily exploit cheats by modifying the game’s data directly and finding hidden cheat codes that way. They were able to visually see where the code was, translate into the necessary button combinations, and then subsequently share them online on forums or with friends. How have cheat codes developed since the Konami Code? The Konami Code itself stuck around as a cheat code, appearing in almost 115 games since its first appearance in Gradius, and as a reference in countless songs, toys, and websites. When the Bank of Canada first announced its $10 note, if you entered the code on the bank’s website, a chiptune version of the national anthem played and the screen was filled with $10 banknotes and fireworks (unfortunately, this no longer works). You can enter a slight variation of the code on Sony devices to log out of Netflix. The code can also be used in games such as the Castlevania series, Dance Dance Revolution, and the Metal Gear Solid series. Each iteration of the code makes something different happen in each game. Newer cheat codes served as spiritual successors to the Konami Code, and so their purpose was to make games easier and more fun for players. Cheat codes grew in popularity, and as such they also grew in complexity, making the video game cheat industry more lucrative than ever. In the next part of the series, I’ll discuss the many different cheat codes, along with some other methods players have used to get ahead in video games, as we continue to explore the Konami Code and what came after....

Reviews

- You Should Play Octopath Traveler…Today!
  July 3, 2018ReviewsThe free demo of Square Enix’s new JRPG is available on the Switch right now, and our reporter Chase found lots to love in the first 3 hours. Octopath Traveler is a new RPG coming to the Switch by way of Square Enix, in collaboration with Acquire. You can experience what’s promised to be a lengthy, character-driven campaign in just two weeks, on July 13. Or… …you can download the demo and start playing immediately! Now, you might hold the rational opinion that demos, while great for sorting out your feelings on a game before purchasing, are for sampling, only. You’ll be starting over with a new file once you purchase the full game. Don’t waste your time. And normally, you would be right. But Octopath Traveler allows players the rare opportunity to transfer over any progress accrued in the demo to one file on the retail version of the game. This gives you a legitimate reason to download it immediately for the low, low price of zero real monies. As the name would imply, you can begin Octopath Traveler in one of eight ways, each corresponding to a potential party member. These prologues are character unique and also serve as tutorials, teaching you the basics of interaction, combat and the special Path Actions they possess. This is the first of Octopath Traveler’s unique characteristics. The eight main party characters each possess a tool for interacting with the world around them, fitting thematically with their backstory and persona. For example, Cyrus the Scholar can Scrutinize people and things, granting him insight into events he wasn’t around to witness firsthand. In the demo, Scrutinize gathered clues for an investigation, and I can see it being used to uncover well-hidden sidequests and optional content. On the other hand, Olberic the warrior can Challenge NPCs to combat, which strikes me as a fairly static and barefaced ability. Other path actions allow you to recruit NPCs to aid you in combat, each with various strengths and weapon skills. Hopefully, the game will provide opportunities to reward players for cunning use. Depending on the character you choose at the beginning of the game, your experience might be drastically different. I started with Olberic, once in charge of protecting a king but who now lives out a quiet existence in a small hillside village – some fantasy as heck stuff. Throughout the demo, the old warrior regarded the circumstances of his disgrace with sadness while also protecting the townsfolk from smalltime brigands. In another playthrough I was Tressa, the daughter of a merchant family looking to prove herself after meeting a charismatic trader with a gorgeous boat. Her head was full of big dreams, and her heart is full of adventure. I was immediately enamored with her prologue and Path Action, which allows you to trade with a wide variety of NPCs for items you might not find otherwise. But not all of the prologues were winners. Primrose was a dancer who witnessed the murder of her father and now searches restlessly for the three tattooed man who perpetrated the act. Except, she’s accepted a job as a “dancer” in a dirty town for a dirtier master. Her prologue was paved throughout with constant reminders the people in her life treat her like garbage. At a particularly low point she is being assaulted and coerced by her master, and Prim thinks to herself that she can bear anything except letting those who murdered her father get away. Yuck. Hopefully, her story takes a more positive and balanced tack in the full release. Even though my mileage varied on the characters, the combat was refreshingly engaging. More complicated than simply whittling down a health bar, encounters in Octopath involve a careful dance of breaking an enemy’s shield and exploiting their weakness. Shields can vary in strength depending on the enemy, and once broken you get a single turn to unleash hell before they recuperate. Teammates help with this – diversifying your available weapons and magics make sure someone is poised to blow up the armor chink everyone else opened up. But there’s one more wrinkle: Boosts. If your character used a regular attack on their turn, they will gain a charge of power called a Boost. These stack several times and can be spent to power up any attack or spell by a maximum of four magnitudes. Want to pierce a large baddy with a spear strike? Boost it, baby. Scourge the earth with a multi-target firestorm? Boost! Heal your party from nigh mortal wounds? You guessed it: Boost. You won’t gain a charge on the turn you used a boosted attack, so make sure to plan smart. Beyond everything else, Octopath Traveler looks gorgeous. The developers describe it as having an “HD-2D” aesthetic, but I see it more as a pop-up book decorated with lovingly crafted 16-bit artwork. Buildings and trees dot a 3D landscape like papercraft dioramas while stunning light effects play off rippling waters and moody skies. The visuals make traveling about both towns and the overworld a constant delight. I’ll have more complete thoughts once the game is released on July 13, but you will be hard pressed to find a better 3-hour free experience on the Switch right now. Even if you aren’t normally a JRPG fan, Octopath Traveler’s novel approach to visuals and storytelling might just win you over....
- How RBI Baseball 17 Ruined My Life
  June 5, 2018Features / ReviewsRBI Baseball 17 is Randy Johnson, and I am the bird. A few days ago, I was gripped – no, seized – by an unflinching desire. It was powerful, it was overbearing, and it led me to spend £26 (roughly $35) on the Switch eShop. This desire was to play some baseball. Little did I know that this innocent craving would lead me on a journey far more intense than I had ever expected. I had to find a new baseball game to scratch this inexplicable itch, and so my search began. It was a pretty short search, because my immediate thought for any game right now is “is it available on the Switch?” And so, a quick dip into the Switch eShop revealed to me RBI Baseball 17, bathed in radiant light and calling to me in a way that I simply couldn’t resist. So I bought it. Little did I know how much my life was about to change. I’m an English person, born and raised in the UK. The UK doesn’t do baseball, it does cricket – an interminably slow and methodical game in which huge hits are often discouraged and traditional matches last up to five days and can still end in a draw. I do, of course, love cricket because it’s a stupid and ridiculous sport – but baseball has always had an allure. It’s fast-paced, it’s hugely popular, and snacks are mandatory. The thing is that because the UK doesn’t do baseball, I know not one goddamn thing about it. My understanding of the rules of baseball are this: person pitches ball, other person attempts to hit ball very far, people then run. I don’t know how long an inning is, or what RBI even stands for. Turns out that this is a pretty big problem if you want to play RBI Baseball. RBI Baseball is a series which first appeared back in the ’80s, and friends of mine have very fond memories of playing it on their chunky grey Nintendo consoles of the day. It disappeared for years, to be revived recently as the official MLBPA baseball game, overseen by people who actually work in the baseball industry. This is great if you want realism and accuracy, and the game has been applauded for the efforts it goes to in getting small details correct. However, as a pick up and play experience, it’s… baffling. The first thing that happened when I started up RBI Baseball 17 was that it asked me if I wanted to update my roster. Good of the developers to keep the available players up to date, and I did download the update despite each name being as incomprehensible to me as a Lovecraftian horror. I didn’t know any of these people, what they do, how good they are or how badly one might wish to yell abuse at them from the stands. Not me, of course, I’d never do that – the UK doesn’t do baseball. Once the updated roster had been downloaded I was offered an opportunity to customise it – a further experience in bewildering futility to someone as clueless as me. Each screen has an absurd number of statistics that you can use to judge a player and a roster – or could, if they mean anything at all to you. My next choice was to choose my favourite team. An array of incredible names are available, including the familiar Cubs and the unknown-to-me-but-doubtlessly-huge Orioles. I opted for the Pirates, simply because it was the coolest name on the list. At this point, eager to escape the utterly awful menu music, I ploughed into my first game – a “full 25 / 9 innings” game, which means literally nothing to me. My first opponents were the Cleveland Indians, and reader? They absolutely destroyed me. You see, RBI Baseball 17 has no tutorial. It offers little on-screen hints (press B to swing!), but there’s absolutely no indication about, you know, when to do that. This led to me seeing this a lot: Eventually I sort of got into the swing (har har), and even managed to get myself one whole run on the scoreboard, when it switched me to pitching. I guess that that’s how baseball works? Maybe this is what an inning is? I was absolutely none the wiser, but I ran with it and actually managed to get one of the other team out. I had barely got the cork out of the champagne when this happened: It would appear that RBI Baseball 17 for the Switch is a very, very buggy game. This crash was a very small part of the issues that I experienced – the screenshot that serves as the header image for this article is one that I shared directly from my Switch, using the Gallery’s text function to draw a big red arrow to the fielder that had decided to try and make a break for it and escape the stadium, or the game, or reality itself, completely ignoring all of my attempts to steer him back to the field. While I respected his bid for freedom and his slightly alarming resistance to control, it did mean that the match had to be abandoned as it was entirely unplayable. So far, not so good. Despite the crashes and the bugs, I still really wanted to play baseball – not, I think, an unfeasible request. The thing is that I was still completely mystified by all of the names and the numbers and the acronyms. J. Jay has an AB of 347. What does this mean? Obviously it has a meaning to a true baseball fan, one who studied the bat while I was busy collecting rings on Mobius. It seemed that there was nothing for it. In order to truly enjoy this game, I would have to walk the path that was in front of me. I would have to become a baseball fan. Luckily, the excellent name of the (Pittsburgh, I have learned) Pirates means I already have a favourite team to support. Doing a little research I discovered that they haven’t won a title since 1992, and they haven’t won a World Series since 1979. They finished last season in fourth place of their division – out of five. Luckily, I’m all in favour of the underdog, so it was decided – I’m now a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. Luckily for me, the new baseball season started on March 29th, shortly after I first sat down to write this article. In order to get ready for this, I knew I was going to have to dip into some baseball lore. I dipped into the ultimate source of knowledge – Wikipedia – and found that there are articles specifically about a single team’s baseball season. I present to you the 2017 Pittsburgh Pirates season, in which: one of their infielders was found guilty of driving under the influence and missed the whole season, they lost their opening day match 5-3, and one of their outfielders was suspended for testing postive for performance-enhancing nandrolone. Clearly I had chosen well. Upon telling a friend that I had selected the Pirates as my team of choice, they congratulated me on picking “the losingest team in sports history”. The main difficulty with getting in to any sport is the terminology. Start watching a random game of a sport you don’t understand and you’ll be baffled by words casually thrown around by commentators – in cricket, for example, the bowler can throw a googly down to offside leg, and if the batsman is unlucky he’ll be caught at third man. Maybe he’s going to be more casual because he’s a nightwatchman, and perhaps the crease is a little dry. None of these words mean anything to you if you’re not into cricket, and so here I was attempting to understand the lingo of baseball. What does RBI even mean? I decided to crowdsource a little help, namely by going to Autosave’s very own Charles Wheeler: British fan of American Football. Just how, exactly, is one to get past the initial wall of exclusive jargon? I had hoped that the conversation would be a little more helpful, although it did lead to us both learning of the existence of the dog sport Flyball, which has improved both of our lives to no end. If someone were to make a videogame of that and put it on the Switch I would buy it in a heartbeat, because I make poor decisions. And so, dear reader, you meet me here at a turning point. A simple whim to play a baseball game has led to two things. Firstly, I am now a die-hard fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates and will follow their progress this season with deep interest. I’m deadly serious about this, and I invite you to check in with me on Twitter if you’d like to know how I’m doing. Secondly, if I’m being honest it sounds like they’re having a pretty rough time of it and I’m determined to get good at RBI Baseball purely so I can lead the Pirates to victory in a wholesome, drug-free way. Of course, it does rely on the game not crashing or bugging out on me, which really is a perfect metaphor for how the Pirates do in real life. Ah well. RBI Baseball 18 came out recently. Maybe I’ll give that a try… Since writing this article, further attempts to play the game have been stymied by it crashing literally every time. Caveat Emptor....