BitPunch News July 2021
BitPunch is Venturing Into Twitch, Pixel Remasters, and More
BitPunch on Twitch
Our YouTube channel is still going strong. We completed Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 and are currently playing through the Yakuza 3 Remastered. We played through Axiom Verge together and the entire playthrough can be found on our channel, complete with webcams. Next up Michael will be doing a BitPunch Play of Bloodroots before venturing into the Pixel Remaster series (more on that soon) and the next Yakuza game. Our next together game is the Ascent, which appears on GamePass on July 29th. Be on the lookout for that. We are spending some time testing out OBS/Twitch and lots of other services to ensure we get this right before we start streaming more.
Recording locally for YouTube has its challenges but adding a layer of Twitch on top of it presents an entirely new way of thinking. You have to juggle more and be available for your audience if people start talking in chat and asking questions. We are really excited to get into that piece of the community and want to grow out our Twitch presence with lots of different games and playthroughs. You can follow along and subscribe to our channel here. We will continue to use YouTube as our archive and full playthroughs will continue to be published there.
Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
By: Michael Perry
Square Enix is re-releasing the first six Final Fantasy games on Steam and Mobile this year. The first three games will be available this Wednesday (7/28/2021) while the other three will release sometime before the end of the year. I made a pretty bold claim when we began streaming and recording gameplay that I would play through the entire Yakuza series, and will be adding the Pixel Remasters to this as well. The goal is to jump back and forth between Yakuza and Final Fantasy until I’ve completed everything.
I wanted to call this out because I’m really excited to play these games. I’ve never played FF2 and have only finished FF1 and FF5. These games are classics and Square Enix is adding some features including Auto Battles, which should help me speed through these games a bit quicker, and redone sprite work to adapt to modern times. While the internet went crazy a bit over the poor font choice, I’m willing to look that over and hope they do these games better than they have in the past. The DS 3D remakes were pretty atrocious, but here’s to hoping things are better now. They are currently slated for release on Steam and Mobile, although demand may have them consider releasing on consoles. To follow along, you can view these playthroughs on our Twitch channel, or wait until they show up on YouTube which should be a day or two after each live session.
July Episodes of BitPunch Radio
EP024 - Project Hail Mary, RE7, and Microsoft Stuff | BitPunch Radio
This week the gang discusses more of our YouTube channel, along with Loki, Microsoft news, and more. We then recorded a thorough discussion about Project: Hail Mary with Ashley Perry. We discuss the book in detail so be wary of spoilers.
EP025 - Switch OLED Model, Classic Movies, and Tour De France | BitPunch Radio
This week Michael and Rich discuss gaming, Tour De France, old movies and TV Michael missed out on, Loki, and much more.
NEWS NEWS NEWS (Handheld Edition)
While we were waiting around for a Switch Pro announcement, Valve swooped in and announced their upcoming handheld the Steam Deck. Valve is going after the Switch market with a $399 handheld gaming device that can play your “entire” Steam library. Preorders are already underway and the Steam Deck will be released this holiday. Steam Deck
Nintendo Switch is still selling strong where many stores are still having a hard time keeping up with demand. While Valve is releasing a more hardware heavy handheld, Nintendo announced a slight upgrade to their lineup called the Switch OLED Model. The major upgrades include a OLED 7” screen, Ethernet port in the dock, a sturdier stand and better speakers. You will now have three models to choose from this holiday when the OLED Switch hits the market for $349. Nintendo Switch OLED model - Nintendo - Official Site
When Rich and I started getting into Web Design over a decade ago, we purchased Panic’s IDE Coda, which has recently been renamed to Nova. Panic is known for making some high quality Mac apps for developers and software engineers. A few years back they announced they were developing a handheld called Playdate that looks like a Game Boy but includes a crank. It was quirky and my initial thought was it would never take off. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The internet is buzzing about this machine and preorders start July 29th. You really have to see this to understand what they are going for. Playdate