Luma's Blog and Grill

       We’ve been attracted to video games since its inception. Something about it just makes us wildly-susceptible to the promise of a fun adventure, deeply-intriguing puzzles, and steep competition. As games have evolved over time, so too have the storytelling and graphical capabilities of the developers. The more they learn what works for an audience, the more technology slides along the razor’s edge of Moore’s Law, the better games become—or so the theory goes. But what if that weren’t the case? What if video games, despite all of the market research, despite the graphics of the highest fidelity, actually sucked? Could you imagine that Twilight Zone of a world? It would certainly be a terrible thing if that were rea—AW, DAMN IT .           Well, here we are. 2024, and AAA games seem to flop more than succeed. There’s a plethora of YouTube videos and gaming articles that go into why, and I don’t want to bog this article down with that...

What an iconic phrase, one that even in its first season, reached near-universal recognition the world over. The near-religious standalone statement which perfectly-encapsulates the philosophy of not only the Mandalorians, but the fanbase as well. Some might even say it is the titular Mandalorian’s catchphrase, but any fan worth their salt knows that he can bring you in warm or cold. The Mandalorian is the series known for launching the admittedly-polarizing Disney+ streaming service, and thus far is the show with the highest numbers—something Disney refuses to specify but cannot be denied, considering Season 2’s finale literally caused the service to crash due to the overwhelming number of people watching the triumphant return of a previously-assassinated character-assassinated character. Yes, I wrote that correctly. And let’s also point out that, while probably not intentional, “This is the way” also denotes the return to Star Wars form that has been desperately needed since the af...

  There are those who said this day would never come... what are they, to say now? Brothers and sisters, all who partake of the divine light that is the Halo franchise, the time is finally here! Waiting 5 years for a franchise to return after its previous title, then a month before release being told that we must wait nearly another year and a half... this is the ultimate definition of blue balls. It has been a long time coming, and certainly a rough ride through and through for both fans and 343 Industries developers alike--even now as both sides hold their breath with the coming fire of the campaign's release that shall either be cleansing or damning of Halo as a whole. I cannot help but wonder if this Great Journey that is Halo Infinite will be a path to divine ascension, or a death sentence to all who love this universe. Tomorrow, the game will release at 10:00 AM Pacific time and, barring any download issues, will have people playing somewhere between 10:30-12:00--or if you...

I've been hearing a lot of crap being said about the current state of Halo Infinite. And you know what? CAN IT. I played in the first flight, and was graciously given a second go at it (though this time pretty much everybody who signed up was given the same opportunity). I've got bones to pick about a couple of things regarding the current status of Halo Infinite, but overall I don't even remotely hate this product--in fact, it's quite the opposite. First and foremost, I want to point out that I am considerably more than a casual Halo fan. I'm working my way through reading all of the Halo books (or listening, unaffiliated Audible plug here), and while I've definitely caught the Infinite bug with all this hype around the delayed game, I've always been a massive Halo fanboy. Truth be told, first-person shooters aren't really my thing, but Halo has always been the exception. I've tried dozens of other FPS games over the years, and while there wasn...