Civilization VI: Platinum Edition will be free in the Epic Games Store which you can redeem and permanently save to your game library. The Civilization VI: Platinum Edition costs CA$97.99 at face value. And it includes two expansion packs, alongside 6 DLC packs namely new civilizations and scenarios.

This Civ 6 edition is the ideal bundle with tons of new features, gameplay, and AI fixes. It's almost the complete version and I'm seriously fine and set with this edition to start or restart my Civ 6 playthrough. Grab it now from Epic before July 24.

I'm satisfied with the Switch 2's performance on the games I bought at launch. Not to mention it was a painless launch experience for me. It's portable but it's noticeably heavy. I'm using its Handheld mode often, but it has a big perk when docked. So here's my layman's review:

The Good:
+ Impressed at the 60fps performance. The hardware looks robust. Its performance had a more powerful first impression than the Switch V1.
+ Mario Kart World is fun. There's a lot of game inside Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma on the Switch 2 is an absolute blast. Finally, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet felt new!
+ I like the 8-inch gorgeous screen.
+ Has games that I want to play on Handheld.
+ Native apps load fast. I don't have to wait long watching the loading screen of the e-shop which was silly.
+ A familiar home screen despite that it's a new system.
+ Satisfying quality of speakers on Handheld mode. Cute sounds.
+ The new Dock adds more power due to the 65W power draw. It's no longer about enlarging the game's resolution because I'm playing on the TV. But docking my Switch 2 will enhance picture vibrancy, add HDR, and boost the game's framerate.

What's uncertain:
+/- Cyberpunk 2077's performance on the Switch 2 could indicate how future games will perform on the Switch 2. Have we reached peak performance for the Switch 2? It reminds me of Wii U and Call of Duty: Ghosts.
+/- I have not experienced any Joy-Con drift. Yet there's a part of me that says, maybe we wait and see.
+/- I wonder what a Switch 2 Lite would look like.
+/- The Switch 2 is physically larger than the Switch OLED and I need to shop for big travel cases. Preferably with my Switch 2 wearing an armor plus grip and charger.

The Bad:
- Terrible battery life on Handheld mode which runs 2 hours or less. Played Mario Kart World on local wireless and we were able to play for about 45 minutes until the battery was almost drained.
- Not a fan of the game key-cards. At same price, I will choose an actual game cartridge. It's either physical or all-digital for me. Key-cards that you plug in to prompt the activaction key doesn't feel genuine. I'm buying a hunk of plastic.
- Frustrating that there's no Switch 2 upgrade of Animal Crossing or Xenoblade Chronicles at launch. I mean come on.
- It's an expensive hobby. Priced at CA$629 similar to a PS5 at launch. And then Mario Kart World priced at CA$109.
- Framerate dips on some occasions. Which is understandable but I still wonder though if the game is not optimized, the hardware is already being taxed.
- Launch model's screen is not OLED. So Nintendo will have its players double dip for a Switch 2 OLED.
- It's noticeably heavy.
- The screen can reflect glare when you bring it outside.

The biggest plus for me was that I had games that I wanted to play on the Switch 2. Especially on Handheld mode. I mean why spend CA$629 on a hardware I'm not going to use?

Moreover based on past experience, my time with a console doesn't last if it hasn't given me a great first impression. I had a good time when I tested the the Switch 2. But I also can't help feel that this should have been the original Switch experience. I expected the Switch V1 to perform 60fps when it launched. I've been so used to good hardware (with the PS4 and Xbox One) that I just accepted the first Switch as it was. Even though the framerate dipped on games like Xenoblade Chronicles. Eventually the fps on my Animal Crossing: New Horizons dipped too when running through my cluttered island.

I'm happy with my Switch 2 and I'm definitely using this expensive hardware. Though I have my worry about how it will perform with future games. Nintendo has to overcome its stigma regarding a console with "high performance". Still, I'm optimistic because of the exclusive titles.

ABC (American Broadcast System) orders the 10th season of Scrubs with Zach Braff (JD), Donald Faison (Turk), and Sarah Chalke (Elliot) to fulfill their iconic roles as series regulars. Bill Lawrence, Scrubs' original creator, will also be on board as its Executive Producer. The famous hospital comedy and drama reboot will air during the 2025-26 broadcast season. In addition more unspecified old characters would also return according to the teaser.

Despite being labeled as a comedy series, Scrubs is considered the most realistic medical show of all time (Holmes, 2024) cf. (McGinley, 2020). Its portrayals about patients dealing with illnesses, grief, or death hit close as accurate according to most physicians. Personally, I found Scrubs as a remarkable slice-of-life coming-of-age series about the future, growth, and change: in a delicate dance between comedy, drama, and romance. Sometimes it's slapstick funny. Other times it hits me deep pondering about life.

Steam's Summer Sale for 2025 is now live and running until July 10. It's the perfect time to claim some things on my wishlist. And I'm glad the sale won't end immediately in July. I could use the vacation days.

The MEGA Fallout Red Rocket Truck Stop set is now available in Amazon Canada. The set has been released in November 10, 2024 but mainlythrough Target in the US. The Red Rocket Truck Stop is an iconic location in Fallout 4 and the MEGA set looks fairly faithful to the in-game gas station.

The Red Rocket Truck Stop is the closest settlement to Sanctuary Hills, and is the location of our beloved canine companion, Dogmeat. The Red Rocket Truck Stop serves typically as the player's second home in Fallout 4 complete with a Power Armor station, a weapons workbench, a cooking station inside, and a chemistry station at the back.

However the MEGA brick set can only fit the power armor station and a Nuka Cola fridge inside the interiors. It does come with the Wanderer and Dogmeat. It's a nice addition for any Fallout (4?) fan.

GOG's Summer Sale 2025 have gone live. The GOG summer sale this year will last until July 7! GOG (Good Old Games) is a digital distribution platform to videogames (alternative to Steam)

However, GOGs charm lies in their brand messaging of ensuring players own of their games by providing offline installers of your game as backup. Not to mention offering DRM-free games meaning you can play without the Internet.

Return to Silent Hill is an upcoming live action movie based on the Silent Hill 2 psychological survival horror game. What I find interesting is how it will portray James, Mary, and Maria, on a live action movie; whether it will stay faithful to the game's story or not. The movie will release in US theaters on January 23, 2026. I remember that this movie adaptation was also announced around the time when the Silent Hill 2 remake was announced.

People forget that Call of Duty existed on previous Nintendo platforms. I remember that my cousins and I played a Call of Duty 3 online game steering the nunchuk left and right while aiming at players running across the screen. It was wild. Heck, there was Call of Duty: Ghost and Black Ops II on the Wii U. People forgot perhaps due to the Switch's huge success and that there was NO Call of Duty in it. There was an image as if Call of Duty and Nintendo are incompatible.

The latter is somewhat true as Call of Duty didn't run well on Nintendo consoles. That is COD wasn't as appealing graphic-wise and framerate wise compared to Playstation and XBox consoles. However, that may soon change for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision means that it's time for Microsoft to deliver its 10 year deal with Nintendo of Call of Duty to Nintendo players. Although I still wonder how that will play out as all parties involved demand a much more powerful hardware. Now that the Switch 2 is released, we will see what happens with its custom Nvidia Ampere equivalent card (around 20 or 30 series).

Phil Spencer made the tweet as far as December 2022 of bringing Call of Duty to Nintendo. Maybe bringing back is more accurate. Phil is the current CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Although it's uncertain though what this commitment looks like: namely on ports of older previous COD games. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 would be the latest addition but there's no announcement to a Switch 2port yet. And despite Microsoft's agreement, there was no clear announcement that Black Ops 7 will be released for the Switch 2 system.

After rumours making rounds on the Internet about another Silent Hill remake, Bloober team posted a video on YouTube that the Silent Hill remake is in development. Silent Hill 2 was announced in 2022 and was released in 2024. We may see the Silent Hill remake on 2027 or early 2029!

I received this message while I was archiving my order:

Starting May 15, 2025, you will no longer be able to archive orders.

Archive orders lets users "hide" their order from the default order history view. Once archived, the past order is moved inside a "folder" called Archived Orders. While searching other sources, I found out that some Amazon customers will no longer be able to archive orders tomorrow (April 30, 2025).

It serves some purpose for those who want to de-clutter the order history which is my case. I keep an individual Prime account. My order history tends to get convoluted with subscription charges and free apps along with my Amazon purchases. However, customers who share the same account can use archive order to hide purchases such as gifts or suprises.

The issue is Amazon Prime subscription (and other such as Prime Music) have increased in the past years. And now they're removing a feature. This is my biggest gripe: paying more for less. You can hide orders in eBay.

This may also cause an issue about customer privacy. With Archived orders, past orders are not deleted. And removing it would only lead to a cluttered order history where everything is stored in order history -- so why remove Archived Orders when all purchases are present? It appears that this seemingly small move would push users to purchase individual Prime accounts. Alternatively, this may also have to do with targeted ads; generating ads based on your cluttered order history.

I'm curious why. If Amazon will develop a new way to organize purchases, then I'm all for it.

inZOI listened to a highly requested feature and added a gameplay option which turns off aging to player ZOIs and other ZOIs in the game world. This option will let players choose whether to pursue aging or not: which is playing a ZOI legacy playthrough, to age ZOIs and create a dynastic family tree. Or have a playthrough without the time crunch and create ageless (and endearing) ZOIs.

inZOI was released in March 27 on Steam. Players were discussing on the inZOI Steam page about their characters aging too fast. One thread piled up response about having an option to turn off aging as it makes the game progress too fast and less enjoyable. Some players want to keep playing the same character for a longer time. However with aging, players can lose their current ZOIs permanently.

With inZOI being new and all, having the option to turn off aging gives more time to learn, and explore the game without feeling rushed. The idea of an impending permadeath to your ZOI would make the game less enjoyable. I also had to stop playing inZOI temporarily because I wanted to wait and see; perhaps the modding community would answer; but I'm glad an official option was implemented.

The Sims 2, 3 and 4 had this aging feature from the start and it does create two modes of play for players. Well you turn off aging on Sims 2 via the game console. One playstyle is to enable it to create a long-running family tree. And the other is simply sticking with your original Sim because you love the character. inZOI's update has covered this gap removing worry about losing a Zoi and allowing for more freeplay.

Wow. Nothing big. But I just want to shout out that my Fruits Basket fansite is about to be 20 years old on October. I hosted my blog, alongside Fruits Basket roleplay blogs, galleries, chapter summaries, and character biographies. Due to changes on how direct linking work in the mid 2010s, some parts of the website have stopped working. But the site can be visited using Wayback Machine.

Doordash partners with Klarna to offer customers flex options to pay for food delivery orders and more. According to this partnership, Doordash will provide more options of payment:

Pay in Full: pay your order immediately.
Pay in 4: split payments in 4 interest free payments.
Pay Later: pay in scheduled time.

Note that this new arrangement will pilot in Doordash's United States market.

Doordash has service fees, aside from a customer subscription. The primary takeaway here is the ability to pay later or pay in installments. If it's not obvious, there's something wrong if you're looking to pay your fast food in installments. If you can't afford your fast food right away, maybe consider cooking or trying again another day? One couldn't help thinking that this would encourage to go into debt.

It's no doubt that financing payments is a unique arrangement for Doordash, primarily a food courier delivery app.

On the other hand, Doordash does deliver non-perishable items as well. Think about same-day Amazon delivery. For example, if someone needed a same day delivery for electronics or a home reno item, and a payment installment is available, then that would make sense. But again Doordash is primarily a food delivery app. Ultimately, this flex option will be available for food items. Hence, eat now, pay later.

How about creating a sister app and naming it Doordash Homes though?