April 4, 2025

My Thoughts On The Second Nintendo Switch

image source: Wikipedia, with color modification to match the official look

Yesterday we did an overview of the promotion for the newest version of the Nintendo Switch, lazily called Switch 2. Yes, they gave their reasons, but it still feels lazy to me even if there’s a huge change from Switch 1. Since then I did manage to watch a few videos to get an idea of what the response is.

I’m going to go over that, but then I want to focus on my own thoughts, things I’d like to see out of the system. The biggest praise seems to come from the size, while the biggest complaint is coming from the prices. Fair enough, but I can’t afford the current Switch or any of the games no matter how cheep they are, so I guess I don’t have a huge dog in this fight.

BW Media Spotlight is a storytelling analysis blog, and I’ve gone over how video games can tell stories. So I want to come at the discussion from that angle. What potential do I see for this as interactive entertainment, and does it really advance anything or it only made so Nintendo can make more console selling money? Well, it’s being reported today that the US’s current plans to tariff what they’re being tariffed in the name of fairness that there may be a delay, causing worries of a price increase. Please note that I don’t want to discuss the tariff situation. This is not the site for that. I have my views and they are just that, MY views. You’re entitled to yours but this is not supposed to be a politics blog, and sociopolitical extremism is already coming up too much lately by force. I understand both sides and I see good and bad points by both sides whether I ultimately agree with them or not. We’ll discuss the prices but that’s not going to be a focus for this site.

Okay? Good? If not I might break out the edit scissors if I have to. I’m all for free speech but we will NOT HAVE A POLITICAL FLAME WAR IN MY COMMENTS, UNDERSTOOD!!!!!!!!!

tHEN LET’S…. I mean then let’s get on with this.

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Posted by on April 4, 2025 in Video Game Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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April 4, 2025

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Best Comics #2

Best Comics #2

Better Publications, Inc (December, 1939)

Wish I could tell you what this is going in besides the obvious, but with a name as generic as “Best Comics”, you can imagine research is not easy and I don’t have the time to devote to the only issue in Comic Book Plus‘ library. There’s this from Comic Vine:

Published from November 1939 to February 1940 with 4 total issues numbered 1-4.

An early experiment in the size and shape of comic books, unlike the other comics, of which there were few at the time, this one took the size of 68 pages in the form of a panel comic from the news paper.

It was made up of mainly of humor strips, having only one adventure series The Red Mask, which featured the first black mystery man, who while shown as white on the covers was shown colored darker.

This comic also is the reason that DC’s World’s Best Comics had to be re-titled World’s Finest Comics with the second issue, even though they had not published a Best Comics in over a year when WBC came DC thought it better not to fight them for it.

And someday DC/National Comics would become sue happy and kill Fawcett Publishing. Interesting, I thought Lobo (no relation), the black cowboy, was comics’ first black hero but here’s one from the “mystery men” period of superheroes. I’m guessing somebody wanted to fool someone into reading it so whitewashed the character because this was 1939. As stated, Comic Book Plus only has the one issue and it’s mostly comedic comics, the stories I tend to ignore in Golden Age comic reviews because they aren’t very good. Still, I’m curious to see this experiment to see if the size is the only reason it didn’t make it past four issues.

[Read along with me here]

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Posted by on April 4, 2025 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

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April 4, 2025

BW’s Daily Video> Marvel Abandoned Women…But Not Through Ratios

Catch more from JesterBell on YouTube

 

Posted by on April 4, 2025 in Marvel Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , , .

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April 3, 2025

NIntendo Switch 2: The Switchening

I don’t usually discuss hardware because this is a site dedicated to stories. However, the last few video game related articles I’ve done have been going over terrible games like Suicide Squad: Kill Your Heroes or Assassin’s Creed: We Ruined That Japanese Game You Kept Begging For. I want to bring up happier things, so we’re doing this.

Yes, Nintendo is ready to drop it’s sequel to the Switch, with the uncreative name of Switch 2. Someone won a contest for “can we think of a lamer next console name than Wii U”. Good on them. Come on, guys, gives something more interesting. Switchtastic or something. I don’t care. I know it’s just an upgrade to the original with not a lot of new things…and that’s what interest me.

Nintendo stopped chasing better graphics and went for more interesting gameplay with the original Nintendo Wii, and it forced Sony and Microsoft to suddenly play with technology on their systems at the time. With Switch 2, as you see in the trailer, there are some minor new features, but they seem to be more interested in upping the existing tech rather than adding some new feature, unless you count doubling as a mouse as a new feature. I’m going to grab bits from Nintendo’s four-article “Ask The Developer” feature on their news site because…well, it’s easier for a text site to comment on text than a long video. In it, producer Kouichi Kawamoto, Switch 2 director Takuhiro Dohta, both from the Entertainment Planning & Development department and Tetsuya Sasaki, general manager of the technology development division, go over what can be expected from Switch 2: Electric You All Know This Gag By Now. I’ll link to all four articles, though I’ll only bring up the parts that interest me as a mostly-casual gamer and big fan of storytelling.  Otherwise this would read Seduction Of The Innocent levels of analysis. What can the new Switch do that the old one can’t besides take up more room on your TV stand and be slightly harder to take with you?

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Posted by on April 3, 2025 in Video Game Spotlight and tagged , .

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April 3, 2025

“Yesterday’s” Comic> Charismagic #0

“Not my fault my car can’t fit your fat a…” “Shut up, bird!” “That’s hurtful.”

Charismagic #0

Aspen Comics (December, 2012)

“The Void”

CREATOR/WRITER: Vince Hernandez

CHARACTER DESIGNS/ARTIST: Khary Randolph

COLORIST: Emilio Lopez

LETTERER: Josh Reed

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Posted by on April 3, 2025 in Yesterday's Comics and tagged , .

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April 3, 2025

BW’s Daily Video> What Happened To Sidekicks?

Catch more from Nerdstalgic on YouTube

Personally, I miss sidekicks. This is what happens when your movie makers hate fun and hate kids.

Posted by on April 3, 2025 in Comic Spotlight, Movie Spotlight, Streaming Spotlight, Television Spotlight, Uncategorized and tagged , .

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April 2, 2025

Peter Parker Or Peter Pan?

Making Peter Parker into Charlie Brown meets Archie Andrews, the ever unlucky girl chaser, was bad enough. Now it seems the adaptation trend we’ve said was also desired by the comic writers is proving more and more true.

We’ll be looking at two different articles from Bounding Into Comics contributor Spencer Baculi that you may want to check out for context. First we have his response to an April 1st article that’s less interested in April Fools Day than I am. The actual article, also linked to for context, comes from AIPT Comics, whatever that stand for. It features new Amazing Spider-Man writer Joe Kelly, the same guy who thought giving Space Ghost a grimdark makeover that included his unborn child being ripped from his dead wife’s body by the hero’s former mentor and his psycho subordinates, was a great way to update a 1960s Saturday morning cartoon for kids that also aired in syndication in the 1970s and was back on air in the 1980s before getting a late night talk show parody that probably defines how people think of Space Ghost. Tim Burton and Len Wein you’re not, Joe!

The other article to be looked at is Spider-Editor Tom Brevoort at it again, again arguing with fans who want the Spider-Marriage restored on his Substack. Together they show the pattern we’ve seen with adaptations is where they might want to take the comic. Absolutely positively? Maybe not, but it does show that “regression” is the word for the day at the Spider-Man offices. Every Spider-Man adaptation tries to start Peter at high school even if it isn’t his origin story, and they love doing those as well. (Control the origin, control the character.) Ultimate Spider-Man started him as an adult with a family, which is not the same as watching Peter balance his two lives as we see the kids grow up. and all the joys of early fatherhood. (May I never hear the term “girl dad” again, unless someone finally shows the same excitement from being a “boy dad” because dad was a boy once. Nothing against girls at all. I wouldn’t mind one of each, though at my age that seems more and more unlikely.) It seems the writers who insist they never want Peter to be old (except when running a science company started when Dr. Octopus stole his body) are doing everything they can to shove him back into a teenager. These two articles certainly point to rather strong evidence I’m right.

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Posted by on April 2, 2025 in Marvel Spotlight and tagged , , , .

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