10 Minute Videogame Tips

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is of course a prequel of sorts to the critically acclaimed Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild....my current favorite game of all time.  In this return episode I relate some of the mistakes I made playing, including a big one which caused me some intense confusion throughout a lot my time with Age of Calamity.

While certainly not a comprehensive list of ALL the games to play with your kids, these are my top 5 videogames when factoring in a variety of things like learning curve, ease of access, and amount of players able to play at the same time.  Maybe I'll do a part 2 with games 6-10 since I thought of a few games I would have liked to add to this list.

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

The Super Mario Bros. Battle Royale is now available in the Switch eShop as a free download, and I've got to say...it's far better than I would have expected.  I wasn't interested at all when it was announced, but I'm glad I picked it up.  The main downside is that NOTHING in the game is explained...like at all.  So I've got you covered!  I explain how the game works, the importance of collecting coins and defeating goombas, as well as offer up some tips for SMB 35 success!

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Nintendo released a dream collection in Super Mario 3D All Stars, putting Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy together in the same package on the Nintendo Switch.  Since these incredible games are be played to some for the first time I give some tips on controlling the camera in Mario 64, getting all the Shine Sprites in Mario Sunshine and even playing as Luigi in Mario Galaxy.  Just be sure to grab the collection before it's no longer available next year!

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

On a whim I decided to download and play some Spellbreak after having watched a little bit on Twitch...and it was amazing!  It was quite a bit more complex and layered than I was expecting, and the fast-paced magic action sucked me right in.  In this episode I give you some tips that I wish I had looked up before I started playing, but sometimes its just fun to jump right in and look up the tips later!

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Fall Guys was THE game of the summer...it was played by all the biggest streamers, featured on many a gaming clip, and had countless memes associated with it.  It's also become increasingly difficult to get crowns as players get better and better.  If you haven't played yet, or are still searching for the first crown....fret not!  I've got you covered!  I give a few general tips before offering up some advice on specific games, including the dreaded Hex-a-Gone...

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

So, you have a newborn on the way shortly and you're worried about being able to play videogames?  Not to worry, as a veteran stay-at-home Dad with 5 kids, I can assure you that you will have time to play games still!  Some adjustments will probably need to be made, but you got this...and I can help!

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a masterpiece of a game, slow-paced and beautiful, with a great cast of lovable misfits, and an absolute butt load of stuff to do.  One could seriously spend a hundred hours just hunting!  So if you find yourself overwhelmed by all the game's interlocking systems, this episode of 10 Minute Videogame Tips will help you with the basics.

(I also thought it worth mentioning that I do talk about Arthur Morgan's tobacco use to recover his Dead Eye meter...an important tip that I didn't want to leave out)

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Here I answer some of the questions I regularly answer involving the Nintendo Switch.  Things like the differences between the regular Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite, physical vs. digital copies of games, and some of the other things you may need for your Switch.  

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is one of my household's favorite competitive games to play, and is also an excellent party game to play with friends and family.  In this episode I give some tips on the best kind of controller to use, new-player-friendly game types, and briefly explain recovery.  

Call of Duty Warzone.....one of my favorite games to watch on Twitch and one that I dream of actually being good at!  Luckily for you dear listener, I have watched a TON and did some research to come up with some tips that you can use to get a start in this very good, Free to Play, battle royale.  

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

So you just got Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and want to play it with friends or family...but also want to assert your gaming dominance?  I got you!  I offer tips for getting ahead right at the beginning of the race, carrying the speed throughout the race, and holding off challengers along the way!  Fire up that Pipe Frame, slap on those Crimson Slims, and let's go racing!

Pokemon Sword and Shield's new DLC Isle of Armor just dropped the other day, so I figured it was a good opportunity to do some tips for Sword and Shield.  They are, after all, the first new Pokemon games on the Switch, and the first ever mainline Pokemon games on console.  Contained within is how to get rewards for having played Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee or Pikachu, Wild Area tips, and covering some of the quality of life improvements that were sorely needed!

Fortnite Chapter 2-Season 3 is just around the corner and a good opportunity for new players to grab a pickaxe and join the battle royale!  I myself started playing at the beginning of Chapter 2 with my kids and have enjoyed it thoroughly.  For this episode of 10 Minute Videogame tips I relate some of the things that have helped me to some success with Fortnite, like where to drop when you first start, what colors mean for the different weapons, and how to deal with more advanced players that just built a huge fort in 10 seconds....you know...the basics!

A guide aimed at those who want to take on building a gaming PC for the first time, or maybe those that haven't done it in awhile.  I give some website recommendations, briefly breakdown the differences between AMD and Intel processors, and give a crash course on selecting a graphics card.  It's also my longest episode yet, that could have EASILY gone longer...I can talk PC components all day!

Super Mario World is still excellent to this very day!  It's hard to believe that a game that came out nearly 30 years ago now would hold up so surprisingly well.  Even more surprising is that I found out something new about SMW while doing research for this episode.  All the time I spent playing back in the day....

You can currently play Super Mario World easily with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, which gives you access to a number of NES and SNES games.  It's also available on the SNES Classic Mini! (if you can find one)

Didn't get enough Stardew Valley the first time around?  I've got you covered with tips on crop and calendar management, and how you should try not to neglect the awesome people of Pelican Town.  And I may or may not have professed my love for Abigail...

Everything you wanted to know about starting Stardew Valley but were afraid to ask...or search for, or watch!  It's hard to even describe how amazing Stardew Valley is, the music and sounds are smooth and silky like butter, and there's a depth to it that's startling.  Basically what I'm trying to say is, listen to my beginner tips, then go buy it on one of the number of platforms on which it's available!

New to Valorant and the tactical shooter genre?  I've got you covered with a few things I wish I had known before diving in.  While some skills from other shooters will translate to Valorant, most are rather unhelpful...so if you're coming from Overwatch, Call of Duty, Fortnite or Apex, it's time to learn a few things!

Anyone struggling to capture a Tarantula or Scorpion?  Did you know you could capture a wasp before it stings you?  Ants and flies need to be spawned in a special way...who knew?  And oh yeah, fishing!  Listen to the episode for tips on how to capture all of these as well as find out which bug I only JUST learned about, after having played Animal Crossing for over 250 hours.

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Sid Meier's Civilization 6 was the free game last week in the Epic Games Store, prompting a TON of Google searches for it.  Understandable, especially considering how complex and time consuming Civ games can be.  Luckily I have a few tips to get you started and on your way to victory...just be careful, as time can really slip by!

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Minecraft Dungeons has just come out on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC and features Minecraft's first foray into the isometric, hack-n-slash RPG game-type.  Because of the Minecraft theme, and relative simplicity when compared to other titles in the genre, Dungeons is a great one to play with the kids!  Just as long as you're either doing couch co-op or on the same type of system...no crossplay.

 As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Don't Starve is a beautiful survival game with a gorgeous hand-drawn style...and it's also exceedingly difficult especially for new players.  These five tips will hopefully help get you through your first week and ideally through your first winter!

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Breath of the Wild was the heavy hitter launch title for the Nintendo Switch and now widely considered one of the best games of the generation, if not of all time.  It's recently become my favorite game of all time and one that I return to on a regular basis.  These tips should help newcomers to BOTW, or maybe those who found it too overwhelming.  Or maybe you're like me and love it, and just want to hear someone talking about it!

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a sprawling RPG set in ancient Greece that marks a significant turn from previous entries in the series.  From the RPG mechanics, to branching dialogue options and dual protagonists, ACO has a lot going for it.  Tune in for 5 tips to help you navigate the war between Athens and Sparta, that's dragging the entire Greek world down with it!

P.S. I know this is only a little over 5 minutes, once I add in the listener questions segment and get a little more used to the format it will get closer to 10 minutes!

Not quite beginner, not quite advanced...these tips are intermediate!  Custom designs and star fragments, hybrid flowers and speeding up crafting are all mentioned within...along with some sage advice.

Websites mentioned in this episode:

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a huge and long game with a TON going on, so if you haven't yet played or just started (or just want to listen to some Animal Crossing stuff) these 5 tips are for you...starting with two things you absolutely do ASAP!

In this first episode I lay out my plans for the format of my episodes for the 10 Minute Videogame Tips podcast, along with how often I plan on posting new ones.  I've been podcasting as part of a group for almost 9 years now on the Thumbstick Athletes Podcast and this is the first time I've done something like this on my own!

As always, anything from Rated G Games is family, work, and kid friendly!