AUKEY Car Cup Holder Phone Mount
Manufactured by: Aukey
Release date: July 22, 2020
Price: $14.99
(Amazon Affiliate Link)

Thank you Aukey for sending us this product to review!

My current and previous cell phones have been LG (G7 ThinQ and V60 ThinQ). The G7 was smaller and lighter and worked well with a magnet mounting system. One magnet went on the phone’s case while the car’s mount used the other magnet. When trying the magnet system with the V60 the magnets would fall off of the case (while driving which is always fun!) and the dual screen mode was a bit cumbersome with this method.

Since my minivan has several cup holders to spare, I thought I’d give the AUKEY Car Cup Holder Phone Mount a try. When I got it, there was a $3 off coupon. As of this review, that coupon is no longer available. The normal price is $18.99. There are cheaper options available, but I haven’t been let down by an Aukey product yet.

Thank you Paramount for sending us a screener to review!

SpongeBob Squarepants has been around since 1999 and is still going strong. Now that my kids are getting older, I haven’t watched it on TV in a while. The main characters are still there and the 3D rendered versions of them look great.

There are some impressive cameos in this film including Keanu Reeves and Snoop Dogg. Another new character is King Poseidon who is super paranoid about his appearance and is desperately seeking out a snail to use its slime to remove facial wrinkles. Poseidon posts a bounty for someone who can give him a snail amidst the shortage of them.

Thank you Materia Collective for sending us this digital album to review!

Deus Ex was originally released in 2000 and this album was released to coincide with its 20th anniversary. While Deus Ex doesn’t look great by today’s standards, it was a revolutionary first-person shooter (FPS) for its time. The story is engaging and the ability to upgrade your augmented body adds strategy to the gameplay. While violence is always an option, you can opt to simply knock out most of the foes if desired.

The electronica background music for this title is phenomenal. I remember extracting the Unreal music files and burning it to multiple CDs since I really enjoyed the music from this game. Not all of my favorite tunes made it onto Conspiravision: Deus Ex Remixed, but most of them are there.

This album consists of seventeen tracks ranging from three to four minutes apiece and will keep your ears happy for over an hour. Alexander Brandon did a fine job staying true to the original songs while giving them all a nice tune-up.

Thank you Moving Life LTD for sending us a review sample!

Things have certainly changed since the arrival of COVID-19. Masks are required to enter public places, restaurants are either closed or running at reduced capacity, sporting events can only be viewed on television screens, and the list goes on. Public transportation in close proximity with others is a risky endeavor that is unavoidable for some professions. If you’re concerned about traveling in these uncertain times, ViraShield by Moving Life LTD is worth looking into.

ViraShield is a portable plastic enclosure that works well in cramped seated environments. While I didn’t try it on a plane or a train, it did work well at my church which has connected padded seats. While I was inside of my plastic bubble I was able to hear the preacher/sermon clearly. Despite the wrinkles in the plastic, I was able to read the song lyrics on the LCD TV panels adequately. Standing while singing was a little awkward as this device is intended for seated environments. If you do have to stand while it’s deployed, it can balance on your head just fine.

One of my biggest concerns was reception. How would people react to me using it? I sat in the back row at church to not draw too much attention, but I was still greeted with a wave and a smile. My co-workers on the other hand found religion by saying things like “Oh G-d” or “Oh my G-d” while seeing me use it.

Thank you Loot Crate (Affiliate Link) for sending us a review sample!

Loot Crate is an interesting service that surprises you with random stuff delivered to your door for a monthly fee. There are many different themes available including gaming, anime, film/TV, and Pop Culture. Each of those themes are further broken down into sub categories for die-hard fans of particular games, movies, anime, etc. They also have apparel only crates available. Those are broken down into subcategories including hats, tees, socks, underwear, wearables, and more. The Loot Gaming Boxes we have been getting have usually included some clothing, art prints, pins, and other nifty trinkets from popular game franchises.

We recently received and unboxed the “Best of” December Crate and here’s what we found inside:

Thank you Loot Crate (Affiliate Link) for sending us a review sample!

Loot Crate is an interesting service that surprises you with random stuff delivered to your door for a monthly fee. There are many different themes available including gaming, anime, film/TV, and Pop Culture. Each of those themes are further broken down into sub categories for die-hard fans of particular games, movies, anime etc. They also have apparel only crates available. Those are broken down into subcategories including hats, tees, socks, underwear, wearables, etc.

We recently received and unboxed the November Crate and here’s what we found inside:

• Beast Pin
• DOOM Eternal Cacodemon Stress Ball
• Fallout Art Print
• Fallout Silicone Oven Mitts
• The Elder Scrolls Art Print
• The Elder Scrolls T-Shirt

I can definitely see myself wearing the shirt and using the oven mitts. While the mitts are functional, they’re thinner than my current neon green set. I still think they’ll handle the task of removing freshly made hard boiled eggs from my Instant Pot just fine though! The Doom stress ball is nifty and thankfully, I’m not super stressed so I don’t know how much use it will get. Given that it's made out of foam, it wouldn't survive my puppy's jaws for more than five minutes. To avoid that from happening, it looks nice on our shelf in the office along with the art prints.

Each crate is said to have at least $50 or more worth of items inside. I wouldn’t pay that much for the stuff I got, but the monthly cost of $28.95 is reasonable and I can definitely see the contents being worth that much. If you subscribe for three or six months, the cost is reduced by 9% and 11% respectively.

Thank you Abramorama for providing us with a screener to watch!

‘Til Kingdom Come is a documentary about the strange political and religious partnership between the United States and Israel. In the 1980s Evangelicals were often viewed as KKK/white supremacists by Israelites. In 1983, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein founded the Holyland Fellowship of Christians and Jews which is now known as International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Their goal is to build bridges of understanding and cooperation between Christians and Jews. Not long after its founding, some popular televangelists like Pat Robertson and John Hagee supported this ministry with over four million in donations through telethons and other financial gifts. Through these gifts, poor people in Israel overlooked by the government are given food items and care that they could not afford on their own.

Binghamtown Baptist Church in Kentucky is located in a poor county with nearly half of the children living below the poverty line. This church, in their own words, "indoctrinates" the youth about the importance of the Jewish people and Israel's role in the end times. They fully believe in the promise of Genesis 12:3 in receiving blessings from God by blessing Abraham’s people. They have raised thousands in supporting Israel and continue to do so faithfully because of this promise. Interestingly enough, they are doing well financially even with the economy in a downturn. Their associate pastor, W. Boyd Bingham has miraculously survived cancer and dedicated his life to serving the Lord faithfully. He’s also depicted cleaning his guns and shooting targets in a forest.

Meanwhile in Palestine, a Christian church is experiencing a decline in membership due to the political unrest and loss of territory. Through Trump’s presidential run, he relocated the US Embassy to Jerusalem and granted Israel settlement rights to the West Bank. Although Christians and Jews have different views on religion, when partnered together politically they are an unstoppable force.

Thank you Universal Pictures for sending us this Blu-ray to review!

The War With Grandpa is a star studded comedy featuring Robert De Niro, Uma Therman, Rob Riggle, Cheech Marin, and Christopher Walken. The grandpa (Robert De Niro) is a widower who is struggling to get by since his wife passed away. Most technology eludes him like self-checkout registers at stores and smart phones. After a legal scuffle, he agrees to live with his daughter’s (Uma Therman) family though the transition won’t be easy for either of them. The grandson, Peter, is forced to give up his room and relocate to the attic where he shares living space with mice and bats. It goes without saying that Peter is not happy with his new accommodations.

After sharing his struggles with his friends, he follows their advice and declares war on his grandpa to get his room back. At first, his grandfather brushes off the declaration of war and first couple of pranks. Upon realizing that Peter won’t be giving up, he decides to fight back as long as they agree to no collateral damage and no tattling on each other. Let the games begin!

Prepare for some funny pranks though a couple of them involve obscured nudity. Grandpa has a tendency of dropping his pants unintentionally. Thankfully, any naughty bits are obscured by conveniently located plants. There is also some language including hell and *ss.

Thank you Hydragun for sending us a review sample!

In August we agreed to review the Citysports Massage Gun. At the time the massage gun was $160 (it’s now $99.99) and since we didn’t get reimbursed as promised we returned it and got our money back. Because we found the massage gun useful, we bought a $79.99 Chirogun out of pocket (It now sells for $117). Not only is the Chirogun half the price, it has thirty speeds instead of twenty and fifteen replacement heads compared to Hydragun's six. 

Hydragun reached out to us to do a comparison between their $299 product and the Amazon offerings. To be honest, many of the massage guns available on Amazon look similar and it makes you wonder how many of them are manufactured at the same factory and have different stickers and LEDs added to make them slightly different.

Though Hydragun is a relatively new startup from Singapore, they back their products with a thirty-day return policy and a 1.5 year warranty. The Chrirogun only offers a 1 year warranty.

Believe it or not, but running a game review site isn’t all fun and games.  Surprising right?  Streaming first impressions is mutually beneficial for our reviewers and visitors.  Our reviewers can refer back to the video for the game’s story and their first impressions.  Our viewers can see if the game is interesting enough to consider buying.  Since I don’t like showing too much of a game without spoiling it, I try to only stream the first hour or so to avoid going into spoiler territory.  While this approach is thoughtful, it’s counter-productive. 

By providing several streams a week we’re trying out several new games and not getting enough time to go back to finish their reviews.  Currently, I have thirty-five games assigned to myself (Yikes!).  I like to compare these streamed games to boxes of cereal.  I keep opening up new boxes of cereal and need to finish them up before they go stale.

To help me catch up on these backlogged games, I’ll be taking a break from regular streaming until next year.  There’s a lot on our plates and many of us are working full or part time jobs while still maintaining this site.  If you are blessed by the work we do, please consider supporting us on Twitch (we currently have 0 subscribers and Amazon Prime members can subscribe for free!), Patreon, Subscribe Star (Nobody has used this yet!), Ko-fi, Paypal, or Giving Grid.

Thank you UberStrategist for sending us a screener to review!

Insert Coin is a documentary about the rise and fall of the popular arcade game making company, Midway. Though Midway has been around since 1958, this film covers the 80s through their bankruptcy in 2009. The 1981 acquisition of Bally is also discussed with their rivalry with Williams. These companies combined are well known for their pinball and early video games like Defender, Joust, Robotron 2084, and Rush. In the mid-80s people were getting tired of the copycat and low-quality games and as a result, the industry was losing its audience.

In 1988, the recently re-branded Midway released Narc which was an arcade hit and stirred up some controversy with its bloodiness and dismembering of body parts. Smash TV did well in the theaters but Midway had to learn from a mistake of teasing the gamers about a nonexistent hidden area (Pleasure Dome) and shipped out ROM chips to actually add it to the game. Countless quarters were spent trying to find that mystical area.

It’s interesting to know that a successful arcade game was one that generated $700/week. NBA Jam was such a success that the arcade machines were deemed defective because their quarter holders were filled to capacity! Their most popular franchise, Mortal Kombat is covered in detail with its over-the-top violence and backlash for it. The film adaptation is also covered. Mortal Kombat was so edgy that Nintendo removed the blood from their SNES release. SEGA left the game intact to attract an older audience.

Here’s our 2020 Christmas buying guide! Below are our favorite gadgets and family appropriate titles we have played throughout the year. More reviews can be found on ChristCenteredGamer.com! Each game is given a gameplay score for the overall gaming experience and a moral score for how suitable it is for younger gamers. The Amazon and Humble Store links will benefit Christ Centered Gamer by giving us a small % of the sale.

Thank you Loot Crate (affiliate link) for sending us a review sample!

Loot Crate is an interesting service that surprises you with random stuff delivered to your door for a monthly fee. There are many different themes available including gaming, anime, film/TV, and Pop Culture. Each of those themes are further broken down into sub categories for die-hard fans of particular games, movies, anime etc. They also have apparel only crates available. Those are broken down into subcategories including hats, tees, socks, underwear, wearables, etc.

We recently received and unboxed the October Boo! Crate and here’s what we found inside:

• 2 Nuka Cherry Cola Air Fresheners
• Wolfenstein Panzerhund Figure
• Prey Mousepad
• Nuka Quantum Socks
• Boo! Pin
• Dark Souls Valet Tray

Thank you BlendJet for sending us a review unit!

BlendJet was originally founded in 2017 and invented “The Original Portable Blender” which was a popular holiday gift in 2019 with one being sold every five seconds! Since 2018, over one million units were sold in 195 countries. The BlendJet 2 has 33% more capacity that can hold 16 oz of liquid. The BPA free plastic canister has helpful oz and ml markings on it for precise measurements. Another improvement over the original BlendJet is that the battery size has been doubled to 4000mAh which should give you fifteen or more blends before needing a recharge. Charging is done via the included USB-C cable. One feature lacking on this version that the original had is a built in strainer.

Cleaning the BlendJet 2 is pretty easy by just adding some dish soap and water after use and pushing the blend button. The device is waterproof so it can handle being submerged if need be. The instructions state that it is not dishwasher safe. The booklet also advises against putting your hand in the blender (Duh!), running it while empty, adding 120 degree or hotter liquids, charging it while wet, letting kids use it unsupervised, or leaving food sitting in it for prolonged periods of time. The restriction that bummed me out the most was not blending carbonated liquids. That’s a shame since I like adding lemon-lime soda to my fruit smoothies. The website has a bunch of recipes if you’re looking to try something new.

Thank you Lucksgy for sending us this purse to review!

I’ve been through many purses and most of them have been thirty dollars or less. Over time, the straps typically wear out or break. The material often tatters on the bottom too. My current purse is denim and has lasted a good while and it fits my essentials (wallet, checkbook, pens, medicine, floss, car keys, etc.). However, with a conceal and carry license in my near future, I need a purse that’s slightly bigger.

The Lucksgy Genuine Leather Bucket Tote Bag for Women comes in five colors. I chose the kaqi color, but there’s also black, brown, red, and gray. There are two straps available, one for over the shoulder and the other is adjustable and goes across the body. The tote bag has two open side pockets that would be ideal for holding a phone or small umbrella. The front and back pouches have magnetic snaps on them to keep them closed. There’s also a magnetic snap to close the main opening.

The inside of the tote bag is spacious, but there are no pockets. However, there is a removable zippered pouch that has two pockets on the sides with one of them being zippered. The main area of the pouch is spacious enough for the item I wish to conceal. The floor of the pouch is removable and you’ll want to have it in place if you wish for it to retain its shape.

Thank you Netflix for supplying us with complimentary access to review this series!

Level Up is the season finale that clocks in at thirty-seven minutes long. The main focus on this episode is DOOM and the impact it had with PC and online gaming. John Romero is interviewed and explains how he worked with John Carmack at Gamer’s Edge back in 1989. They soon joined forces and formed id Software in 1991. During that time, Nintendo was dominating the gaming market and the PC couldn’t match the graphical performance.

That is until John Carmack figured out how to master side scrolling and used John’s Romero’s Dangerous Dave character and inserted him into a Super Mario 3 like world and called the game “Dangerous Dave in Copyright Infringement”. They further revolutionized PC gaming with their 1992 first-person shooter hit, Wolfenstein 3D. This game was revolutionary in terms of graphics and gameplay. Their next goal was to implement online networking which they promised to deliver in their 1993 game, Doom. When this game launched on December 9th, the servers hosting the shareware (remember that?) file were crashing from being overloaded.

The PC gaming market wasn’t the only one getting a 3D overhaul. Dylan Cuthbert is featured in this episode and he figured out how to implement 3D graphics on a Gameboy. Instead of suing him, Nintendo flew him and his partner, Giles Goddard, to Japan to learn more. Together, they worked on the Super FX chips used in SNES cartridges to implement 3D graphics. Innovations like this made Star Fox a successful reality.

Thank you Netflix for supplying us with complimentary access to review this series!

Street Fighter was originally released in 1987 and the game was revolutionary in allowing two players to battle each other in real time. Other than that aspect, the game was pretty bare bones with only two playable characters. The sequel, which was released in 1991, upped the ante quite a bit by offering eight characters with one of them being female. It’s nice that they took female gamers into consideration by giving them a formidable fighting character.

Akira Yasuda, the artist behind most of the characters in Street Fighter II is interviewed along with Akira Nishitani, the game’s developer. It’s neat seeing the game’s inspiration being taken from various sights around the world and even from Japanese bathhouses.

Street Fighter did quite well in the arcades and it was only a matter a time before other companies like Midway offered some competition. John Tobias is also featured in this documentary and explains how he was heavily influenced by classic Kung-Fu movies like Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon. The fighters and their moves in Mortal Kombat definitely show their roots. This game also shows a lot of blood and gore, especially in the finishing moves. Games like Mortal Kombat Night Trap caused an uproar in the US government and brought about the formation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which is responsible for rating many popular console games today.

I was surprised that this documentary didn’t mention the SNES’s censoring of Mortal Kombat with green blood in Japan and sweat in the Western release. However, it does delve into the 1993 Street Fighter 2 world champion competition and interviews the winner, Takaharu Nakone. All in all, this is a fascinating episode and I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys fighting games.

Thank you Netflix for supplying us with complimentary access to review this series!

In 2015 I read, enjoyed, and reviewed the book Console Wars by Blake J. Harris. This book talks about how Sega recruited Tom Kalinske to become the CEO of Sega of America. At the time, Sega had superior hardware, but Nintendo had the majority of the market share. This episode recaps this book quite nicely and goes over Tom’s five pronged attack in an attempt to de-throne Nintendo.

The first step was to lower the price to $149 to make the Sega Genesis more competitive, and the next step was to defeat Mario. Sega needed a loveable mascot and it’s neat how this episode introduces Sonic’s designer Hirokazu Yasuhara. The Sonic series took off and attracted gamers around the world for a competition in 1994. Chris Tang, the world champion in Sega’s Rock the Rock contest is featured in this episode.

The third part of Tom Kalinske’s plan was to add more sports. Sega and EA worked together to bring John Madden’s football game to the console and it did really well. Because of the system’s limitations all of the players had the same (light) skin color. Gordan Bellamy, who is openly gay, is featured and takes credit for making the default skin color darker in the 1995 edition of Madden Football.

Thank you Netflix for supplying us with complimentary access to review this series!

Computer gaming began in the 70s with text-based role-playing games. There were no visuals and the user had to type in simple responses to play those games. Roberta Williams is interviewed in this episode and she was hooked on a text-based game called Colossal Cave Adventures that came out in 1976. The first computer game with graphics was her first foray into game design, Mystery House, which released in 1980. Roberta and her husband, Ken, founded Sierra Entertainment which produced many classic game series including Kings Quest, Police Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry. Sierra also published the first Half-Life game in 1998.

Richard Garriott is also featured in this episode and he’s known for creating the popular Ultima games that are heavily inspired by Dungeons and Dragons. Until watching this series, I had no idea that he became an astronaut in 2008. Because of the success of the Ultima games, computer gaming took off and Richard Garriott was able to self-fund his flight to the international space station.

As role-playing games increased in popularity, a company called SquareSoft started their Final Fantasy series in 1987. Yoshitaka Amano is interviewed and it’s fascinating to see how his intricate art was pixelated and simplified for the hardware limitations of that time period. His artwork is unaltered on the game boxes and in the manuals.

Thank you Netflix for supplying us with complimentary access to review this series!

The main focus of the second episode is Nintendo. The company was founded in 1889 and their focus back then was playing cards. 1985’s launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) revitalized the video game market. Before sites like YouTube and GameFAQs, people relied on gameplay counselors to guide them through the thousands of NES games in the market. In this documentary, Shaun Bloom recalls his days as a gameplay counselor and what it took to become one. Getting paid to play videogames? Sounds like a dream job! With the growing video game library, it got harder to assist stuck gamers. Thankfully, the Nintendo Power magazine provided pointers and maps to ease the burden a little bit for the gameplay counselors and subscribers.

The 1984 lawsuit about Universal Studios suing Nintendo for the term “Kong” in Donkey Kong is discussed in detail by their lawyer, John Kirby. According to the credits, he passed away in 2019. After the case was won, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto paid homage to the lawyer by naming a popular character after him. Much of Nintendo’s success can be attributed to Shigeru Miyamoto, who played major roles in designing their most popular characters and games. Hirokazu Tanaka, the composer from Donkey Kong, is featured in this episode, and it’s neat to see how he came up with the various sound effects with the equipment he used back then.

The title of this episode, "Comeback Kid", is referring to the 1990 Nintendo World Champion, Jeff Hansen. When he originally tried to qualify, he got third place. His parents took him to the last contest where he took first place and eventually became the top player in his age group. The three games used in the competition were Super Mario Bros, Tetris, and Rad Racer. I wonder if his parents let him drive the Geo Metro he won for them when he turned 16?