Some may accuse me of clinging to nostalgia, but I still think there’s still value in the formula of certain simplistic old school arcade game mechanics. There’s something appealing about the ability to quickly understand how to play and be able to hone your skills as you do so. I’m sure it’s also fun as
Early gaming has always fascinated me to some extent. Given that video gaming itself can largely be tracked to scientists goofing off on an oscilloscope to eventually grow into a lucrative and profitable economic mainstay is ridiculous feat in such a short amount of time. While they are merely a shadow of their former selves
Media preservation is a funny thing. Films, television and music have obviously been around a lot longer than video games have. Because of that, there’s a bit more reverence and concern for preserving the good and bad of everything for future generations to experience. Shift that focus to video games and that gets a little
Everyone likes a good simple party game, you know? Something where explaining the mechanics are super easy to break down and get right to the fun part can really do wonders to liven up a gathering. I’ve probably lost count of how many times I’ve proposed firing up a session of some Jackbox game during
I think it’s pretty well known by now that SEGA is none too shy about how much they’re leaning into all aspects of the Yakuza franchise. Which is great, because lately the main franchise and now the Judgment side of things were supposed to have split off into two separate playstyles. Last year’s Yakuza: Like
More content is good, yeah? It’s even better when you’re a fan of a franchise that hasn’t seen much action until a couple of years ago. Suffice it to say, we can add the BattleTech fanbase to an apparently lengthy list of folks getting the games that they’ve been wanting for years and being at
Man, it sure has been a bit of a wait for some fresh and traditional Travis Touchdown action. Over a decade, to be precise. It hasn’t been completely devoid of his presence, what with multiple ports of the original two Wii games as well as a side entry in the form of Travis Strikes Again
You know, seeing media set in eras that you’ve personally lived through (even at a very young age) is weird. On one hand, you’re already accustomed to many of the aesthetics and everything else surrounding it. On the other, it’s a window for those who haven’t actually lived through it. No matter how you slice
By now, I think it’s pretty obvious that people are putting a lot of expectations on Halo Infinite. Personally, I’m no stranger to this franchise’s multiplayer environment or the beta testing periods that preceded some of the prior titles. So you can imagine that I was pretty excited to be chosen to be in the
If you’re anything like me, you saw the release of Streets of Rage 4 as a wonderfully pleasant surprise in an apparent sea of new beat ’em ups (check out our review here). It’s no surprise that the devs behind this would want to expand the content through DLC, but the way that they’re approaching
Microsoft came out dealing a slew of 30 games. To the surprise of nobody, 27 out of them are going to be on Game Pass day and date. Many of them exclusive to Xbox. Hey, they work. Here’s a rundown of everything that was announced. Starfield Touted as being “25 years in the making,” this
If you’re anything like me, you’ve always looked at bone-crushingly hard games with equal parts respect and abject fear. From the NES days to now, we’ve always had that one game that other gamers point to as the pinnacle of difficulty. For some it’s the Souls franchise. Others point to the usual suspects like Contra,
If there’s one thing that I dig about the breadth of human creativity, it’s the willingness to smoosh two things together and hope that it works. Comic books are notorious for crossover events happening on a fairly regular basis. But movies, video games, and music are also rife with plenty of examples of cross pollination
Having grown up during the halcyon days of the original PlayStation yet totally separate from the hype that surrounded the library it sported was kind of weird. I had my eyes set on a Saturn being the rabid SEGA fan that I was in the ’90s, though that never came to pass until well after
Okay, I’m just going to put it out there and straight up admit that I have quite the affinity for platformers of many kinds. It was basically the genre that pulled me into video games proper, and I will still happily devour what I can get my hands on if the experience is enjoyable in
The Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise is one that has always flown under my radar for some reason or another. While the fanbase that surrounds it is quite dedicated, personally trying to approach the franchise is a challenge in and of itself. Regardless, a steady stream of games continue to be localized stateside. The latest spinoff title
Roguelikes and their ilk of varying degrees have always occupied a weird place in my life. On one hand, the skill required to keep at the “progress as far as possible and potentially ruining an entire run on a simple mistake” thing can turn a lot of more casual players off from the genre. On
Business sims are nothing new these days, but have you ever considered the angle of living out your “legitimate business in the front, thriving secret drug lord empire in the back” fantasies? Because that’s the angle that UK- based developer Dope Games is using for their debut title Definitely Not Fried Chicken. Admittedly, it’s not
If there’s anything to be said about game preservation and the prevalence of digital media, Scott Pilgrim generally tends to be at the top of most people’s minds. Honestly, who could blame them? It dropped in conjunction with the release of the 2010 film, only to be delisted from the PlayStation Store and XBox Live
It has arrived: the end of the year. A year that felt simultaneously gone in a flash yet unbearably long. It sure has been an…interesting…start to a new decade. In gaming, though, the year has been crazy. A brand new console generation has begun, and people are still struggling to be a part of it,
