Ari Notis

Let’s Talk About The Paper Mario: The Origami King Scene That Blew Us Away

The best thing about the Paper Mario franchise is its willingness to take a peek into the internal lives of characters that are usually just gunk at the bottom of Mario’s boots. For today’s VG Chat, Ari and Ash discuss the best character of Paper Mario: The Origami King, a little Bob-omb with a dream,…

Halo Infinite Looks To The Past To Bring The Series Into The Present

Everyone remembers their first big Halo moment. For some, it might’ve been crash-landing on a strange, ring-shaped alien world. For others, maybe it was the slow discovery of an all-consuming, nightmarish parasite. Or the realization that said ring-shaped alien world wasn’t actually a world but an interstellar superweapon designed to purge all sentience from the…

Outer Worlds Expansion Coming In September

Heads up, space-farers. The Outer Worlds is getting some DLC. It’s called Peril on Gorgon, and comes out on September 9. Here’s a trailer: Gorgon is an asteroid in the Halcyon system—but unlike Scylla, that other asteroid, Gorgon looks populated by humans and robots, rather than giant, bloodthirsty primates. Honestly, Gorgon just looks like “more…

Here’s Halo Infinite Gameplay, Including The New Grappling Hook

Microsoft kicked off today’s games showcase with a first look at gameplay of Halo Infinite. The assault rifle is back in all its glory. There’s a big map. Everything looks very pretty. And, oh, yeah, there’s a sweet grappling hook. See it all for yourself: The grappling hook is a brand-new tool in 117’s arsenal,…

Here’s Where To Watch Today’s Xbox Series X Showcase

To Infinite, and beyond! Today, Microsoft is hosting an hour-long showcase. According to Xbox’s Aaron Greenberg, the event will laser-focus on upcoming games for Xbox platforms. That means we likely won’t get any hard info about the Xbox Series X price or release date. But hey, at least we get to see what Master Chief’s…

Ridiculous Ghost Of Tsushima Triple Kill Requires One Horse, Two Explosives

There are a million ways to kill people in Ghost of Tsushima, the new open-world, samurai-themed action game for PlayStation 4. Some methods are honorable (duels, standoffs, shooting people in the head with flaming arrows). Some are dishonorable (kunai, poison darts, shooting people in the back of the head with flaming arrows). Some, like the…

The Best Side-Quests In Ghost Of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima is an open-world game, which means you spend a lot of your time tackling side-quests. Having completed all 92 quests in the game, here are the ones you don’t want to miss. Quests in Ghost of Tsushima are gussied up in unconventional nomenclature that can be tough to parse at first. Here’s…

Paper Mario: The Origami King Is Better When You Turn Off Motion Controls

You won’t find many customization options in Paper Mario: The Origami King’s menu. But there is one thing you can and absolutely should change: Turn off the motion controls. For the most part, motion controls in The Origami King are relegated to a move called 1,000-Fold Arms. It’s the most dexterous of Mario’s magical abilities;…

Everything Announced During Today’s Nintendo Direct Mini

Today, Nintendo hosted an 8-minute Direct focused on third-party games. That means we didn’t get a look at Metroid Prime 4, the Breath of the Wild sequel, new Smash Fighters Pass characters, Pokémon’s Crown Tundra DLC, or any of the reportedly 9,000 Mario remasters in the works. Still, it was a Nintendo Direct! In 2020!…

Tips For Playing Ghost Of Tsushima

Ghost of Tsushima, out today for PlayStation 4, is a lot of game. As Jin Sakai, one of Tsushima’s last surviving samurai, you’re singularly tasked with the goal of repelling an entire Mongol fleet. No sweat, right? The truth is it actually is no sweat, once you learn the ropes. The following compendium will help…

Tips For Playing Paper Mario: The Origami King

The world’s most famous plumber (or not) returns to a two-dimensional state in Paper Mario: The Origami King, out today for Nintendo Switch. This latest entry in Nintendo’s long-running formerly-an-RPG series both sticks to formula (Peach needs saving again) and bucks it (the battle system is one-of-a-kind). Whatever you’re expecting, know this: You’re bound to…

How To Efficiently Upgrade Your Skills And Gear In Ghost Of Tsushima

You’ve surely heard about Ghost of Tsushima’s overwhelming large open-world. But Sucker Punch’s action-adventure game is also overwhelming in a different way: In the first few hours, you’re given access to a mind-boggling number of skills to unlock and gear to upgrade. It’s enough to make a new player’s head spin with indecision. When you…

Ghost Of Tsushima’s Best Early Charm Will Have You Rolling In Loot

After an hour of flashbacks and melodrama, Ghost of Tsushima, out tomorrow for PlayStation 4, cuts you loose in an open world. The game features a whale-sized map, full of a dizzying amount of question marks and fogged-up regions. With all those options, it can be hard to know where to start. So here’s some…

During today’s Games For Change festival, Ernest Moniz, the former U.S. Secretary of Energy, debuted a new mobile strategy game about preventing nuclear war. Called Hair Trigger, it promises a crash course in nuclear de-escalation. Perhaps the president should try it out

Early adopters might not have to line up for the PlayStation 5 like they did for the PlayStation 4. Reports in Nikkei and Bloomberg, both citing anonymous sources, say that Sony plans to increase production of the upcoming console from around 5 or 6 million to roughly 10 million units.

Ubisoft Reworked A Famous Holocaust Quote To Promote Watch Dogs: Legion, And Nooope

You know the quote. It has various edits and permutations, but here’s one you’ve probably heard: First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist. Then they came…

Everything Ubisoft Announced Today During Its Not-E3 Event

Today, Ubisoft hosted its not-E3 event, “Ubisoft Forward.” Though the event was ostensibly about games, it was impossible to ignore the recent upheaval surrounding the French publisher. Last night, three high-profile figures—Serge Hascoët, Ubisoft’s chief creative officer; Cécile Cornet, the global head of human resources; and Yannis Mallat, the head of Ubisoft Canada—departed the company…

Tycho’s Ghost Of Tsushima Remix Is Ridiculously Chill

Four popular electronic musicians remixed a handful of songs from Sucker Punch’s upcoming open-world samurai game, Ghost of Tsushima. The result, an EP called Sound of the Storm – Ghost of Tsushima Soundtrack: Reimagined, is officially out today, and I cannot stop listening to it. It’s so good I’ve—and you’ll never believe this—decided to not…

Twin Mirror, Dontnod’s Upcoming Game, Looks Like A Less Sci-Fi Life Is Strange

Over the past decade, Dontnod Entertainment has established itself as a capable developer of solid adventure games. The French studio’s upcoming game, Twin Mirror, looks like a promising continuation of that thread, at least based on a hands-off preview shown this week. Those expecting another adventure game in the vein of Life Is Strange both…

The Last Of Us 2‘s Scariest Scene Has A Gameplay Problem

Between the screaming fungus zombies and the overtones of mindless militarism, The Last of Us Part 2 is basically one big, playable nightmare. But the scariest moment of the game comes at the midway point. At the end of Abby’s “Seattle Day 2” chapter, you end up at the Washington Liberation Front’s hospital base. Your…