Cecilia D'Anastasio

Splatoon 2’s Final Splatfest Begins, Though The Stakes Are Unclear

Splatoon 2’s final official Splatfest popped off today. It’s pitting order against chaos in what Splatoon 2 is calling the “Splatocolypse.” Splatfests are multi-day events that invite the Nintendo game’s player base to choose a faction and then earn points for their side by playing multiplayer matches of the paint-based shooter. Splatfests are usually just…

Role-Locking Is Coming To Overwatch, According To Leaked Video [UPDATE]

Today, a pre-recorded Overwatch League video leaked sharing news that Blizzard is apparently implementing role-locking in Overwatch and the Overwatch League. [Update—4:45 pm ET]: Overwatch’s game director Jeff Kaplan confirmed that players will now queue for specific roles in Overwatch games, too. Starting soon, all team compositions in the Overwatch League will consist of two…

We Debate The Best And Worst Super Smash Bros. Games

Among the greatest video game debates—should hard games lower their difficulties? What’s the best controller?—is one that can make even the most docile Nintendo fan into a belligerent shit: Which Super Smash Bros. games are the very best and the very worst? In the Nintendo series’ 20-year run, Smash has had some major bumps in…

Stop Freaking Livestreaming While Driving

A worst-case scenario: being the subject of a video on thesubreddit Livestream Failtitled “Guy wrecks car while reading Twitch chat and driving.” In the 2018 video, a Twitch streamer named Jaystreazy is at the wheel of his car, rapidly shifting his eyes between the road and what is presumably a mounted phone screen displaying a…

Hentai Sites Go To War, Leaving Animated Porn’s Future In Doubt

A transfer of power at the internet’s biggest free anime porn site was supposed to finally make its copyright-infringing operations more legit. Instead, the takeover of Hentai Haven has spurred a civil war within the hentai community. That conflict came to light yesterday after Hentai Haven’s anonymous founder, who goes by Papa HH, broke his…

Mordhau Developers Address Controversy, Saying They Won’t Add Gender Or Race Filters

After a controversial interview with PC Gamer discussing Mordhau players’ use of slurs and the potential implementation of a race or gender toggle, the game’s developers issued a statement this morning to clarify their stances. They now say they had no plans to add an ethnicity toggle to Mordhau, adding in a statement that they…

Role-Locking Could Resuscitate The Overwatch League

“Can I say anything I want?” asked Jong-ryeol “Saebyeolbe” Park after a particularly satisfying victory for his Overwatch League team, the New York Excelsior, last year. His translator nodded. Park’s eyes lit up. “I’m the best Tracer in the world.” He stuck his tongue out. Park was referring to the Overwatch hero Tracer, a zippy…

Two Weeks After Suspending Dr. Disrespect For Livestreaming In Bathroom, Twitch Restores His Channel

Last night, Twitch reinstated Guy “Dr. Disrespect” Beahm’s gargantuan Twitch channel. This follows its removal after an incident at E3 involving a camera, a public bathroom and a 14-day channel suspension. Dr. Disrespect, whose whole schtick is bald-faced irreverence, was attending California’s E3 convention when, on the show’s first day, he and his cameraperson live-streamed…

Popular YouTuber Etika Dies At 29

Today, police confirmed the death of Desmond “Etika” Amofah, a well-known gaming YouTuber, after discovering him in Manhattan’s East River yesterday evening. Amofah’s body was found two days after police recovered his belongings on the Manhattan Bridge. Last week, he had published a video that appeared like a suicide note. Amofah, 29, was born in…

It’s OK To Not Like Evangelion

A couple of months ago, I found myself in a drunken argument about Neon Genesis Evangelion. We were standing on an otherwise empty street outside an apartment complex in Brooklyn at around 10 p.m. last May. I had only seen half of Evangelion’s 26-episode run, at which point I had decided that Gainax’s classic coming-of-age…

Police Find Belongings Of Missing YouTuber Etika On Manhattan Bridge

Police found the backpack and phone of gaming YouTuber Desmond “Etika” Amofah, who has been missing since Wednesday, on New York’s Manhattan Bridge last night, the New York Post reported On YouTube, Amofah, 29, amassed a following of more than 800,000 subscribers by playing and streaming Nintendo games. Amofah disappeared on Wednesday night after posting…

YouTuber Etika Reported Missing Following Mental Health Struggles

Gaming YouTuber Desmond “Etika” Amofah has been missing for over 36 hours, the New York Police Department reports. His disappearance comes at the end of a long and public battle with mental health that, on Wednesday night, culminated in an eight-minute video in which Amofah discusses his struggles with suicidal ideation. Walking down the street,…

Vendors were selling amazing Yoshi piñatas in Mexico City’s Mercado de Sonora (“Sonora Market”) when I visited last week.

Today is the western mobile debut of Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, a puzzle game that originally came out in the U.S. in August, 2009. 

A Very Silly Flowchart For Picking Your Next D&D Race

Old habits die hard. That still doesn’t mean you should play a half-elf every single time you play Dungeons & Dragons. It’s times like these that we need people like Redditor Domogrue to expand our horizons. “Stayed up until 3am making my definitive ‘What Race Should I Play’ flowchart,” wrote Domogrue very early this morning.…

The State Of California Is Investigating Riot Games For Gender Discrimination [Update: Riot Responds]

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing said today that it is filing an investigation enforcement suit against League of Legends publisher Riot Games, as part of an investigation into gender discrimination at the company. The DFEH is asking the courts to compel Riot to provide employees’ pay information for “an ongoing investigation into…

The creators of Star Control have settled their lawsuit against the developer who made Star Control: Origins, a spiritual successor to the 1990 adventure game. And according to a new blog post by the Star Control devs, the “truly amicable settlement” involves exchanging homemade honey with homemade mead.

For Honor‘s New Soul Rush Mode Is Frantic, Strategic Fun

The medieval fighting game For Honor is alive and kickin’ us off ledges, and as a part of that, Ubisoft just released a new mode called Soul Rush. A little cops-and-robbers and a little PG-13 blood-fueled deathmatch, Soul Rush rules, and only gets better the more you play it. Ubisoft announced the new mode at…

Surprise: Banjo-Kazooie Is Coming To Smash Ultimate

Nintendo is giving Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fans something they’ve wanted for a long time: Banjo and Kazooie from 1998’s Banjo-Kazooie for the N64. Today, Nintendo announced that the bear and Breegull partners will land in Smash fall, 2019. In a 2018 poll of 20,000 fans, Banjo and Kazooie ranked number one among most-desired fighters…

The Next Smash Ultimate DLC Is The Hero From Dragon Quest

Smash Ultimate is finally getting a hero: a Dragon Quest hero, that is. Today at E3, Nintendo announced that heroes from the Dragon Quest role-playing games will be playable in Nintendo’s own little Wrestlemania game world this summer: Dragon Quest games have several different protagonists, so in Smash Ultimate, they seem to appear as different…