-
OpinionImpressionsSuper Meat Boy Forever Is Not The Sequel I Was Hoping For
After 10 long years Super Meat Boy is back, this time as an auto-runner in a sequel that channels much of the original except for what I loved most about it: snappy controls and tight platforming. In the year of Spelunky 2 and Hades, it’s a letdown to see Meat Boy return without the key…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureKoei Tecmo Shuts Down Forums Following Data Hack
The Japanese publisher Koei Tecmo announced over the Christmas holiday that some personal data from 65,000 users of its English language website was hacked, leading the company to take its US and UK websites offline for the time being. “Within the website operated by KTE, the ‘Forum’ page and the registered user information (approximately 65,000…
By Ethan Gach -
ReviewsYear in ReviewEthan Gach’s Top 10 Games Of 2020
2020 was a shit year for a lot of things, but a bunch of really good games came out during it. And not just your run-of-the-mill, extremely playable, very good games, but a ton of truly special ones. This is another way of saying that I liked a surprising number of games this year that…
By Ethan Gach -
ReviewsYear in ReviewThe Biggest Video Game Disappointments Of 2020
God, this year sucked. Video games were supposed to be a reprieve from that, and in many ways they were. But in other ways they were just as messy, ill-fated, and broken as the year itself. Some of 2020’s big video game disappointments were minor setbacks or run-of-the-mill annoyances—the type of thing that might loom…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureCD Projekt Red Estimates Cyberpunk 2077 Has Sold Over 13 Million Copies, Despite Being A Potato On Consoles
After a week of refunds, apologies, and patches, CD Projekt Red announced yesterday that its open world scifi RPG Cyberpunk 2077 nevertheless sold over 13 million copies total since its December 10 release. This despite the game’s busted performance on last-gen consoles and some low-end PCs, as well as the reportedly overtime-fueled labor conditions that…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureRare Gokus Possibly Lost At Sea After Major Shipping Accident
Goku collectors are left wondering what fate awaits their beautiful sons after a bad storm caused the massive One Apus container ship to potentially lose over $200 million worth of cargo in the Pacific Ocean northwest of Hawaii late last month. The ship was hit by a massive storm on November 30 that, according to…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureThe PS5 Now Warns You If You’re About To Play The Last-Gen Version Of A Game
After a month of some players accidently playing the older version of new games on their PS5, Sony’s next-gen console now has a feature that fires off a warning if you’re about to load up the PS4 version of a PS5 game. Originally spotted by VGC, the console now asks players to “confirm game version”…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureStardew Valley Just Got Another Massive Update [Update: And It’s Also Out On Console Now]
Pixelated farming sim Stardew Valley continues to grow, this time with a big 1.5 update for PC that adds a bunch of new stuff, including a beach farm map where veteran green thumbs can try their hand at growing crops in the sand. “This update adds some significant ‘late-game’ content to Stardew Valley,” developer Eric…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryThe Sephiroth Boss Fight Is The Most Fun I’ve Had In Smash Bros. Ultimate In A While
It’s been a rough year for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and me, mostly because with the ongoing pandemic I haven’t been able to play it IRL with anyone. The game’s new limited-time Sephiroth boss fight has helped me fall back in love with it though, by giving me a brief but excellent new single-player challenge…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureReport: Cyberpunk 2077 Developers Grill Management Over Crunch, Deadlines, And Poor Launch
Staff at Cyberpunk 2077 studio CD Projekt Red asked tough questions of their leadership at an all-hands video meeting on Thursday, including about mandatory overtime and far-fetched production goals, according to a new report by Bloomberg “Developers asked blunt questions about the company’s reputation, the game’s unrealistic deadlines and the relentless overtime in the months…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureControl Comes To PS5 And Xbox Series X/S With Ray-Tracing In February
Remedy Games’ paranormal office thriller Control will come to next-gen consoles digitally on February 2, followed by a full retail release on March 2, the studio announced on Twitter this morning. The next-gen version of the game will include a performance mode to run at 60 fps on both platforms, while the standard 30 fps…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureDota 2 Gets New Hero And Massive Mistwoods Update
Dota 2‘s Mistwoods update dropped yesterday, making a ton of changes to the game and adding its 120th hero: a crossbow toting woodland creature named Hoodwink. Update 7.28 is Dota 2‘s fifth of the year, but arguably also its biggest, adding a completely new mechanic right before the holidays called Aghanim’s Shards: items that can…
By Ethan Gach -
CulturePSA: Cities: Skylines Is Currently Free On The Epic Games Store
The Epic Games Store is giving away the terrific building sim Cities: Skylines for free today, the first in a series of holiday giveaways going on throughout the rest of the December. According to a press release, Epic’s holiday event will give away 15 games in all, rotating a new one in daily from now…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureA New Invisibility Glitch Is Wreaking Havoc In Call Of Duty: Warzone [Update]
Call of Duty: Warzone players are getting merc’d by invisible foes thanks to the game’s latest helicopter glitch, and they aren’t happy about. Warzone’s latest season went live earlier this week adding a new map, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War weapons, and attack helicopters that players can exploit to turn invisible. The new…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureNintendo Of America President Calls Artificial Purchase-By Deadlines A ‘Celebration’
Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser was asked during a recent interview why some popular Nintendo games are only being sold for a limited time. His answer? “[T]his is a celebration.” Earlier this year, Nintendo released Super Mario 3D All-Stars to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES.…
By Ethan Gach