-
CultureGhost Recon Breakpoint Players Really Want AI Teammates
Ghost Recon Breakpoint players want to see the game become more tactical, less grindy, and be less online, according to the results of a player survey Ubisoft shared on Friday. Thousands of players participated in the survey. The requested changes and additions, many of which are already in the works, aren’t that surprising to anyone…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureSuper Mario Maker 2 Update Adds Link
Super Mario Maker 2 is getting a free update this Thursday that adds a bunch of new enemies and blocks for players to build levels out of, including a Master Sword power-up that will transform Mario into Link. When Mario becomes Link he’s able to use the character’s abilities, ranging from smacking enemies with his…
By Ethan Gach -
Tips & GuidesBuyer Beware: Nintendo’s Black Friday Switch Bundle Is The Old, Low-Battery Model
Some Black Friday Switch Bundles Include Older Versions Of The Console With Worse Battery Life There’s a $300 Switch bundle that includes a digital version of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on sale this Black Friday at a lot of stores. It would be a solid deal, but there’s a catch: The bundle includes the original…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureGoogle Says It’ll Give Refunds To Anyone Who Bought Stadia’s Free December Games
The Stadia launch games Tomb Raider and Farming Simulator 19 will be free to Pro subscribers of Google’s streaming platform in December, the company said yesterday. This would have been a raw deal for anyone who has purchased either game since Stadia went live, on November 19, but Google added last night that it will…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureDota 2 Gets Total Overhaul
I’ve spent over 1,000 hours playing Dota 2 and reading through the game’s latest set of patch notes is breaking my brain. The game’s Outlander’s update went live today, adding not just two more heroes but upending massive aspects of the game, including item delivery, teleportation, late game advantages, and item progressions. The base game…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureSome Call Of Duty Players Find Themselves Spawning In Mid-Air
Call of Duty matches can be fast-paced slaughterhouses, which is why the game usually respawns you away from other players and, uh, on the ground. Recently, players have been noticing that’s not always the case. “Incredible, just incredible,” Reddit user McNugg2710 said in a November 22 post of a video showing them respawning out in…
By Ethan Gach -
The Elder Scrolls: Blades, the series’ free-to-play mobile spin-off, won’t come to Switch until next year, Bethesda announced today. The port was originally supposed to launch this fall, but the company said that it needed to be delayed due to work on improving the game, including an overhaul of how loot works.
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsI Never Knew Dying In Borderlands 3 Could Feel So Brutal
Sometimes you really need to kill a dude, and you just can’t, and it sucks. Borderlands 3 is not a heavy game. It’s full of bright colors, fun sounds, and jokes (even if most of them aren’t very funny). I would no more liken it to a Dark Souls game as put orange juice in…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureSome Of Pokémon Sun and Moon’s Online Features Are Shutting Down In February
The PokĂ©mon company announced overnight that its Global Link Service, which supports certain parts of online play in PokĂ©mon Sun and Moon and their Ultra editions, will be going away on February 24, 2020. While PokĂ©mon Sun and Moon players will still be able to trade and battle directly with one another, features related to…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureFallout 76 Players Can’t Shoot Pacifists, So They’re Nuking Them Instead
In Fallout 76, other players are only supposed to be able to kill you if you shoot back, but there are ways to game the system, the latest of which involves killing bystanders with radiation poisoning. There are so many ways to die in Fallout 76, from being blown up by Scorchbeasts to glitching through…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsBlack Future ’88 Is A Fun, Bite-Sized Cyberpunk Roguelike
Black Future ’88 is uncompromisingly hard, often repetitive, and very short, but those things haven’t stopped me from having a blast tearing through it. Released last week on PC and Switch, the game takes place in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse engineered by the architect of a giant skyscraper. Everyone’s lost track of time…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureDestiny‘s Bad Juju Is Now In Borderlands 3
Over the weekend players discovered Good Juju, Borderlands 3’s response to Destiny’s exotic pulse rifle Bad Juju. The Legendary assault rifle was added to the game last week as part of its Maliwan Takedown update and is instantly recognizable to anyone who’s spent time with Bungie’s loot shooter. In addition to Good Juju looking an…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsThe Touryst Is A Simple But Endearing Puzzle Game On Switch
Every clubby beach bar I’ve ever been to has a sign outside with a strict dress code. No shoes? No collared shirt? No overpriced drinks for you! Inevitably there is some Jersey Shore casting-call hopeful in violation of these commandments being told to get lost by an exhausted bouncer. In The Touryst, a puzzle adventure…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureKotaku Game DiaryBring Back Destiny’s Self-Resurrection, You Cowards
Once upon a time, Warlocks in Destiny could channel the fiery energy of distant neutron stars or however that universe’s space magic works to instantly bring themselves back to life. Then they lost all their powers in the switch over to Destiny 2. They gained a bunch of new ones, but self-reviving wasn’t among them.…
By Ethan Gach -
CultureBorderlands 3 Update Finally Makes Menus Less Sluggish
Borderlands 3 got a big update today that, among a bunch of other additions, makes the game’s menus system less hellishly slow. When Gearbox’s loot shooter came out in September, it had a lot of performance issues. Split-screen was a mess, the frame-rate frequently dropped, the inventory system would occasionally eat people’s gear, and most…
By Ethan Gach -
OpinionImpressionsMario Kart Tour’s Winter Update Is A Bust
Mario Kart Tour’s big winter update went live yesterday and it feels underwhelming, making me question whether or not it’s really worth it to keep subscribing to the game’s $5 monthly subscription. The game’s Winter Tour is meant to be a festive bit of seasonal fun to close out the year. It sports Mario in…
By Ethan Gach