Ethan Gach

Facebook Pulls VR Shooter Demo From Conservative Conference After Backlash 

Facebook announced the removal of the Bullet Train demo from its virtual reality experience booth at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) after public outcry in light of the recent mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida. Developed by Epic Games to help show off the Oculus headset’s VR capabilities back in 2015, Bullet Train…

The Two Friends Dominating Borderlands 2 Coop Speedrunning

A chance meeting and subsequent trip to Awesome Games Done Quick 2015 resulted in two college students forming a speedrunning duo that’s still setting world records. Speedrunners Amyrlinn and Shockwve know Borderlands 2 intimately. It would be a cliche to say they know Gearbox’s shooter better than the backs of their own hands, but they…

Little Nightmares’ last DLC, The Residence, is now out. It adds some new traps and enemies and puts you up against a boss called The Lady. Though the Inside-like horror puzzler didn’t set the world on fire, I quite liked it and it’s been nice to see Tarsier Studios continue building out its story and…

You Can Now Watch The Brief Movie Version Of Papers, Please

The brief film adaption of Lucas Pope’s Papers, Please is now out on YouTube and Steam to watch for free, in case you were hoping for something solemn and tragic to meditate on today. It runs just short of 10 minutes not including the credits and does a good job of capturing the feel and…

The Weekend In Esports: Battlegrounds Goes To Poland

The biggest names in esports are in Poland this weekend for, among other things, the biggest PUBG tournament yet held. The game originally debuted with an invitational at IEM Oakland last year and has now moved on to having a world championship tournament at this year’s Katowice event. Dota 2, CS:GO, and StarCraft II will…

Payday 2 On Switch Will Be Rough Without Voice Chat [UPDATE]

Payday 2 arrives on the Switch next week, nearly five years after its initial release on PC. A lot of questions have already been raised about how it will be missing a large chunk of the additional content that has come out since 2013, but a bigger head-scratcher remains the lack of proper voice chat.…

I Can’t Stop Playing This Action-Stealth Shooter

Deadbolt strips stealth down to the essentials and I can’t stop playing it. One hit and you’re dead in this side-scrolling shooter—not ideal for someone like me who prefers to rush through a level guns blazing over methodically planning my strategy and route ahead of time. And yet Hotline Miami-style quick restarts meant this sort…

Color Blind Players Are Concerned About Rainbow Six Siege‘s New Operator Ability 

Olivier “Lion” Flament is a French service member who’s special ability involves using a drone to survey hostile areas and detect movement. Unfortunately, the way this works involves a red aura around opponents that some players won’t be able to see. Part of Rainbow Six Siege’s Operation Chimera update arriving March 6, Lion will be…

Firewatch Inspires Teenager To Save Real Life Lookout Tower

Jack Kelley knew he wanted to play Firewatch since seeing the first pieces of artwork. After the game released in 2016, Kelley became fascinated by the real world lookout towers that inspired the game, culminating in the 14-year-old fan saving a historic lookout tower from demolition. “Campo Santo really changed my life with Firewatch,” Kelley…

Developers Paul Reiche and Fred Ford today filed a counterclaim against Stardock in U.S. District Court in Oakland claiming to be the creators and sole copyright owners for Star Control I and II. This was in response to Stardock’s December lawsuit alleging the opposite. Ars Technica has a great write-up of the topic.

Trump Says Video Game Violence Is ‘Shaping Young People’s Thoughts’

Today during a meeting on school safety at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that violent video games are partly responsible for school shootings. His train of thought was hard to follow—as it often is—so here’s the full comment: “We have to look at the internet, because a lot of bad things are…

Luigi Will Comment On Your Super Mario Odyssey Outfits

Luigi is finally in Super Mario Odyssey as part of the game’s new Balloon World update which went live today. What strange wind brought him and his balloons to New Donk City is anybody’s guess, but while he’s around he has some thoughts to share about Mario’s clothes. Last fall we wrote about how Bowser…

Pit People is finally coming out of Early Access on March 2. The Behemoth (makers of Castle Crashers) have been working on it since 2013. At its core it’s a hex strategy game with a quirky sense of humor, which is how it won over Mike Fahey when he played it last year

Assassin’s Creed: Origins’ Tour Mode Censors Naked Statues

In a striking departure from history, Assassin’s Creed: Origins’ Discovery Tour mode replaces any nipples or genitalia with sea shells. There was no nudity in Ancient Egypt, it appears. Take the Serapeum of Alexandria, a Greek temple which once stood in tribute to Serapis, the Greco-Egyptian deity of the Sun. In tour mode, you can…

Tips For Playing Gwent

Gwent is a wonderful card game. It can also be confusing as hell. Here’s some advice to get you started. The Witcher 3 spin-off might still be in beta but tons of players have already discovered its lovely idiosyncrasies and gorgeous artwork. As one of the best free-to-play games on PS4, Xbox One, and elsewhere,…

“Toxic behavior doesn’t just hurt the individual it hurts our entire industry,” said the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, during a keynote address at the 2018 DICE summit. He also touched on low morale following the launch of the Xbox One and the need for more diversity in the gaming industry. You can watch it here

Developer Warhorse Studios published an explanation clarifying the patching process for Kingdom Come: Deliverance across all three platforms today. The Xbox One version is currently one update behind both PC and PS4, with a hotfix to resolve issues with the R2 button on PS4 currently going through certification.

The Week In Games: A Time To Survive 

The first Metal Gear game since designer Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami split is imminent. Breakups are always tough, but Death Stranding seems to be coming along nicely and I’m stoked to see how it shakes out in…2023? Meanwhile, Metal Gear Survive appears to be a perfectly timed pivot to the new games-as-service era between…

Dynasty Warriors Was Very Different When It First Started

Dynasty Warriors 1 didn’t involve large-scale battles or endlessly chained combos. In fact, it wasn’t anything like the modern series. Years before Dynasty Warriors would become known as the quintessential hack and slash games, players first experience with the name was in the form of a 2.5D fighting game. Omega Force developed the series for…

Witcher References Make Everything Better, Including Kingdom Come: Deliverance 

The Witcher 3 is by far my favorite game of the past decade and perhaps even beyond. As such, anytime another game wants to dip back into that well I’m incredibly there for it. Even if that game happens to be Kingdom Come: Deliverance The open world medieval period piece has prided itself on its…