Ethan Gach

Microsoft’s Inside Xbox Show Isn’t Working

Yesterday afternoon, Microsoft aired its latest episode of Inside Xbox, a monthly livestream in which the company updates players on new stuff in the world of Xbox. Like most episodes of Inside Xbox, it was long, precisely staged, and light on interesting news. If new Nintendo Directs have become exciting, mini-E3 press conferences, new episodes…

God Eater 3 Is Like Monster Hunter But Simpler

The God Eater series is Bandai Namco’s take on Monster Hunter, and while not nearly as big or deep as the best games in that series, God Eater 3 does a good job of making up for those shortcomings with flashy combat and an apocalyptic backdrop that helps raise the stakes. God Eater 3, which…

The 3DS Is Even Dying Better Than The Vita

People have been calling PlayStation Vita a dead console for years. Now, Nintendo’s 3DS seems poised to join it, with hardly any new games on the horizon for the rest of 2019. Yet even in death, Nintendo’s clam-shelled handheld still feels more alive and vibrant than Vita. The 3DS’s annual lineup has grown thinner with…

Last fall’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider will join Xbox Game Pass starting February 7. Pumped BMX Pro and the first season of The Walking Dead will also get added that day. Crackdown 3, de Blob, and the Batman: Return to Arkham collection will follow later in the month.

The Voice Chat Software In Fortnite Switch Is Now Available For All Developers

All Switch developers can now license the voice-chat software that powers the Switch version of Fortnite, the company behind the tech said today. That means an easy solution for developers who want to let you chat in Switch games using a headset plugged into the console, and not Nintendo’s bizarro-world phone app. Vivox, a tech…

Review Site OpenCritic Says It’ll Start Keeping Track Of Games With Loot Boxes

The review aggregation website OpenCritic announced today that games with loot box mechanics will now include a warning at the top of their OpenCritic page pointing that out. On Overwatch’s OpenCritic page, for example, there’s now a bolded section highlighted in orange right below the aggregated scores that reads: “Please note: This game has monetized…

Overcooked 2 gets a free Chinese New Year update today that adds new kitchens, chefs, and recipes. Most notably, it also brings a new survival mode where you try to cook for as long as possible as each new dish adds more time to the clock.

Warframe’s big Fortuna expansion arrives in the Switch version of the game February 5. In addition to getting a new open world space on Venus, story missions, and frames, the Switch version will also be getting a new option to enable motion controls only when aiming down sights.

Players Are Making Advance Wars And Fire Emblem Maps Inside Wargroove

Wargroove is an excellent spiritual successor to the Advance Wars series, and in keeping with the tradition of those games, it comes complete with a robust map editor that players can use to make all sorts of interesting stuff., One player used it to remake the campaign from the original Advance Wars Though it’s been…

The black and white adventure game Minit can be beaten in under half an hour, but only 5% of players have One of the game’s designers shared some completion statistics on Twitter today, one of which showed that an incredible 0.3% of players defeated the final boss but never finished the game.

Anthem‘s Demo Ends With An Exciting Cloud And A Less Exciting Rock Monster

Anthem’s open demo, which launched this past weekend, had its first “mini-event” last night. A fiery vortex formed in the sky, and some big rock monsters appeared on the ground below. It made for a nice change of visuals and something new to hunt, but like a lot of what the demo has shown off,…

Yoshi’s Story Is Back In This Weekend’s Smash Tournament

“Yoshi’s Story” is an extremely small Super Smash Bros. stage that first appeared in Smash Bros. Melee. Now it’s in Smash Bros. Ultimate, and the organizers of Genesis 6 have decided to make it playable in one of Smash’s biggest annual tournaments this weekend, showing a healthy willingness to experiment when it comes to the…

Four Months After Release, Super Mario Party Has Never Gotten An Update

These days, most video games get a regular stream of updates full of bug fixes, balance tweaks, and new content. Even Nintendo has made a habit of patching all of the games it publishes. There’s just one glaring exception: Super Mario Party, which is still on version 1.0. Few major first-party Nintendo games have felt…

Someone Got Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Working On A Sony Watchman

Sometimes gaming enthusiasts are so preoccupied with whether or not they can, they never stop to think if they should. How else to explain one Smash Bros. fan’s decision to create an elaborate retro electronics setup so they could play 10 rounds of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the 1.8 inch screen of a Sony…

For Honor’s New Fighter Leans Into The Game’s Simple Pleasures

For Honor got its first new fighter of 2019 yesterday: Black Prior. I could talk about how it’s cool that Black Prior is sort of emo and brooding and has a weird affection for skulls. Or how the character puts an interesting emphasis back on turtling, a strategy that almost strangled the fun out of…

Anthem‘s Fragmented Launch Risks Ruining What Makes Online Games Great

Remember when games used to just, come out? They had a release day. On that release day, or potentially the night before, you’d go to the store, hand a person some cash, the same amount as everyone else, and walk out with a game that you could then go home and immediately start playing. That…

Nintendo’s Internal Data Shows That Smash Bros. Ultimate Is Pretty Balanced

We already suspected that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s roster was pretty evenly matched, and now we’ve got data from the game’s lead creator to prove it. r. In a new column for the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai shared some data on the wins and losses of many of the game’s…

Blind Player Uses Sound Cues To Play Gears Of War 4‘s Horde Mode 

Video games are usually made up of visual and auditory components. Most people rely on a combination of both to make sense of a game, but blind player SightlessKombat has gotten really good at maximizing what he can do with a game’s sound, most recently in Gears of War 4. Previously known for his skill…

Fallout 76 Players Throw Up Their Hands At The Return Of Heavy Bobby Pins

Like some cruel and bewildering joke, Fallout 76 players have discovered that the game’s latest patch accidentally re-broke something that had previously been fixed, and they are not happy Bobby pins, used in Fallout 76 to pick locks, originally weighed a ridiculous 0.1 pounds. Earlier this month, Bethesda finally patched them to make them weigh…

Some Smash Bros. Ultimate Players Still Can’t Access Piranha Plant [Update]

Piranha Plant, Smash Bros. Ultimate’s first new DLC fighter, went live last night as part of the game’s 2.0 update, but Nintendo’s unusual way of providing fans access to the character has left some players frustrated and plantless. Piranha Plant is free for anyone who buys Smash Bros. Ultimate before January 31, but the character…