Mike Fahey

Forza Horizon 4 Bug Wipes Some Players’ Car Mastery Progress

In Forza Horizon 4, vehicles are like characters in a role-playing game. Players can grind for skill points to buy perks and unlock each vehicle’s full potential. A game update that went live last week wiped many players’ skill trees clean, erasing months of progress. A fix is in the works, but the developers say…

I Can’t Go Through This Again, Final Fantasy VII

One of the most heartbreaking moments in gaming history has a new voice and a new face, thanks to last week’s Final Fantasy VII remake trailer. I have no idea how long it’s going to take for this game to arrive, but I’m already lamenting what’s to come. Aeris is going to die all over…

Racing Game’s Free Update Lets You Swap Wheels With Hoverjets

Grip: Combat Racing is a high-speed futuristic racing game featuring vehicles with gigantic tires, capable of driving right side up or upside down on twisting, topsy-turvy tracks. It’s like Wipeout, only with wheels. Or it was. This week’s free “Airblades” update gives players the option to race with wheels or hover engines. It’s the best…

Kingdom Heartbeats Is The Perfect Name For A Kingdom Hearts Dance Remix Album

RoboRob is a noted producer of dancy electronic music. Kingdom Hearts is a beloved video game series filled with fluid, soulful music. Combine the two and you get Kingdom Heartbeats, a remix album featuring electronic takes on some of Kingdom Hearts’ best tunes. It even starts with a remix of “Simple and Clean.” If Kingdom…

Crash Team Racing Finally Gets Kart Customization

The original Crash Team Racing, released in 1999 for the PlayStation, is a very robust kart racing game, packed with tracks, racers and game modes. Beenox’s upcoming remake of the game, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, tops it all off with extensive character and kart customization, giving players the ability to pick and choose skins, parts,…

Bethesda Pulls Free Elder Scrolls Tabletop RPG That Ripped Off A D&D Module

Yesterday Bethesda released a free promotional tabletop role-playing game module set in Elsweyr, the setting for thenext expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online. Now the module has been pulled from The Elder Scrolls Online Facebook page due to its striking similarities to a Dungeons & Dragons adventure published by Wizards of the Coast in 2016.…

Low-Profile Mechanical Keyboards Are Getting Really Good

Traditionally, flat keyboards are never as satisfying to type on as full-profile mechanical models with nice, chunky keycaps. But low-profile mechanical switches, like the Cherry MX models used in Cooler Master’s new line of slight keyboards, are shortening the gap. I’ve spent the past couple of months typing on each of Cooler Master’s three new…

The Perfect Starter Video-Capture Box

AVerMedia’s Live Gamer Mini is a small, black box. Plug its USB cable into your PC. Run an HDMI cable from your game console to its HDMI in, then another HDMI from its HDMI out to your TV and monitor. Load the software and boom: You’re recording 1080p, 60-frames-per-second game footage. There are external capture…

Hasbro’s Made Some Fine Overwatch Action Figures, Except For Reaper

Hasbro’s Overwatch Ultimates action figure line, which is hitting store shelves as we speak, gives fans of Blizzard’s hero shooter a less-expensive alternative to thosehot, Japanese Figma toys. Let’s take a look at the first wave, including Pharah, Mercy, Tracer, Lucio, Ana, Soldier 76, Sombra, a very large Reinhardt, and a sad, maskless Reaper. I…

This Sexy Sci-Fi Game Was Embarrassing But Fun Until It Started Sexualizing a Middle Schooler

I was going to write a post about how recently-released visual novel Our World Is Ended would be much better if the engaging science fiction story wasn’t interrupted by characters talking about boobs. Then middle school programming whiz Tatiana showed up and started accusing the college-aged main character of trying to steal her panties. (Images…

My Seven-Year-Old Son Is Going To Be A Sonic Mania Speedrunner Someday

My seven-year-old son Archer loves to play Sonic Mania on our PlayStation 4, but only in Time Attack mode. Watching him work his way through Green Hill Zone Act 2 for the umpteenth time in a row, I ask, “Are you going to be a speedrunner?” Archer, eyes locked on the television screen, replies “Yes.”…

Stormtroopers are completely ineffectual, but they look pretty hot. Gaming hardware maker Razer taps into that aesthetic with its Stormtrooper Collection, three pieces of Star Wars branded gaming gear. The mouse looks a little funky and the giant desk pad is more art than gaming surface, but that Blackwidow Lite keyboard is imperial hot.

Starlink‘s Latest Update Confirms Star Fox Is Still The Best Part Of The Game

Ubisoft’s once-toy-powered adventure, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, is a very pretty spaceship game with short bursts of excitement padded with an endless array of repetitive tasks. The game is only consistently enjoyable when the Star Fox crew are winging their way through the Nintendo Switch-exclusive adventures. This week’s new Star Fox downloadable content is no…

Roleplayers Create Elaborate Magazine In Final Fantasy XIV

In March of 2018, a group of role-players from Final Fantasy XIV’s Balmung world published the first issue of Wark!, an in-character magazine that explores the world of Eorzea through news, interviews and articles. Now 12 issues in, Wark! is a cute and clever chronicle of a year of online adventures. One of the problems…

I’m Addicted To The First Three Stages Of Galaga

Stage one: Get one ship captured, then rescue it to double firepower. Stage two: Take advantage of doubled weaponry to wipe out aliens before they can even enter formation. Challenging stage: Kill 40 aliens for 10,000 points. Bonus stage: Feel deep satisfaction because nailing the first three stages in Galaga is one of the best…

Valve’s Index VR Headset Ships In June, Full Set Costs $1,000

Following last month’s tease, today Valve officially announced the Valve Index,a “high-fidelity” virtual reality headset with impressive specs, cool new controllers anda $1,000 price tag. The Valve Index headset features a pair of 1440×1600 RGB LCD displays running at 120Hz (with an experimental 144Hz mode.) It also has built-in stereo headphones that are off-the-ear, to…

The Power Rangers Fighting Game Adds Three New Rangers And A Story Mode

Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid is a solid little fighting game in desperate need of strong single-player content and more mighty morphin’ combatants. Developer nWay attends to those needs today in a batch of free downloadable content featuring three new fighters, a full-fledged story mode, voice-overs from series cast members, and more. Battle for…

Super Mario’s First Level As Ten Different Games

What if Super Mario Bros. world 1-1 was a first-person shooter? How about a 100-player battle royale? A trading card game? A full-motion video adventure? Nordic Game Jam 2019 third place winner 1-1 is all that and more, and you can play it right now. 1-1 reminds me of televised cooking competitions, where everyone is…

My New Favorite Keyboard Is Cute, Compact, And Completely Customizable

This is the Kira, a lovely 99-key keyboard designed by the passionate independent enthusiasts at Input Club. It’s got a striking, space-saving layout. It’s got per-key RGB lighting. It’s fully programmable. On top of all that, its mechanical switches can be swapped out on the fly without soldering. It’s an everything keyboard that’s been a…

The Switch Version Of Mortal Kombat 11 Has Its Ups And Downs

The Switch port of Mortal Kombat 11 plays like a champ but looks like jaggy ass. It’s pleasingly portable but incredibly finicky about its internet connection. I want the Switch version to be my go-to, but it keeps pushing me away. As noted in my Mortal Kombat 11 review, I spent most of my time…