Mike Fahey

Remember last week when we reported Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana would be out on PC January 30? About that … turns out NIS America underestimated the work it would take to make the game play smoothly on PC, and have once more pushed the release to an undetermined later date. Welp.

The Best Transformers Cartoon Got The Worst Video Games

“Trukk not Munkey!” was the cry of fans as they rallied against Beast Wars when it debuted in 1996. But over its three seasons of clever writing, original series easter eggs, excellent voice acting and one heroic sacrifice it became one of the most beloved animated series in Transformers history. It’s a pity its video…

Free-To-Play MMO Gets Pay-To-Play Server

Two years after it launched in 2011, fantasy MMORPG Rift went free-to-play. Now developer Trion Worlds is bringing back subscriptions with Rift Prime, a brand-new server with sequential progression and a lot less free-to-play nonsense. What an excellent idea. A lot changes when an MMO goes free-to-play. Suddenly a relatively clean user interface is defaced…

Final Fantasy XIV’s Rise of a New Sun update arrives on January 30, bringing with it one of the series’ most infamous villains—Ghost Train! Stay tuned until the very end of the trailer for a special appearance by some clown.

Hatsune Miku is coming to Steam VR in early 2018. Hatsune Miku VR from Degica Games is a new virtual reality rhythm game featuring eight songs from the digital diva’s most popular composers, with additional track releases planned post-launch. I might play it. Maybe. I guess.

A Keyboard For Serious PUBG Players

The space bar of Varmilo’s “Chicken Dinner” keyboard is no substitute for actually winning a round of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, but it might serve as a reminder of past triumphs, depending on how good you are. Chinese company Varmilo makes a nice keyboard, and it’s not afraid to go a little crazy with the custom keycaps.…

Snacktaku Eats Hot And Spicy Cinnamon Oreos On A Very Cold Day

In 2017, Snacktaku pledged it would no longer be a slave to Nabisco’s relentless barrage of novelty Oreo flavors. Now it’s 2018, and it’s so cold we’ll put anything with the word “hot” on the package in our mouth. Arriving just in time for Snacktaku’s hometown of Hotlanta to change its name to Holy F***ing…

Leveling In World Of Warcraft Is Fun Again

Before this week’s 7.3.5 update hit, leveling a freshly-made character in World of Warcraft as an experienced player was little more than a chore to do before getting to the good high-level stuff. With the introduction of level-scaling and changes to experience point requirements and monster health, leveling up is now a more enjoyable experience.…

Fortnite Battle Royale‘s Success Is Hurting Epic’s Other Games

Yesterday a representative for Epic Games’ online battle arena Paragon posted a message on Reddit casting the future of the game in doubt. Today, on the Unreal Tournament forums, fans are worrying over the fate of the latest installment of that beloved series. Both games share a common problem: the runaway success of Fortnite Battle…

How Buying Cards Works In Magic: The Gathering Arena

Wizards of the Coast’sHearthstone-ishMagic: The Gathering Arena is a fresh take on digitizing the venerable TCG, but it’s still a game about spending money, virtual or otherwise, to collect trading cards. Here’s our first look at how Arena is handling its in-game economy. How the economy plays out in Magic: The Gathering Arena is every…

Rusty Lake Paradise Is My Kind Of Creepy

I’ve never been more pleased to learn I’ve arrived late to an ongoing series than in the middle of my first playthrough of gleefully macabre point-and-click adventure Rusty Lake Paradise. Rusty Lake Paradise, released last week on Steam, Google Play andiTunes, tells the story of a man named Jakob, youngest son of the Eilander family,…

World of Warcraft Gets Level Scaling Today

As promised at Blizzcon 2017, today’s massive 7.3.5 update for World of Warcraft implements the level scaling introduced in the Legion expansion across the whole game. This allows players to tackle the game’s leveling zones in the order of their choosing, within limits. Prior to today’s patch, there was a certain order to leveling a…

Dissidia Final Fantasy’s Mobile Spin-Off Is So Cute

While Western PlayStation 4 owners await the January 30 release of Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, Square Enix prepares a smaller helping of fantasy fighting with Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia, featuring much smaller, more adorable versions of fan-favorite characters teaming up for turn-based battles. A free-to-play offshoot of the Team Ninja-developed fighting game, Opera Omnia…

Lone Echo Lets Me Experience A Beautiful Zero-Gravity Friendship 

With an interesting deep space setting, a clever zero-gravity movement system and plenty of hands-on interaction, Ready At Dawn’s Oculus exclusive Lone Echo ticks all the technical boxes required to be an excellent virtual reality game. But its greatest feat is making me believe a woman could ever love an unfeeling robot like me. It’s…

Out today for the Switch, Azkend 2: The World Beneath is an adventure that plays out in a series of enjoyable match three puzzles. It’s a premium game, so there’s no buying power-ups or lives, which is nice. Switch owners can even use touchscreen controls, making it the best console version of the game yet.

VRChat Is Not The Cyberpunk Future We Dreamed Of

I used to dream of cyberspace. Inspired by the speculative fiction of William Gibson, Cyberpunk role-playing and movies like The Lawnmower Man, I imagined falling down a digital rabbit hole into a world of light, color and geometric shapes. A world where I’d interact with fellow travelers decked out in wild and creative custom avatars.…

The Women Of SNK Get Their Own Fighting Game

Coming this summer to PlayStation 4 and Switch, SNK Heroines Tag-Team Battle assembles a “generous roster of female heroines from the SNK universe,” pitting them against one another in glitter-filled two-on-two brawls and some light dress-up. Hooray! Up to four players will be able to battle it out with the likes of Leona, Athena, Kula…

Five More Games Get Ported To The Switch

It doesn’t matter how old they are, every game should be on the Switch. This morning’s Nintendo Direct adds five more existing favorites to the console’s upcoming lineup, from a 2007 Square Enix RPG for the Nintendo DS to the original Dark Souls. The World Ends With You: Final Remix The rhythmic battles of the…

Nvidia’s Freestyle Is Like Instagram Filters For PC Games

Image filters aren’t just for photo mode anymore. The latest version of Nvidia’s Geforce Experience app introduces Freestyle, a series of special filters that change the way games look while they’re being played. It’s a bit of a trip. Freestyle is basically an extension of Nvidia’s Ansel, the screenshot tool introduced last year that helped…

The excellent Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana finally arrives on PC January 30. The release date coincides with apromised localization update for the action RPG, bringing re-recorded audio and re-translated text to PC, PlayStation 4 and Vita. Thank goodness.