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CultureAnother Paradox Game Jumps To The Tabletop, Blows Past Kickstarter Goal
After the so-so Crusader Kings effort, another Paradox strategy title—Stellaris—is on its way to board gaming after successfully meeting its Kickstarter funding goal. Not that the goal was ever in question—for a major board game on Kickstarter it rarely is—but still, at time of publishing almost 6000 people have backed it/pre-ordered a copy, for around…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 11, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsI Am Sorry, Christopher Nolan, The Ideal Way To Watch Tenet Is On A Game Boy Advance
Film director Christopher Nolan spent much of 2020 pleading the world to risk illness and death to go watch his ho-hum movie about special agents who can play with time in a theater, because that was the place it needed to be seen. He was, of course, wrong. As WULFF DEN shows in this video,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 11, 2021 -
CultureDenuvo Anti-Cheat Is Part Of PS5 Middleware
Digital rights management company Denuvo has long been controversial in the PC market, where it also offers anti-cheat services to interested developers. Denuvo just announced that its Anti-Cheat technologies have been added to the PlayStation 5’s “Tools and Middleware program.” This means that anyone releasing a game on the PS5 can make use of Denuvo…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 10, 2021 -
CultureDon’t Click On Those Resident Evil Village Early Access Emails
Lotta people want to play the game with the big lady! And scammers know this, so fake emails have been circulating inviting players to an early access beta which doesn’t actually exist. Enough emails that Capcom has sent out a warning email of its own. I got this email earlier today from Capcom PR, saying…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 10, 2021 -
CultureEA Investigating Claims An Employee Has Been Selling Rare Items [Updated]
EA makes most of its FIFA money from the game’s Ultimate Team mode, where fans spend real money in attempts to unlock elite players. Today, it’s being alleged that these lucrative items are being sold privately to users by employees within EA Sports. Using the hashtag #EAGATE, complaints have been made that someone within EA…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 10, 2021 -
OpinionCrypto Art Belongs In The Trash
The blockchain, at best a scam and at worst an impending environmental disaster, has lately been upending everything from currency exchange to basketball collectibles. But one area it’s had a particularly sudden—and divisive—impact is the world of art. While some artists began dipping their toes tentatively in the world of NFT (Non-Fungible Token) artwork last…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 10, 2021 -
CultureAfter Anti-Semitic Slur, NBA Player Meyers Leonard Suspended By Team, Dropped By Sponsors
In the wake of dropping a clear anti-Semitic taunt during a game of Call of Duty, NBA player Meyers Leonard has been suspended by his team, the Miami Heat, and dropped by a number of his sponsors. Leonard—who last year was also the only player to remain on his feet before a game while his…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2021 -
Culture1988 MS-DOS Game Gets 2021 Steam Release
1992’s Sensible Soccer is one of the greatest video games of all time, but developers Sensible Software didn’t create their classic in a vacuum. They had to work to get there, by developing 1988’s MicroProse Soccer first. In almost every way the direct forerunner to Sensible, MicroProse—released in the US as Keith Van Eron’s Pro…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2021 -
CultureCounter-Strike Was Accidentally Removed From Steam Today
Earlier today, anyone trying to find or play Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Steam ran into a weird surprise: the game was missing. Just…gone. It soon came back, but for a little while there one of the biggest video games on the planet had just up and disappeared. Its store page presented an “OOPS, SORRY!” message,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 9, 2021 -
CultureHogwarts Legacy Developer Quits Following Backlash Over YouTube Channel [Updated]
Troy Leavitt, the game developer at the centre of a controversy last month afterit was discovered he had run “a reactionary YouTube channel focused on attacking feminism and social justice”, has resigned from his position at Avalanche Software, developers of the upcoming Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy Leavitt announced his decision to “part ways” with…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsA Reminder That A Lot Of Big Games Exploit Overseas Labor
While most big games released have a main studio that’s often based somewhere like the United States or Canada or the UK, they also frequently make use of outsourcing studios in other countries to get their games made. Studios where, surprise, the working conditions can be not great. This is explored in the latest episode…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
OpinionPerhaps I Treated You Too Harshly, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Deus Ex: Human Revolution was one of my favourite games of the past decade, a combination of stealth, adventuring and some incredible art design. Yet when its sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided hit five years later, I only spent a few hours with it before writing it off and getting on with my life. And…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureIt’s Time For Crusader Kings In Space
If you’ve been wondering why there haven’t been more clones of Crusader Kings, it’s because the systems that define Paradox’s game are really hard to copy! Pawley Games are going to give it a shot, though, and they’re going to do it in space. This is Star Dynasties, an upcoming strategy game that initially looks…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 4, 2021 -
CultureReport: New Nintendo Switch With 4K Output, OLED Screen Will Release Before Christmas
Last year, Bloomberg reported that a new model of the Nintendo Switch would be out sometime in 2021. Today, they’re reporting some more specific details, like the size of the screen and some 4K news. The original report was very light on details, saying only that Nintendo “has looked into including more computing power and 4K…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureHell Yeah, A Coffee Shop Tycoon Game
I am an absolute sucker for specialist tycoon games, whether you’re running a football team, game studio, bus company or emergency service. So my next indulgence may well be Espresso Tycoon, a game about building some coffee shops. Espresso Tycoon looks like it’ll start small, but it also looks like this is not the kind…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureMan Charged, Banned From FIFA After Sending Racist DMs To Actual, Legendary Player
Last May Irish teenager Patrick O’Brien was playing a game of FIFA, and one of the players he was controlling was Arsenal and England legend Ian Wright. O’Brien lost that match, and so decided to jump into Wright’s DMs and send a succession of disgustingly racist attacks. Wright took screenshots of the deeply racist messages…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
OpinionBlockchain Losers Are Spending Millions On What Are Basically Useless Loot Boxes
While gamers rail against loot boxes, and governments around the world edge ever closer to regulating them, connoisseurs of blockchain bullshit are falling over themselves trying to buy digital highlights of basketball players from a platform called “NBA Top Shot”. In effect they’re spending their money on a form of loot box that is even…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 3, 2021 -
CultureIt’s Only 243 Days Until Halloween
Abigail Larson is a character designer at Netflix who has also worked on books, games and even tarot cards. She’s also currently got a book up on Kickstarter called Crimson, which collects a load of her past horror-themed work in a beautiful hardcover tome. The images you’re seeing below are all taken from that book,…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 2, 2021 -
CulturePS2 Emulation Gets Even Nicer With Custom Textures
PCSX2 has long been a fantastic PS2 emulator, but a recent advance has made it all the more appealing for anyone playing on a PC: the ability to swap textures in games While the famous Dolphin emulator for the GameCube has long supported this feature, PCSX2 has only just brought it in, and it’ll allow…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 2, 2021 -
CultureCrusader Kings III Is Getting Very Into Writing Poetry
Crusader Kings III has always had poetry—some romance paths would even adjust the quality depending on the skill of your pursuer—but the game is about to go all in on it, adding it as a character trait and even creating a generator that will write your ruler’s musings for you. The game’s upcoming 1.3 patch…
By Luke Plunkett Published March 2, 2021
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