Nathan Grayson

It is the year 2016, and three of the items on Steam’s top ten best-sellers list are Spore. A midweek madness sale of Spore and its expansions is to blame, but still: strange times. Also interesting: despite being broadly declared a letdown, Spore’s 8,373 Steam reviews are 87% positive, or “very positive” by Steam’s measure.…

A Tale Of Love On The Overwatch Battlefield

It was an Overwatch romance that was never meant to be, that nobody asked for. Her, a pro gamer turned mech pilot with attitude. Him, a cheap Party City Halloween costume possessed by someone’s dad. Both of them controlled by cruel gamer gods with a thirst that no amount of Mountain Dew could quench. They…

Ark: Survival Evolved developer Wildcard has responded to players’ concerns about releasing a paid expansion to an Early Access game They say they needed to test tech for moving between Arks, so they decided to release Scorched Earth before launch. You can read their full response here or in my updated report

New Game From Peter Molyneux’s Studio Pops Up On iTunes

The Trail, a game in development at Peter Molyneux’s embattled game studio 22Cans for years, now has a page on the iTunes store The game appears to be a third-person adventure in which you walk along a massive trail, collect items, travel through various landscapes, craft, and trade. There’s also mention of town-building functionality, which…

Ever Play A Game For 100 Hours, Then Realize You Hate It?

In light of recent talk about No Man’s Sky and people seeking refunds after 50+ hours of playtime, I’ve been wondering: have you ever spent way too long with a game that just wasn’t for you? It’s definitely not an isolated phenomenon. I see it a lot on Steam, with people giving negative reviews to…

Ark: Survival Evolved Players Not Pleased With Decision To Charge For Early Access DLC [UPDATE]

Dinosaur survival playground Ark: Survival Evolved is one of the most popular games on Steam, regularly ranking among the top ten most-played games on the whole service. Despite this, it’s still very much an Early Access game, something players are worried developer Wildcard is forgetting. Yesterday, Wildcard released paid DLC for their dinosaur sensation. Titled…

Overwatch‘s New Map And Second Season Are Now Live

The Overwatch update that was supposed to land next week just dropped. It’s a biggie. Competitive mode season two has now officially kicked off, and a new map, Eichenwalde, is officially in the game. Originally, Blizzard was planning to launch season two on September 6, but it’s here right now on PC and Xbox One,…

Broken Reality is a first-person game set in a psychedelic re-imagining of the Internet. You’ll be able to explore and meet characters as you please, and areas will function as representations of online subcultures. It looks weird as hell, like the final dream of a dying Dreamcast. It’s on Kickstarter right now.

The DRM-Free Version Of Armello Won’t Be Getting DLC After All

Armello is an excellent fantasy board/card game that’s been on Steam since 2015. With (Fahey-approved) DLC and console versions recently released, developer League of Geeks made a curious announcement: the game’s DRM-free, non-Steam PC version won’t be receiving DLC. League of Geeks explained in a roadmap post: “We’ve had fantastic meetings with GoG about the…

Court Throws Out Lindsay Lohan’s Grand Theft Auto V Lawsuit

In 2014, actress Lindsay Lohan filed suit against GTA publisher Take-Two for what she believed was an unauthorized depiction of her image in Grand Theft Auto V. She claimed she was even used in the game’s promotional materials. Today, however, the court tossed her suit. Both Lohan and Mob Wives star Karen Gravano ended up…

British Telecom Giant Is Suing Valve Over Steam Patent Infringement

British Telecommunications, a multinational mega-conglomerate with origins dating back to the 1800s, is suing Valve, a video game company that can’t count to three. The suit has been filed against Valve in Delaware, a place that tends to favor patent holders. BT claims that Steam “offers a broad range of products and services which incorporate…

What It’s Like To Review A Video Game Console That Hasn’t Even Been Announced

Yesterday, reporter Laura Kate Dale posted a review and video of the PlayStation 4 Slim. Problem: the console isn’t out yet, nor has Sony announced it at all. This is not the first time an apparent PS4 Slim has been seen in the wild. Earlier this month, one appeared on UK auction site Gumtree. It…

Postal 2 Update Opens Secret Area That Was Closed For 13 Years

Postal 2, a 2003 PC game known for open-ended design and “offensive” humor that ran the gamut from wannabe-South-Park to downright ugly, recently did something pretty clever. We’re a bit late on this, but it’s cool enough to warrant talking about anyway. For more than a decade, Postal 2 contained a roped-off section in the…

Developer Decides To Pull Game From Steam After Just Three Days

It’s not easy being a Steam developer these days. Even once-successful creators are falling on hard times. Since 2009, Arcen Games has released 11 games on Steam. They’ve done pretty well for themselves, despite mixed reception of games like A Valley Without Wind—which, at best, can be called an ambitious mess—and its sequel, which, at…

Deus Ex Gets Air Vents All Wrong, According To An Architect

The Deus Ex series is known for a lot of things: Cyberpunk conspiracy intrigue. Player choice. Overcoming life’s cruel obstacles by stacking hella boxes. But mainly, it’s known for air vents. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to understand how they work. Deus Ex is infamous for its use of air vents as portals to vast realms…

RimWorld Update Adds Drugs

Thank goodness. The latest update for RimWorld, the Steam sensation that’s basically Dwarf Fortress in space, adds two crucial features: a tutorial and, of course, drugs. The tutorial is much-needed, given that RimWorld’s early goings can be overwhelming with all the death and madness going around. The drugs, meanwhile, are drugs: -Beer – Improved mood…

What if Overwatch’s Hanzo was a lady? Character artist J Hill took a crack at that idea, and wow yeah, I’m on board. I doubt Blizzard can make an official skin out of this due to hitbox/balance issues, but I can dream. You can see more images of lady Hanzo here

No, Steam Isn’t Offering ‘Special Exemptions’ For No Man’s Sky Refunds

No Man’s Sky is not the game a lot of people wanted it to be. Over the weekend, people sought refunds en masse, and many reported that retailers like Amazon, Steam, and PSN offered unconditional or nearly unconditional refunds. That’s not entirely true. No Man’s Sky refunds became the discussion topic du jour on sites…

No Man’s Sky Mods Make Everything Huge

Not awed by No Man’s Sky? Maybe you just need a change in perspective. The No Man’s Sky mod scene is still super young, but it’s already spawned some pretty popular mods. Among them, the BigThings mod stands tallest in that it’s already got extremely enthusiastic supporters and, well, it makes everything really tall. Trees,…

Deus Ex‘s Blocked Doors Are Infuriating Me

What is this, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided? What the shit is this? I’m only a few hours into Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but I’ve already encountered a few doors like this, mostly in random apartments and things of the like. Un-openable. Impregnable. Blocked by boxes—of crappy beer, in this case. I found this particular blocked…