Nathan Grayson

The Keys To A Good Mortal Kombat Fatality: Rhythm And Humor

Mortal Kombat 11’s art director Steve Beran has seen a lot of fatalities, given that he’s worked on the series since the ‘90s. His favorite in the new game involves “bloodsicles,” where the character Skarlet stabs an opponent over and over with spikes made from their own frozen blood. Then she pops an eyeball out…

Bright Memory Is An Ambitious Shooter Made By One Guy

Bright Memory’s trailer first caught my attention when the game’s sci-fi soldier main character, Shelia, force-pushed a wolf monster into the air, energy-lassoed her way up alongside it, sliced it to ribbons with a sword, froze it in a time bubble, and then sliced it to more ribbons—because at that point, why not? Good news:…

The Smash player and streamer who got suspended from Twitch for drinking too much recently returned by chugging a beer. Clad in a kimono, Joseph “Mango” Marquez stabbed the can open with a knife before proclaiming that he’ll continue to be himself, and that he refuses to be “another fake streamer.” Later, he took an…

Longtime Twitch Streamer Summit1g Tops Ninja’s Subscriber Count

Jaryd “Summit1g” Lazar is no newcomer to Twitch. The mostly retired Counter-Strike pro has been one of the platform’s most recognizable faces since 2012, but over the past few weeks, he’s worked his way into Twitch’s highest echelon. According to third-party analytics site Twitchstats, Summit now has more subscribers than any other streamer—including the platform’s…

Valve Outlines Its Plans For Steam In 2019

As part of a lengthy 2018-in-review post published today, Valve outlined improvements it made to Steam in 2018, then broke out its internal corporate crystal ball for a glimpse into the future. If all goes according to plan, it’s gonna be a big year for Steam. But this is Valve, a company whose main contribution…

Dota 2 Custom Mode Is Either One Of Steam’s Top Games Or A Glitch

Before it became the megalith players know, love, and dedicate entire lifetimes to mastering, Dota was just a popular mod of other games like Warcraft 3. Perhaps, in a handful of years, we’ll be speaking similarly of Dota 2 mod Auto Chess—that is, if it really is as popular as it seems to be. Over…

Fortnite Streamer’s Friend Gives Him $75,000 Donation [Update]

“Wait a minute,” said Fortnite streamer Exotic Chaotic upon noticing the number of digits in a donation he received on Twitch earlier this week. “That can’t be right.” He was so stunned that he stopped playing to check his PayPal. There it was: $75,000. Exotic Chaotic stood up and lost his shit. “DUDE,” he bellowed…

Fallout 76 has a secret developer room, and some players have figured out how to break into it. That’s according to Eurogamer, who investigated the room, which is likely for item testing and contains plans for every item in the game, as well as a lone NPC named Wooby. Yes, an NPC. In Fallout 76.…

World Of Warcraft Adds Tribute To Stan Lee

The world got a little less imaginative when beloved Marvel Comics writer, editor, and publisher Stan Lee died in November, but now World of Warcraft is doing its best to pick up some of the slack. As part of WoW’s recent 8.1.5 public test server patch, there’s a new character roaming the Alliance stronghold of…

Atom Feels Like Old-School Fallout Set In Post-Apocalyptic Russia

Nearly every Steam review and description of Atom RPG I read said the same thing: It’s old-school Fallout, but Soviet. “That can’t be,” I said to myself as I waited for the game to download. “That’s too reductionist.” A few hours of playtime later, I’ve revised my opinion: Atom is old-school Fallout, but Soviet. This…

Fortnite Maker Gets ‘F’ In Customer Service From BBB

Epic might be swimming in a pool of money thanks to the success of Fortnite and the debut of its exclusive-gobbling Steam competitor, but it’s also—to hear the Better Business Bureau tell it—in hot water with its own customers. Today, the Better Business Bureau announced that it’s awarded Epic with an F, its lowest grade…

Jeff Kaplan Knows Some People Will Always Hate Overwatch‘s Meta

Metas of competitive games age less like fine wine and more like cottage cheese in a dumpster. When a meta’s overstayed its welcome, you know—because players make stink after stink after stink about it. That’s where Overwatch, with its unpopular “GOATS” meta, is at right now. Game director Jeff Kaplan, though, isn’t sure it’s possible…

Steam Bug Keeps Popular Indie Game From Being Recognized As ‘Real’ For Five Months

Wandersong is a side-scrolling rhythm adventure game that is—pardon my language—charming as all heck. Its combination of inventive mechanics and comedic, heartfelt writing have caused many to fall in love with it, myself included. And for five months Steam wasn’t sure it was a real game. As part of Valve’s ongoing effort to weed out…

Atlas, As Told By Steam Reviews

When Atlas first launched last month, it didn’t cannonball into the high seas so much as belly flop. The resulting wet slapping sound continues to echo around in the game’s Steam review section to this day. Even though the game is still eliciting cringes and jeers from its reviewers, Atlas has somehow also become hugely…

As a tie in with yesterday’s “Bastet” comic, Overwatch is kicking off an in-game event that’ll allow players to earn themed rewards. Much like D.Va’s Nano Challenge from last year, Ana’s Bastet Challenge will grant players a new skin for winning nine games, as well as other rewards on the way to that milestone. You…

The Best-Reviewed Steam Games Of 2018

More so than perhaps even playing them, Steam is a place where people go to yell about games. Here are the games they yelled most positively about last year. Steam reviews are kind of a mess. The positive/negative binary squelches nuance and doesn’t translate well into an overall percentage score, and the system is easily…

The Internet Reacts To Soldier 76 And His Ex-Boyfriend

Tracer is no longer the only canonically LGBTQ hero in Overwatch. Today, Blizzard released a new short story focusing on steely sniper grandma Ana and grumpy military dad Soldier 76. The latter, it turns out, used to be involved with a man named Vincent. In the short story, titled “Bastet,” Ana encounters Soldier for the…

Overwatch Team Says Player Questioned About Identity Was Impostor After All [UPDATE]

Earlier this week, a player going by the handle Ellie—no first or last name provided—departed Overwatch Contenders team Second Wind after facing harassment and doxxing threats surrounding their identity. This evening, rumors circulated that they may have been an impostor after all. Now their former team has confirmed as much. In a TwitLonger post, Second…

Twitch Re-Suspends Alleged Domestic Abuser After Fan Outcry

Last month, Twitch streamer Luke “MrDeadMoth” Munday was arrested by Australian authorities after a Fortnite stream during which he seemed to be hitting his partner. Twitch suspended his account shortly after. At the start of this week, however, Twitch viewers were surprised to find that Munday’s channel was already back. His suspension, which some presumed…

The Eternal Castle [Remastered] is a new game based on an old game lost to time. As a kid, one of its creators fell in love with a label-less game he found in his dad’s office, but then it broke. Eternal Castle is an homage to “what could be remembered” about that game, as well…