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CultureOdds and EndsResident Evil Village Mod Does Something To Lady Dimitrescu, But I Can’t Put My Finger On What
PC modders have done something to Resident Evil Village’s resident tall lady, Countess Alcina Dimitrescu, but I can’t figure out exactly what. Can you? Take your time. I know: It’s a real head scratcher! Alright so, I just got off the phone with experts at the intersection of tall ladies and trains, and they’ve informed…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 5, 2021 -
CultureDestiny 2 Players Are Losing Their Minds Over Fallen Babies That Look Like Grenades [UPDATE: Plushies Incoming]
If you’ve ever played Destiny or Destiny 2 for more than 15 minutes, you’ve probably killed at least several Fallen. The bug-eyed bad guys frequently stand between your Guardian and whatever they’re trying to accomplish, and they just crunch so good when you thwack ‘em with a giant hammer. But I swear to god, if…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 4, 2021 -
CultureHere’s What Epic Paid To Give Away All Those ‘Free’ Games
So long as capitalism remains the law of the land, nothing in this world is free—not even “free” video games. But, by giving them away, Epic managed to lure new users to its fledgling store for next to nothing, so there’s a lot to be said for the appearance of free stuff. As part of…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 3, 2021 -
CultureIt’s Very Important To Nintendo That Publishers Don’t Work For The Yakuza
After being delayed by technical issues that resulted in a conference call full of screaming Fortnite children, the long-awaited Epic vs Apple court trial is finally underway this week. As part of the proceedings, Nintendo provided documents that include a publisher contract—though honestly, “include” might be a stretch. Nintendo submitted 25 pages of nearly-nothing, blacking…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 3, 2021 -
CultureTwitchTwitch Isn’t Overwhelmed With Far-Right Extremists, But It Does Have A Big Misinformation Problem
Twitch’s relationship with misinformation is complicated. In 2020, platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter grappled with their outsized roles in the creation and cultivation of conspiracy movements like QAnon. Misinformation troubled Twitch in a different way, but the platform emerged curiously un-plagued by a comparable extremism epidemic. Now, midway through 2021, Twitch is finally…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 3, 2021 -
CultureSplitscreenThe Matrix Online Died 12 Years Ago, But Fans Are Still Keeping It Alive
Nothing lasts forever. Neither you nor I, and especially not video games. Despite the promise of digital immortality, recent games have suffered the slings and arrows of content being retired, servers getting sunsetted, and entire storefronts falling away into the sea. Oh, and who could forget the tragic death of Mario, who this year’s Oscar…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 30, 2021 -
CulturePokémon Go Player Celebrates Holding Gym For 1,332 Days, Immediately Loses It To Cheater
Where there’s a will (to cheat), there’s a way (to use cheats to functionally climb a real-life mountain in the wilderness of Montana). Recently, Pokémon Go player BootsMade4Walking’s tale of triumph quickly gave way to a cautionary tale. Yesterday on Reddit, they posted a screenshot of a gym they’ve held for three and a half…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 27, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsSong About Fucking A Minecraft Creeper Is Obscenely Catchy
It’s been more than a year since the pandemic began. Even with an end in sight in wealthy, vaccine-hoarding nations, I think it’s safe to say that it’s wearing on all of us. That, if I had to guess, is how we got an entire song dedicated to the idea of fucking a creeper from…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 27, 2021 -
CultureTwitchHot Tub Streams Are Waning, But Some People Still Think They’re Destroying Twitch
It’s hot tub stream summer, and everybody’s got an opinion. This week, for example, the biggest streamer on Twitch, Félix “xQc” Lengyel, called hot tub streams “trash,” saying that they’re “the most pathetic thing we’ve seen on Twitch in forever” and petitioning for them to be removed from the front page. It was the latest…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 23, 2021 -
CultureRiot Co-Founder Courageously Tweets, Deletes ‘Critical Race Theory’ Dog Whistle
“Critical race theory” is the right’s latest buzz phrase in service of silencing discussion of America’s racist past and how it informs the country’s still very racist present. Last night, Riot co-founder and chairman Marc Merrill tweeted and quoted an article about how critical race theory is “a threat” from a journalist whose work informed…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 23, 2021 -
CultureSplitscreenSometimes You Just Have To Let Backlog Games Go
Most of us will probably never play every game we own right now, let alone all the others we’ll buy or download in the future. In that sense, backlogs are like the universe: infinitely expanding and confounding to physicists. Sometimes you just have to make peace—or force yourself to make peace—with the fact that certain…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 23, 2021 -
CultureTwitchFans Criticize Poor Timing Of In-Person Twitch Star Uno Tournament
Last night, esports and lifestyle organization 100 Thieves held an all-star streamer Uno tournament featuring Twitch and YouTube stars like Rachel “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, Ali “Myth” Kabbani, Jack “CouRage” Dunlop, Ludwig Ahgren, Hasan Piker, and the Botez sisters, whose otherworldly skill at chess sadly did not quite carry them to victory in a children’s card game.…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 21, 2021 -
ReviewsBacklogService Games Like Genshin Impact and Destiny Are A Backlog Nightmare
It’s not uncommon for people to say they “need” something when they just want it, or vice versa. When it comes to games, however, you only really ever want to play them. Need, if we’re talking about it in the “Maslow’s hierarchy of” sense, does not generally enter the equation. Or at least, it shouldn’t.…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 21, 2021 -
CultureOverwatch Director Jeff Kaplan Leaves Blizzard
As of today, the man, the myth, the meme Jeff Kaplan is no longer a member of the Overwatch team—or Blizzard, for that matter. Blizzard made the announcement in a blog post today. Kaplan’s director’s chair will be filled by Aaron Keller, an 18-year Blizzard veteran who has worked on Overwatch and World of Warcraft.…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 20, 2021 -
OpinionResident Evil Village‘s Time-Limited Demos Are The Dumbest Shit Ever
It absolutely rules that a contingent of Resident Evil fans woke up today bummed that they missed the chance to try the latest game in the series because they have lives and families. I love that I just had to type that sentence. This is definitely not the dumbest, most pointlessly confusing shit in the…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 19, 2021 -
CultureTwitchProbably Shouldn’t Have Checked On Caramel
“Check on Caramel,” said somebody in popular Twitch comedian Jerma’s chat yesterday, referring to one of his first Sims in his ongoing Sims 1 playthrough. He should not have, as it turns out, checked on Caramel. Heeding his audience’s wishes, Jerma jumped from the household of his self-insert character—who had just completed his all-consuming quest…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 19, 2021 -
CultureSplitscreenWhy Video Game Loot Is So Addictive, According To The Creators Of Diablo
Colors mean different things to different people, but very specific colors mean the exact same thing to everybody who plays video games. You know the ones: gray, green, blue, purple, and gold. You covet the latter and revile the former. Loot is a universal language at this point, but it wasn’t always. On this week’s…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 16, 2021 -
CultureTwitchTop Streamers Lose Millions Of Followers After Twitch Cracks Down On Viewbots
It’s no secret that Twitch has a problem with viewbots, which are fake viewers that artificially inflate streamers’ numbers. They’ve been part of the ecosystem for years, both as a means of making streamers look more popular than they are and, more recently, a tool trolls use maliciously to try to bring Twitch’s punitive wrath…
By Nathan Grayson Published April 15, 2021
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