Patricia Hernandez

RPG Elements Keep Us Playing, For Better And For Worse

You spend time or energy, you gotta get something out of it. Self-improvement. Money, maybe. Experience, at least. This simple idea is so powerful and pervasive that of course games have modeled it—experience points, levels, and skill trees (otherwise known as role-playing game elements) are things that have been around for a while. But it…

Pokémon X & Y’s Worst New Feature Is Also One of Its Funniest

Some things are so bad they’re good—and the ability to make promotional videos of yourself and your Pokemon in X & Y definitely fits that bill. Basically, the way Trainer PR videos work is, players can visit a “PR Video Studio” in Lumiose City, a location in X & Y. From there, players can choose…

Avatar Control: here’s a smart breakdown by PBS Idea Channel of the difference between controlling and ‘being’ our avatars in games—which is particularly interesting to talk about in light of, say, GTA V‘s infamous torture section.

We Might Be Getting A Luigi-Themed 2DS [Update: It’s Fan-Made]

It’s the year of Luigi, and so if there was ever a time to launch a Luigi 2DS, it would be now, right? Well, it seems there might be a Luigi 2DS in our future, based on these pictures of what seems to be an unannounced 2DS that a tipster sent in. [Update, 10/26] This…

A Game About Dropping Out Of College. Also, You’re A Cat.

Here’s a premise for a game you don’t see every day—perhaps one that hits too close to home for some. But that’s exactly what makes it so interesting. Night In The Woods is the latest project by by Alec Holowka, the man behind Aquaria and the more recent Towerfall. Here’s the premise: Mae the cat…

Dang, First-Person Mountain Biking Looks Scary

Ever wonder what it looks like to pull awesome stunts (like backflips!) on your bike while navigating treacherous terrain? If you were actually there, I mean—not if you were playing a game like Trials or something. Well, thanks to Kelly McGarry, you can see what it’s like. And god, does mountain biking like this seem…

Wanna Catch Your Pokémon In A Shiny New Color In X & Y? Here’s How.

Forget legendaries. The rarest Pokemon, aside from certain event Pokemon, are shiny Pokemon—as in, Pokemon with a different color scheme from that of its bretheren. What are they? Well, we can think of ‘shinies’ like a palette swap (like say, the famous ‘Red Gyarados’ would be one—that Pokemon is typically Blue), except finding a shiny…

Dadliest Voices: check out this new footage of Octodad: Dadliest catch, one of the silliest titles coming to the PS4 (and PC later this year). Now it has voice-acting! But also/more importantly: lots of hijinks.

I Can’t Believe Valve Messed With The ‘Bongs’ In Dota 2

Outrage after outrage, man. First Valve practically destroysCounter-Strike: Global Offensive by daring to mess with the most integral part of the experience, the chickens. Now they’re at it again with Dota 2—the latest patch messes with the bongs. Or well. They’re technically not bongs. Players just call them bongs. The point is, there used to…

Holy Crap. Has The Famous Glitch, Missingno, Returned In Pokémon X & Y?

Hold on to your butts, this one is a doozy. Earlier today, an image with a screenshot of a trainer standing in front of a boutique in Lumiose City, a location in Pokemon X & Y, started floating around. It seemed to show something kind of incredible: Missingno, that classic glitch from Pokemon Red and…

Kanye West Makes Wind Waker HD Infinitely Better

Boy howdy, the ability to take selfies in Wind Waker HD is the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it? Just being able to take selfies in of itself is amazing in this game, provided the right commentary, sure. Nevermind when you add hip hop to the selfie mix—yes, we technically already knew how great…

GTA Girl Shows Too Much Skin (Fixed)

“GTA Girl”—as in, the girl you see on the disc of Grand Theft Auto V—sports typical beach attire. A bikini. Problem is, that get-up might show a bit more skin than some are comfortable with… Welp. Problem solved!

How The Xbox One And PlayStation 4 Are Changing Multiplayer Games

What does being a next-gen game or hardware mean, exactly? While the answer is kind of murky—in some ways, the coming generation doesn’t feel like a huge departure from our current generation of hardware—one of the places we can see concrete changes is when it comes to multiplayer games. So let’s talk a little bit…

The Current Status Of Cube World, And Why Fans Are Worried About It

It’s been a while since we’ve written about Cube World,the amazing-looking voxel-based RPG with a focus on exploration. Thing is, it’s been kind of mum over the last few months—causing many a fan to worry. Really worry. Click on expand on this screenshot to get a taste of how some fans of the game feel—it’s…

Think Pokémon X & Y Are Too Easy? Try This.

As much as I enjoyed Pokemon X & Y,even I will admit that the games are kind of on the easy side. If a lack of challenge is a thing that bothers you, good news, chief. There are things you can do to keep things interesting in Pokemon X & Y. Let’s start with a…

Metal Gear Solid Glitches Take Snake To Nightmaretown

Colonel! These nanomachines have me tripping! Heh, this Metal Gear Solid compilation of corruptions and glitches by Vinnie from Vinesauce had me rolling while watching—even though, yes, some of ’em could be something out of a nightmare. Seems like it would be hard to go stealth while playing this way, too…but then again, Snake seems…

What An Xbox One Achievement Looks Like

We knew that the way achievements work has changed…but did you know that they’ve also changed in terms of how they look? Here’s what getting an achievement on the Xbox One looks like in motion; GIF courtesy of Gearnuke. Microsoft has confirmed to Kotaku that these are in fact the new achievements. Here’s some slightly-obscured…

Anna Anthropy, designer behind Dys4ia and Triad, and author of Rise of the Videogame Zinesters, just released a Halloweeny digital choose your own adventure book. It’s really charming—you can go between telling jokes to skeletons to finding a Crystal City. Purchasable here.(Update: full disclosure…Anthropy was housemates with me and a mutual friend in the summer…

A Plea To All Pokémon X & Y Players Out There

Hey. How’s it going? Are you having a fun time catching monsters and being the very best? Yeah? I’m glad. Listen. We need to talk. No, don’t worry, I’m not taking you off my Passerby list on the X & Y games. You’re good, you’re good. Well, almost. I’ve got a problem. It’s just that…

Dang Does The Persona 3 Movie Look Gorgeous

Sure, Persona 3, the JRPG by Atlus where you shoot yourself in the head to summon demons, wasn’t all about the visuals. You play it because going back to high school and being best friends with your pals is the best. But man oh man, that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate seeing the game animated…