Patricia Hernandez

There is something about this chiptune version of Kavinsky’s Nightcall. It’s hard to explain.

Alarmed By Sandy Hook, U.S. Senator Wants Government To Find Out if Violent Games Are More Dangerous Than Cartoons

West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller recently introduced a bill to congress which aims to study the impact of violent video games on children, The Huffington Post reports. Likely, this is a response to the claims that Adam Lanza played video games, and that video games might’ve negatively influenced Lanza. “This week, we are all focused…

Hey Riot, You Should Make This League of Legends Character Gay Already

So argues Todd Harper in a open letter to Riot Games about the League of Legends champion, Taric. Rumor is, Taric might be gay. Consider that Taric loves gems, he has moves called stuff like ‘dazzle,’ his voice clips go from sultry to flamboyant (listen to that clip above by LeagueVoices), and even Taric’s background…

This Couple Announced Their Wedding Via NES-Inspired Video Game

There is something about weddings and video games, huh? People proposing through games is something we hear about often. Here’s a small twist: announcing your wedding via video game. That’s exactly what Barry Abrams and his fiance, Katie, did—they made a small game to celebrate their wedding that anyone can play. It includes small snippets…

This Is What Our Favorite Pokémon Looked Like Before Their Final Designs

I love looking at the early stages of a a creative work I’ve experienced in its finalized form. You get a glimpse of what-almost-was, what-could-have-been, and sometimes the thank-god-that-didn’t-happen. Bulbapedia has a fascinating page on prototype Pokemon and prototype trainers, as well as some Pokemon that just plain never made it into a Pokemon game.…

Can We Talk About The Joy Of Violence Without Sounding Like Complete Psychopaths?

In a fit of frustration over Hotline Miami and the way gamers discuss violent games, I ended up talking to game critic/provocateur Cara Ellison. She adores Hotline Miami, you see. Originally I meant to consult her about a different article, but our conversation was much more interesting than what I wrote. So we’re publishing our…

Nuketown, Wake Island, De_Dust2 And Other Awesome Maps Recreated In Far Cry 3

Bless map editors. They make wonderful things possible—wonderful things that normally couldn’t exist. MP1st brings our attention to Youtube user ShadowZack, who took it upon himself to recreate a few famous maps in Far Cry 3. These maps hail from franchises like Call of Duty, Battlefield and Counter-Strike. The one above is Nuketown. Here are…

2012 Was Like Skyrim, But With Games

It’s December. A whole year has gone by—a whole year without Skyrim. And yet it’s obvious to me—to everyone—that we are in deep Skyrim withdrawal. It’s the only way I can explain why commenters if not reviewers all over the web judge new games by gauging how much like Skyrim it is. Hence Far Cry…

There Is Barely Any Link Between Video Games And Gun Murders. Even In France.

The mad dash to blame games or to disprove that they are responsible for violent behavior continues. This time, we’ve got a study via the Washington Post that analyzes the world’s largest video game markets. Ultimately no correlation between consuming video games and gun murders was found, despite the common misconception being that the more…

This Animal Hunting Game Plays Like Call of Duty, And That’s Disturbing

Dear god. This isn’t hunting. It’s extinction. You can gun down the entire freakin animal kingdom in Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013, it seems. I… think I’m going to go hug my dogs now. Via Ben Abraham

Sharks, Shipwrecks, and Tight Spaces: Far Cry 3 Triggers Our Worst Phobias

I noticed something curious while playing Far Cry 3, something I hadn’t really thought about before. Sometimes, my map would denote a treasure located inside a small, dark cave. I’d go into the cave, and I’d immediately start breathing harder and feeling panicky—enough that I didn’t even care what the treasure was anymore. I just…

Anonymity Doesn’t Always Make You A Jerk. It Might Make You Kinder.

By now, Penny Arcade’s comic has become mantra on the internet: a normal person, given anonymity and an audience, will become a total fuckwad. It’s actually a lot more complicated than that formula, though I suspect the simplicity of the idea is what made it catch on in the first place. An article on Motherboard…

Pokémon Designs Aren’t Getting Worse, They May Be Getting Better

Without fail, a new Pokémon generation will bring with it a wave of criticism—the idea that Game Freak has progressively gotten worse at designing new Pokémon. I’ve noticed that folks who are critical of new Pokémon will typically point toward the original 151 Pokémon as examples of amazing, if not the best, Pokémon design. I…

I Didn’t Get Why People Love Giant Mechs. Then I Played Hawken.

I’ve been unfair to giant mechs and the people who love them. If you asked me about mechs a week ago, I’d probably make some awful comment about how mechs remind me of little boys clacking their action figures together, which isn’t appealing to me. I didn’t “get” the love for giant mechs. Sometimes what…

Why Pay For This LOTR MOBA When The Best Ones Are Free?

Today, The Hobbit releases in theaters. While it looks like a video game, there’s an actual video game you can play: Guardians of Middle-Earth. It’s a Lord of The Rings MOBA game released in tandem with the movie. I’ve been playing Guardians lately. Guardians isn’t a bad title: it’s a standard, run of the mill…

Here Are Three Possible Reasons For Including Rape In Far Cry 3

Here are a few things you can expect Far Cry 3 to include: shark-punching, pirate-killing, hang gliding and, oh, rape. For those playing, maybe that’s not surprising—as you go along, you suspect it’ll happen at any moment. Your friends have been captured, and two of these friends are attractive young women. One is an award-winning…

Minecraft Update Features Cool Things Like Creeper-Shaped Fireworks And More

Here’s a preview of an upcoming Minecraft update, showcasing fireworks, enchanted books and nether brick slabs. And, in case the you’re interested in the fireworks, here’s a closer look at how they work and how you’ll be making them. Creeper-shaped fireworks? Neat. EDIT: The fireworks update “will be out before Christmas, and 1.5 will wait…

It Finally Happened. I Chose A Facebook Game Over A Triple-A Game.

You know how people ask where you were when something important happened? Usually it’s for really huge things—a big baseball game, an assassination, a presidential election. They tend to be generation-defining things, stuff that permeates our cultural consciousness. For games it might not be so much “where were you” but “what game were you playing?”…

Nintendo Told Us All Along That Blowing On The Cartridge Wouldn’t Work

The popular myth has been debunked: you can’t blow on cartridges to make them work. Actually, blowing on the cartridge might damage it. Sorry, folks. It’s true. But, apparently the myth never needed to be debunked in the first place. Nintendo has kind of been telling us all along. We just weren’t paying attention. Luke…

The Recession Killed This Jason-Bourne-Meets-007 Spy RPG By Bioware

Former BioWare game director Trent Oster recently spoke to Eurogamer and revealed a project that was killed by EA. Think James Bond meets Jason Bourne. Okay, now take that and add a focus on digital action and intense drama. That’s what this game was going to be. It had the working title “Agent.” “The idea…