Patrick Klepek

Maki Roll, a professional cosplayer and dancer, has written a fascinating essay about Microsoft’s recent GDC party controversy She examines the event from a dancer’s perspective, and takes a closer look at what the backlash says about an industry grappling with the increased visibility of women’s issues.

How The First Resident Evil‘s Been Censored And Changed Since 1996

Plenty of games have been touched up and altered as the years went on, but few games have seen as many changes as the original Resident Evil. This piece originally appeared 1/19/15. Ports of old games are common, but what’s interesting about Resident Evil is how often Capcom has actually censored, changed, modified, and added…

Telltale has announced a third season of The Walking Dead for later this year (via Mashable), in addition to new Minecraft episodes—three total—in 2016. The Walking Dead will reportedly pick up on threads from the last season, but in an “unexpected” way, whatever that means.

Sony Shuts Down Driveclub Developer Evolution Studios

Evolution Studios, the developers behind Motorstorm and Driveclub, have been shut down, Sony confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz Sony told the publication the decision came after a regular review of every developer within Sony to ensure “a competitive landscape can create and produce high quality, innovative and commercially viable projects.” “It is regrettable that this decision will…

Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell laid off 45 employees today, following layoffs last week, the studio told me. Contrary to tweets, creative director Jeremiah Slaczka said they’re not shutting down. Latest layoffs are due to WB cancelling a Scribblenauts mobile game. Remaining staff is “tiny,” said Slaczka.

That Time George Romero Almost Directed A Resident Evil Movie

It would have been cool if the father of modern zombies ended up adapting the biggest zombie franchise in video games, but it wasn’t mean to be. The five Resident Evil movies released since 2002, each written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, haven’t been very good. (The first one was OK, I guess?) In…

Nintendo Deletes Every Stage By Prominent Mario Maker Speedrunner

Nintendo has a real problem on its hands with Mario Maker. Left and right, creators are seeing their levels removed from the online servers without an explanation. David “GrandPOObear” Hunt, a speedrunner who makes a living streaming games, is the latest victim. All of his levels have vanished. (We last featured Hunt after he pulled…

Microsoft announced today that Assassin’s Creed, Dark Void, and GRID 2 are now backwards compatible on Xbox One. The company seems to be adding more games at a decent clip, but I’m still waiting on Red Dead Redemption…

NightCry, the crowdfunded spiritual successor to Clock Tower, arrives for PC owners on March 29. The trailers haven’t been very encouraging, but I’m hoping for the best.

Microsoft Says They Regret Holding GDC Party With School Girl Dancers [UPDATE]

Hours after hosting a “women in gaming” luncheon at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Microsoft threw a party with scantily clad dancers in school girl outfits. It wasn’t a good look, and the company has since apologized. The photos surfaced after a series of tweets by Tin Man Games editor Kamina Vincent brought…

Sources: Sony Is Working On A ‘PlayStation 4.5’

Sony is currently planning a new version of the PS4 with increased graphical power and games running at 4K resolution, developer sources tell Kotaku. We don’t know whether current PS4 owners will be able to upgrade or if they’ll have to buy an entirely new device to benefit from this power boost, but from what…

Salt And Sanctuary Is An Excellent 2D Dark Souls

Lots of games have pitched themselves as Dark Souls in 2D, but Salt and Sanctuary is the first game to make a legitimate claim. It’s also excellent. It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from Dishwasher creator Ska Studios, the tiny development studio primarily made up of designer James Silva and art lead Michelle…

Here’s your first look at gameplay footage from Star Wars Battlefront’s upcoming Outer Rim expansion, including a cute nod to Han and Greedo’s preference for shooting each other first.

Dark Souls Fan Editing Full-Length Movies Telling Each Game’s Confusing Story

It’s tough enough to follow what’s happening in Dark Souls that Bandai Namco ran a contest asking people to help explain it. But if you’re looking for something in-depth, MoonlightButterfly on YouTube has you covered. I sorta know what happened in Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls II, and Bloodborne, even if the story isn’t…

Angered Game Developer Sues Critic Jim Sterling For $10 Million

If game critic and video-maker Jim Sterling has a nemesis, it’s game developer Digital Homicide. That name might not sound familiar, as they’re a small studio that has released a couple of games on Steam. But they may soon enter notoriety after this month’s unprecedented actions. On March 16, Digital Homicide formally filed a lawsuit…

Nintendo Just Made A Maddening Change To Mario Maker‘s P-Switch

When Nintendo updated Super Mario Maker last week, it secretly tweaked the way P-Switches work in the game. It’s causing headaches for everyone. Traditionally, the P-Switch is used to swap solid blocks into coins and vice versa. But more complicated stages have found uses familiar to anyone who’s ventured into kaizo-style levels or the expert…

Board and card game designer Eric Lang announced he’s working on an official Bloodborne card game. It’s based on the game’s chalice dungeons, and has “risk management with a bit of groupthink, inventory management / upgrades and tactical play in an intense 30 minute card game.”

EA has settled a class action lawsuit over the likenesses of college athletes being in the company’s games without permission for $60 million, reports ESPN. As the lawsuit moved forward, EA killed off its NCAA Football franchise in 2011. NCAA Basketball was discontinued in 2010.

Nintendo Still Won’t Explain Why They’re Deleting People’s Mario Maker Levels

Nintendo is still deleting levels from Super Mario Maker’s online community for mysterious reasons. The latest victim? Mario’s youngest fans, apparently. BakeToRise, a Mario Maker creator and father of a designer-in-training daughter, posted a distressing story on reddit today. His daughter spent three hours putting together a level called Maria Cake Yoshi. After receiving a…

That Time The Postal Service Sued The Developers of Postal

If people remember 1997’s overhead shooter Postal for anything, it’s the controversies that always seemed to surrounded it. Postal was at the heart of a huge debate over violent video games in the 90s. The game might look quaint in 2016, but at the time, it was raising lots questions about whether the increasingly realistic…