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Worth Reading: When Games Make Us Feel Sad, Disgusted, And Empty
We tend to hyperbolize whatever game comes along and eeks a feeling out of us besides adrenaline because the experiences are few and far between. Journey, The Walking Dead, To The Moon. It’s early days for games exploring the emotional spectrum, and I’ve got two pieces digging deep into this idea from totally different angles.…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 6, 2015 -
How Resident Evil Speedruners Save Time By Stair Skating
Every second counts when you’re trying a world record, which means players tend to discover some bizarre tricks to shave off time. Resident Evil speedrunners have been mining tricks for years, but they’re gaining new life with the re-release. The most entertaining one I’ve discovered is what some call “stair skating.” This particular instance of…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 6, 2015 -
The Clever Trick Players Are Using To Decode Dark Souls II‘s New Lore
When this week’s major Dark Souls II patch rolled out, From Software didn’t exactly provide a detailed list of everything that’s changed. That’s not Dark Souls! It’s up to players to piece it together. The game’s lore has been subtly updated and altered through item descriptions, and players have come up with an extremely clever…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 6, 2015 -
Dark Souls II Patch Radically Changes The Game’s Ending
When you reach the end of Dark Souls, the players is presented with a big choice. You help decide the fate of the world. When you reach the end of Dark Souls II, the game simply ends. Not many players were satisfied with this conclusion, and the game’s new patch changes this. We’re gonna need…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 5, 2015 -
Ubisoft’s Surprise Game Is Worth Your Time
The most pleasant surprises from Ubisoft seem to be coming in downloadable forms. Child of Light, Valiant Hearts, Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry. We can now add Grow Home to the list, an utterly charming experimental platformer about climbing higher and higher and higher. I’d intended to start Dying Light yesterday. Zombie are kind of my…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 5, 2015 -
Racing Game Makes You Drive On Three Roads At Once
I have enough trouble getting from start to finish in a racing game, but Drive!Drive!Drive! wants to push everyone a little further. In Drive!Drive!Drive!, racers are not only managing their position on the track in front of them—they’re managing position on several tracks at once. The trailer provides a slightly better understanding of the madness…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 5, 2015 -
Someone Got Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out Running On Kinect
Even though Microsoft appears to have given up on Kinect as a serious gaming platform, the motion device still has some tricks up its sleeve. Programmer Paul DeCarlo found a way to play Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out by waving his fists around, and it seems to work pretty darn well! This experiment was possible due to…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 5, 2015 -
How People Use Twitch, Visualized
At any given time, there are tens of thousands watching and playing games on Twitch. Some people are obsessed with one game, other people watch lots of games. The service recently enlisted its “science” team to visualize what communities of Twitch look like, and it’s beautiful. Wait, they have a science team? Yep. It’s a…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 4, 2015 -
Dark Souls II Patch Reveals New Secrets For An Old Game
There was a major patch for Dark Souls II today, which includes a screen-filling new character known as The Scholar, updated lore, and more. The Souls series is all about hiding things in weird places, so we’re only scratching the surface. Here’s a taste of what’s been found so far. The patch is free for…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 4, 2015 -
You Can Technically ‘Beat’ Resident Evil In One Second
You cannot trust the leaderboards for Resident Evil. Within days of release, players had started digging into the game’s code, looking for ways to finish it faster and faster by aggressively cheating. It’s probably not possible to beat it faster than a second, but I’m sure people will try. It’s deeply funny, however, to realize…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 4, 2015 -
Esports
The League of Legends tournament allowing one LGBTQ person per team has apologized and removed its widely criticized restrictions. “We’ll also be keeping our promise of having an open dialogue with all parties as we plan this and future events,” the group said.
By Patrick Klepek Published February 4, 2015 -
Life Is Strange‘s Mouths Are Freaking Me Out
As Keza’s already mentioned, you’ll want to play Life Is Strange. It’s a clever and heartfelt ode to being an awkward teenager, albeit one who can rewind time by holding out their hand. But I can’t help but get distracted by one of my modern gaming pet peeves: horrible lip-syncing. It’s not terribly apparent in…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 3, 2015 -
Hotline Miami 2 Voicemail Is Weird As Hell
If someone asked you to dial a random phone number, what are you gonna do? Not call it and find out what’s on the other end? That’s doubly true if it’s from the creators of Hotline Miami We know Hotline Miami 2 isn’t far off, but an official date has eluded us. Or does it?…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 3, 2015 -
Hidden Details Buried In The Dark Souls II Expansion’s New Trailer
A patch to prepare Dark Souls II for its upcoming Scholar of the First Sin update is coming on February 5. Though Scholar of the First Sin itself doesn’t arrive until April, Bandai Namco’s revealed a tiiiiny bit more of what’s in store for players who return to Majula in a new trailer. There’s still…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 3, 2015 -
My Brain Just Melted While Reading This
It used to be so easy to buy video games. But just try wrapping your head around how Tecmo explains the various ways to buy the upcoming Dead or Alive 5 Last Round: Core Fighters: Players wanting a taste of what DEAD OR ALIVE 5 Last Round has to offer can play the main game…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 3, 2015 -
Cancelled Driver Game Involved Blowing Apart San Francisco
Before Driver: San Francisco, Ubisoft tasked Sumo Digital with making the next Driver game. Unseen 64 has unearthed details and concept art on the abandoned project, which apparently would have involved the Bay Area and tons of explosions. Split/Second: San Francisco? I’m a sucker for reading about cancelled games, and wish more game companies were…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 2, 2015 -
Rooster Teeth Animator Monty Oum Dies At 33
Rooster Teeth animator Monty Oum has passed away, the production studio announced today. The 33-year-old was hospitalized over the weekend for “a severe allergic reaction during a simple medical procedure” that put him in a coma. When the news first hit, fans raised nearly $180,000 for him. Oum was best known for RWBY, a web-based…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 2, 2015 -
Clever Editor Turns P.T. Into Terrifying Found Footage Film
I’m a sucker for found footage films. Ever since The Blair Witch Project wrecked an entire summer for me, the genre has been my go-to source for quick’n easy jump scares. Now, an editor has taken a playthrough of P.T. and transformed it into a horror flick I’d “happily” watch. The first half is better…
By Patrick Klepek Published February 2, 2015
Patrick Klepek
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