Odds and Ends

After A Very Shitty Day, The Mr. Bones Speedrun Helped Me Cope

The speedrunning festival Awesome Games Done Quick is not yet over but the greatest run of the event has already been crowned. There’s a good chance you might not have even seen it. No, I don’t mean Argick’s Sonic Mania run that might have broken the Guiness record for fastest commentating. I’m talking about Lizstar’s…

Tech Company Imagines The Nintendo Switch As A Fully Functioning PC

The Nintendo Switch is great, but it would be even better if it could also work like any other computer tablet. Chinese tech manufacturer Lenovo tried to show off what that dream would actually look like with its new prototype: the LaVie Mini. Revealed ahead of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the LaVie Mini…

$250 Pokémon Plush Is Also A Nightmare Bed

Oh hey, here’s a giant new Gengar plush, I wonder what happens when you roll its tongue out and oh no. Selling for $250, it’s pretty cool as an enormous plush, if collecting those is your thing. This is more than just a cuddly toy, though, as Gengar’s trademark tongue rolls out and is kind…

Witcher 3 Mod Gives Geralt A Snowboard

This is VGX Snowboarder, a Witcher 3 mod that lets Geralt climb to the top of a snowy peak and then shred his way back down. Made by Feregorn, it adds a snowboard to Geralt’s inventory, and it works pretty well! Rounding out the whole thing is the addition of some goggles, that you can…

Announced last year, the English-language version of Ask Iwata—a collection of the former Nintendo President’s popular Q&A sessions with developers—will be out on April 13. 

Artist Claims Official Super Nintendo World Website Is Using His Fan Art

A new website for Nintendo’s upcoming Japanese theme park Super Nintendo World went live yesterday. It featured new details and a virtual tour of the video game wonderland ahead of its February 4 opening. It also used an image of Mario for its loading screen that appears to have been created not by Nintendo, but…

There’s A First-Person Mortal Kombat 11 Mod, For Some Reason

Have you ever wanted to play Mortal Kombat 11 in first-person? Probably not. But, regardless, there’s now a mod that lets you do just that. As spotted by DSOGaming, MK11Hook is a PC mod created by Ermaccer that adds some new features to Mortal Kombat 11, including the ability to change the game’s speed and…

And Now For An Architectural Criticism Of Cyberpunk 2077

One of the darkest corners of my wheelhouse is the point where architecture and video games meet, so it’s great getting the chance—like I did today—to read some thoughts on the subject from someone who architecturally knows what they’re talking about. In a piece for The Architect’s Newspaper, Extra Office’s Ryan Scavnicky has written a…

Sonic Speedrunners Go Fast, Break World Records Back-To-Back During AGDQ

The Sonic block of games is mandatory watching in my house for every Games Done Quick event and this year’s block—that took place yesterday—has already claimed GOAT status when not one but two runners achieved world records back-to-back Flying Fox’s earned the first world record for her run of 2013’s Sonic The Hedgehog Android port.…

Conspiracy Theories Drive Developer To Recreate Nancy Pelosi’s Vandalized Garage In VR

After a photo of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s vandalized San Francisco home started circulating online, it didn’t take long for people to call bullshit. Was the graffiti and seeming pig’s blood really the work of outraged leftists, or an elaborate psy-op perpetuated by some right-wing group to delegitimize progressives? Who the hell knows,…

Video Games Predict A Grim 2021

2020 was a bad year for most of us, but a surprisingly good year for video games. As we enter 2021 with the hope offered by the vaccines, and the light at the end of the tunnel just about visible, it might soon be possible to allow hope back in. Unless, it seems, video games…

Some Of 2020’s Nicest Screenshots

As I’ve done for the last few years, when a year comes to an end I like to look back on some very nice screenshots by one of my favourite screenshot artists, and 2020 was no different. Andy Cull’s 2020 was spent like the rest of us, playing stuff like The Last Of Us Part…

Cyberpunk 2077 Gets “Working” Third-Person Mod

There’s now a mod available that lets you play Cyberpunk 2077 in third-person on the PC—but be warned, while it works in the most basic, functional sense, it’s not something you’re going to want to be using for any real stretch of time. The mod, created by Jelle Bakker, can be downloaded here. It lets…

Call Of Duty‘s 1980s Shopping Mall Map Gets The Little Details Right

Maybe it’s the 2020 pandemic blues, but I can’t get enough of Black Ops Cold War’s retro shopping mall map. “The Pines” is a standard 6v6 multiplayer map that was added earlier this month with the launch of Cold War’s Season One. It’s a New Jersey-based mall filled with retail flashbacks. I’ve gotten so distracted…

Super Mario Sunshine Mod Turns Every NPC Into A Chuckster

Indie game developer Bread released a very special Super Mario Sunshine mod over the holidays that makes every NPC in the game able to heave Mario over their heads with no regard for his safety. What a great gift! This ability is lifted from the Chucksters, a group of throw-happy Piantas who form the crux…

I Went On Vacation And Ended Up In A Video Game

On a trip to a state park, I’m pretty sure my partner, my dog, and I stumbled into a video game. My own personal isekai Last weekend, my partner Travis and I took my dog and traveled three hours south to the Hocking Hills area of Ohio, where we stayed in a rented cabin for…

Happy Holidays, Everyone

Here’s a 12-hour, 4K yule log in the style of Hades, courtesy of Supergiant Games: Happy holidays.

You Can (Carefully) Pet The Zombie Dogs In Black Ops Cold War

I love when games give me the option to pet dogs, and surprisingly, you can pet the Plaguehounds in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War’s Zombies mode. But unless you use a specific weapon effect, you’d never even know you had the option to pet them. Die Maschine’s Plaguehounds are special round-based enemies that…

Marvel vs. Capcom 2‘s Iron Man Infinite Combo Makes For A Great Beat

Musician Akito Bass recently shared a great video showing how the iconic Iron Man infinite in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 can be used as the foundation for a catchy track. A big part of learning even basic fighting game combos is getting the rhythm down. You don’t always need to count frames or learn concepts…

Cyberpunk 1997

Wake the fuck up, Samurai. We have a city to burn. An original PlayStation-era city, courtesy of game developer Anders Lundbjörk’s completely accurate demake of Cyberpunk 2077. We’ve already seen a PS1 demake of Cyberpunk 2077 made in Dreams, but that one was too clean, too sharp, and too functional. I prefer Lundbjörk’s vision of…