Culture

Dota 2 Gets Total Overhaul

I’ve spent over 1,000 hours playing Dota 2 and reading through the game’s latest set of patch notes is breaking my brain. The game’s Outlander’s update went live today, adding not just two more heroes but upending massive aspects of the game, including item delivery, teleportation, late game advantages, and item progressions. The base game…

Valve Removes 1,000 Games From Steam As Punishment For Abusing Tools

There are more than 30,000 games on Steam. When Valve removes the odd offender for breaking the rules by, say, being a low-effort meme masquerading as a low-effort game or by being low-effort porn masquerading as a low-effort game, it’s like siphoning a drop from a bucket. Yesterday, Valve removed over 1,000 games from Steam.…

Facebook has purchased Beat Games, the studio behind virtual reality rhythm game Beat Saber. The developers will “continue to work on Beat Saber across all currently supported platforms”.

Experts Say Geese Aren’t Actually As Bad As Untitled Goose Game Suggests

I love being a goose in Untitled Goose Game. I love to waddle, honk, and flap at people. But how much of what you do in Untitled Goose Game is true to goose life? I spoke to some waterfowl experts to get a read on how true to life Untitled Goose Game actually is. Isabella…

Some Call Of Duty Players Find Themselves Spawning In Mid-Air

Call of Duty matches can be fast-paced slaughterhouses, which is why the game usually respawns you away from other players and, uh, on the ground. Recently, players have been noticing that’s not always the case. “Incredible, just incredible,” Reddit user McNugg2710 said in a November 22 post of a video showing them respawning out in…

How Fighting Game Developers Can Improve Online Play

Netcode, the set of technical protocols that determine online play in video games, is especially important in fighting games. Decisions are often split-second, with just a few frames determining whether or not a punish lands or a combo finishes the job. Netcode is often the main concern of competitive players looking for their next game.…

This Is What Happens When I Explore Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order‘s Amazing World

Oh, cool. I found a secret area in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, everyone. I wonder what kind of reward I’ll find here. This place is way off the grid, so there’s got to be something incredible hidden in these chambers. I discovered this place because I spotted a little green icon on my map,…

Looking Back On The Hypnotic Charm Of Breakout

Pilgrim In The Microworld, a 1983 book by professor, sociologist, and musician David Sudnow, was far ahead of its time. As a book-length digression on a single video game—Breakout for the Atari 2600—it took the emerging medium seriously at a time when it was largely dismissed as a mere fad on the verge of dying.…

Some Of Pokémon Sun and Moon’s Online Features Are Shutting Down In February

The Pokémon company announced overnight that its Global Link Service, which supports certain parts of online play in Pokémon Sun and Moon and their Ultra editions, will be going away on February 24, 2020. While Pokémon Sun and Moon players will still be able to trade and battle directly with one another, features related to…

Track: Tokyo wa yoru no 7-ji | Artist: Pizzicato Five | Album: The Band of the 20th Century: Nippon Columbia Years 1991-2001

In The City. Osaka, Japan. By Brian Ashcraft. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line!

The Ultimate Crossover Event

Kontorn Boonyanate is an artist from Thailand whose action figure style has me feeling all gloomy about Disney Infinity again You can see more of Kontorn’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Data Suggests Most Steam Users’ PCs Aren’t Ready To Play Half-Life: Alyx

Deep-pocketed companies like Valve and Oculus have been pushing virtual reality for years, but mainstream interest in the practice of strapping video games to one’s eyeballs has remained relatively low. Half-Life: Alyx seems primed to give a whole new audience a very valid reason to hover a hesitant finger over a headset’s Buy button and…

The Pokémon Company Wants To Hunt Leakers On 4Chan, Discord

Earlier this month, before the game’s release, leaked images of Pokémon Sword & Shield starting turning up online. That’s pretty normal for a big video game, but The Pokémon Company are taking the matter very seriously, so seriously that they’re asking a court if they can serve subpoenas on 4chan and Discord. As reported by…

Battleborn Is Shutting Down In 2021

Despite a small crowd of diehards who went so far as to organize events in an attempt to save the game, Battleborn seems destined to go down in history as a high-profile flop. Two years ago, developer Gearbox halted updates to the already-shot hero shooter. Today, publisher 2K announced plans to sunset the game entirely.…

Why Does This Jedi: Fallen Order Mod Look Like Joe Jonas

The most popular mod for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order right now is a rework of the lead character’s face. It has the unintended effect of making him look like Joe Jonas. Two things are immediately apparent upon seeing Cal Kestis: he is definitely a Jedi, and he’s extremely ginger. The “Better Call Cal” mod…

Fallout 76 Players Can’t Shoot Pacifists, So They’re Nuking Them Instead

In Fallout 76, other players are only supposed to be able to kill you if you shoot back, but there are ways to game the system, the latest of which involves killing bystanders with radiation poisoning. There are so many ways to die in Fallout 76, from being blown up by Scorchbeasts to glitching through…

How To Play Video Games Without Messing Up Your Body

It’s obvious that parking your butt on the couch for several hours straight playing a game isn’t good for you, but sometimes it’s hard to resist. Here’s how to do it without messing up your body. This piece originally appeared 4/2/18. Drink Water And Snack Healthy Dr. Caitlin McGee, a physical therapist that works with…

The Week In Games: 20 Nights At Freddy’s

November is almost over and the month is leaving with a final, quiet week. Not much releasing this month. But for fans of the Five Nights At Freddy’s games, I’ve got good news. The first four games in the popular horror franchise are arriving on Switch this week. The release of these FNAF games on…

Destiny‘s Bad Juju Is Now In Borderlands 3

Over the weekend players discovered Good Juju, Borderlands 3’s response to Destiny’s exotic pulse rifle Bad Juju. The Legendary assault rifle was added to the game last week as part of its Maliwan Takedown update and is instantly recognizable to anyone who’s spent time with Bungie’s loot shooter. In addition to Good Juju looking an…