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CultureOdds and EndsNot Even Mass Effect Legendary Edition Will Compel Me To Make Different Choices
Vanguard class. Colonist. Sole Survivor. Paragon. Mass Effect Legendary Edition is out tomorrow, and I’m positively giddy with excitement that I will reunite with some of my best friends in the galaxy in baby-bottom smooth HD. The primary appeal of Mass Effect (outside of its outstanding cast of characters) is that it’s a game meant…
By Ash Parrish Published May 13, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsNo, I Won’t Ride The Giant Cat In The New Assassin’s Creed DLC
Last year, when Assassin’s Creed Valhalla launched, Ubisoft tried to get me to swap my trusty horse for a massive wolf. I firmly declined. Now Ubisoft is back to its old tricks, trying to once again tempt me into riding another ahistorically large version of an otherwise undomesticated animal. This time it’s a lynx. And…
By Zack Zwiezen Published May 13, 2021 -
CultureGhostrunner Is Getting A Sequel
Good news for fans of wall-running and paint-by-numbers cyberpunk themes (so, everyone). Ghostrunner, the first-person cyborg parkour game, is getting a sequel, publisher 505 Games announced today. It’ll be called [drum roll] Ghostrunner 2 Developed by One More Level, Ghostrunner launched last fall for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch, with next-gen versions planned…
By Ari Notis Published May 13, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsWhy The Rain In Returnal Feels So Damn Good
Returnal, a PS5 game based entirely on Vaas’ iconic refrain from Far Cry 3, is an impressive game. But few things are more impressive than its rain, which feels unnervingly real in your hands, a result of the PS5 controller’s advanced haptic feedback. Today, in a post on the PlayStation Blog, Housemarque’s Gregory Louden and…
By Ari Notis Published May 13, 2021 -
CultureThe Black PS5 DualSense Controller Everyone Wants Comes Out Next Month
Ever since Sony revealed its striking white DualSense controller folks have been clamoring for an all-black version. Well, here you go Midnight Black and its foppish companion, Cosmic Red, are hitting store shelves next month. While I still prefer my custom pink number, it’s nice to see Sony playing around with new DualSense colors, even…
By Mike Fahey Published May 13, 2021 -
CultureUnsurprisingly, Nintendo Switch Shipments Were Impacted By Stuck Suez Canal Boat
The global business trade seemed to grind to a halt this past March when the Ever Given container ship got stuck in the Suez Canal. Loads of product shipments were impacted, including the Nintendo Switch. During a recent investor conference call, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked about regional demand for the Nintendo Switch. He…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 13, 2021 -
CultureNew Dragon Quest Will Be Announced Later This Month
Square Enix has announced that later this month it will announce a new Dragon Quest game. Yes, this is an announcement of an announcement. According to Automaton, Square Enix also announced that it will be making this announcement on its official YouTube on May 27 in a 35th-anniversary special. It is unclear if this is…
By Brian Ashcraft Published May 13, 2021 -
CultureTarget Stores Will Stop Selling Pokémon Cards After Shortages, Fighting
Thanks to a combination of the pandemic, late-stage capitalism and people being assholes, Target stores across the US are about to halt all physical sales of certain trading cards, with Pokémon on the list. As comicbook report, the restrictions will kick in from May 14, and will only apply to physical stores, with online sales…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureParadox Director Is Very Sorry For “Low Quality” DLC Releases
Following fan backlash over Europa Universalis IV’s Leviathan DLC, which wound up the worst-rated launch on Steam of all time, the director of the studio responsible has apologised to fans for not just Leviathan’s poor quality, but that of some other recent releases as well. Posting on the company’s forums, Paradox Tinto manager Johan Andersson…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsGrand Theft Auto V Looks Almost Photorealistic Thanks To Machine Learning
While we’ve seenloads of examples of AI making games look better over the last couple of years, I’ve never seen anything like this approach, that’s able to take Grand Theft Auto V and through the power of magic make it look so damn real This is a project by Stephan R. Richter, Hassan Abu AlHaija…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsResident Evil Village Looks Much Scarier As A PS1 Game
I wasn’t blown away by the scares in Resident Evil Village, and it turns out a PlayStation 1-style demake is all the proof I need to believe the game would have been a much more terrifying experience on older consoles. Created by Hoolopee, whose impressive work we’ve showcased before, this Resident Evil Village demake video is…
By Ian Walker Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureSex Game Can’t Get On Steam, Even After $20,000 Worth Of Attempts
The developers of Holodexxx are at a loss. After spending months attempting to get their VR sex game onto Steam, they’ve hit a wall that no amount of self-censorship or mechanical refinement has been able to drill through: Valve’s nebulous definition of “pornography.” Holodexxx is a game in which simulated versions of real adult performers…
By Nathan Grayson Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsEthan’s Severed Hand Is More Than A Gory Resident Evil Gag
We’ve established by now that Resident Evil Village puts protagonist Ethan Winters through a great deal of unpleasantness. But the already-iconic visual of Ethan’s hand being slashed and sliding off isn’t just a good running gag or Capcom at its most masochistic. It’s also a clue to an end-game twist. Spoilers for the end of…
By Lisa Marie Segarra Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsThe Wait Is Over: Calculator Debuts For Nintendo Switch
Today, after weathering a presumably blistering fan campaign (Project Nerdfall?), Nintendo added a Calculator app to the Nintendo eShop. For 10 whole-ass American dollars you can purchase what comes in every other phone, tablet, and computer for free. I’m trying to imagine who this Calculator is for. In the app’s description it says, “Calculator has…
By Ash Parrish Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureNew Xbox Series X/S Background Is A Pulsating Blob From The Past
Rolling out with the May Xbox Series X/S update that includes important updates to that handy Quick Resume feature, “The Original” dynamic theme marks the return of the glowing green glob of Flubber from the original Xbox’s startup and dashboard. Those of you old enough to remember the original Xbox know that weird amorphous blob…
By Mike Fahey Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureEvery Big Game Coming Out In Spring 2021
Spring is here! The birds are singing, flowers blooming, and uh, it rains more. What a season! Sadly, covid-19 hasn’t gone anywhere. So depending on where you live you might still be stuck inside. Well, at least you’ll have games like Monster Hunter Rise, Outriders, and Mass Effect Legendary Edition to play while you continue…
By Zack Zwiezen Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureMy Singing Monsters Comes To Consoles With A Bunch Of Non-Singing Minigames
Mobile hit My Singing Monsters is a game about collecting and breeding musical monsters whose unique noises join together to create beautiful music. Coming to consoles this November, My Singing Monsters Playground is a party game featuring more than 20 different minigames. Hopefully one of those minigames is singing, but I can’t tell yet. My…
By Mike Fahey Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureOdds and EndsPretty Much Everyone In Resident Evil Village Needs Therapy
I’m a big believer in therapy and finding healthy coping mechanisms, so throughout my playthrough of Resident Evil Village, I kept thinking about how much better off everyone would’ve been had they just worked their shit out. Seriously. I think everyone in this fucked-up game could benefit from talking things out and exploring their deep-rooted…
By Lisa Marie Segarra Published May 12, 2021 -
CultureTotal RecallLet’s Remember Gran Turismo 5’s Intro, Which Was A Masterpiece
We tend to associate video game intros with lavish, pre-rendered cinematic sequences. Something to help kickstart the story, set the tone. Which is fine, but there’s been a video game intro stuck in my head for over a decade now, and it wasn’t trying to tell me a story. It was trying to teach me…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 11, 2021 -
CultureLife Is Still Strange
Florent Auguy is an artist from France who has worked on stuff like Into the Spider-Verse and Detroit: Become Human We also featured his art waaaaaay back in 2013, but since that was such a long time ago and he’s done so much since (including a bunch of Life is Strange 2 art which you’ll…
By Luke Plunkett Published May 11, 2021