Culture

Last Of Us Part 2 Players Seem Unable To Stop Covering Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’

For a long time now, people have joked about dudes who bring their guitars to parties and play “Wonderwall” over and over. It now seems the virtual equivalent of this meme is folks playing Hurt in The Last Of Us Part II The Last Of Us Part II is filled with violence, darkness, and a…

Ask Dr. NerdLove: Help, Awful Sex Is Ruining My Relationship

Hello, all you electric love swarms, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only advice column that helps eliminate the need for crunch time to help your love life go gold. This week, we’re taking a dive into love in the time of COVID-19 — both how to find it and how to help it…

Here’s July 2020’s Xbox Live Games With Gold

July’s Xbox Live Games with Gold has cars, basketball, and a Saints Row game that existed before Saints Row IV, the best one. As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active Xbox Live Gold subscription. July’s Games with Gold are: Xbox One WRC 8 FIA World Rally Championship (July 1-31) Dunk…

How’s It Going?: Guitar Edition

What do you know, it’s Thursday. Welcome back to our daily open thread. Sorry my topics are getting so specific these days. Life has gotten very small in a lot of ways, despite my city continuing to open up. (Also, re yesterday’s topic: lettuce soup=disgusting, please avoid, I am full of regrets.) A few weekends…

Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Summer Update Will Let You Go Swimming

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is getting a free summer update on July 3 that will add swimming, diving, and a bunch of new furniture to transform your house into a mermaid grotto. Nintendo revealed the update in a trailer this morning that shows the player diving for treasure and chatting with another villager they find…

Sony Paying Up To $50,000 To Anyone Who Reports PS4 Security Flaws

Sony rolled out a new bug bounty program yesterday that will pay up to $50,000 to any hackers who help expose a major vulnerability in the PS4. Announced over on the PlayStation Blog yesterday, the program is being run in partnership with HackerOne, which works with amateur hackers and security researchers to help make companies…

Track: Carousels | Artist: Doves | Album: Carousels (single)

Welcome To The Big Castle

Mickie Javaid-Camua is an artist who has worked on games like Call of Duty You can see more of Mickie’s stuff at his personal siteand ArtStation page

Grandpa Is Playing Pokémon Go In The Year 2173

We first wrote about Taiwanese grandpa Chen San-yuan back in 2018, when he was spotted with 11 phones strapped to his bike so he could play Pokémon Go. In the two years since, he has upped his game considerably. As The Verge report, Chen’s bike+ phone assemblage has slowly got more precarious, from 45 phones…

The Entire First Rayman Game Has Been Remade (And Then Some)

The first Rayman was released back in 1995. That’s old as hell, and without a modern way to enjoy the original, fan Ryemanni decided to not just recreate the classic, but add loads of new stuff to it as well. The result is Rayman Redemption, available now (for free) over on Gamejolt, which is “is…

A Wave Of Sexual Abuse Stories Is Causing A Reckoning In The Twitch Streaming World

Over the weekend, a trickle of sexual harassment stories surrounding influential figures in the streaming world grew into a tidal wave. More than 50 streamers, most of them women, shared dozens of stories that have already produced vast reverberations, including the resignation of the head of one of the biggest management firms in all of…

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Creative Director Going On Leave Of Absence Amid Infidelity Scandal

Citing “personal issues,” Ubisoft creative director Ashraf Ismail said on Twitter today that he is stepping down from his role on Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The reference ties, no doubt, to a Sunday tweet from a woman who said he’d deceived her about his marital status while they were in a one-year relationship. That tweet was…

Marvel’s Avengers Assembled Today For A More In-Depth Preview

Today, Square Enix assembled the team and showed off some more in-depth gameplay from the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers. During a half-hour event called the “War Table,” viewers were treated to a deeper look at the combat system, the mission structure, and the villain (a big brain named M.O.D.O.K.). This, of course, is all in addition…

Former Sony Exec Calls For Shorter Games That Are Cheaper To Make

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Most video games are too long. This common sentiment gets batted around every few months when a new blockbuster launches with dozens of hours of “content.” Shawn Layden, former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, seems to agree. “I would welcome the return of the 12-15…

There’s A New Don’t Starve Game Coming To Mobile

Coming soon to iOS and Android from Klei Entertainment and Tencent, Don’t Starve: Newhome is a fresh mobile take on the hit indie survival game with a focus on playing together with friends and strangers online. It’s all the crafting, creatures, and discovery of the original Don’t Starve, complete with its signature art style, only…

All The Big Games Coming Out In Summer 2020

Summertime and the living is … the best we can manage given current circumstances. 2020 continues to surprise, amaze, and horrify, but at least we’ve got a bunch of video games coming out. At least we hope these are all coming out. With covid-19 still a going concern, any of the games on this list…

How’s It Going?: Lettuce Edition

Hey, we’ve got all the way to Wednesday! Welcome back to our daily open thread. My CSA this week is mostly lettuce, including a big head of iceberg lettuce. I’m not a big lettuce fan—is anyone?—and I’m struggling to figure out what to do with them all. I’m a bit intrigued by Helen Rosner’s (stay…

Pokémon Unite Is A DOTA-Style Arena Battler With Pokémon

This morning The Pokémon Company announced Pokémon Unite, a team-based mobile battle arena game created in cooperation with China’s Tencent. It’s free-to-play PokéDOTA for Switch and mobile devices. You read right. It’s a five-on-five team-based MOBA in which players battle as pocket monsters, evolving and gaining new powers as they level up during matches. During…

Track: Symphony (SalaAM ReMi Mix) | Artist: Marvin Gaye | Album: You’re The Man

The Need For Speed

Jakob Eirich is freelance artist and illustrator from Germany who has worked in games, advertising and film. You can see more of Jakob’s stuff at his ArtStation page