Culture

Playing Nothing But Half-Life: Alyx In VR Made Me Hallucinate

Late Saturday night, I removed my Valve Index VR headset. I’d done it. I had finished Half-Life: Alyx. As I blinked, a faint outline clouded my vision; I quickly realized it was the headset’s blue wireframe barrier, which flashes when you move too close to a wall. “That’s weird,” I said. It was about to…

Why Are There So Many Surveillance Cameras In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

A huge part of the fun in Animal Crossing is hunting down the perfect items to furnish your home. But things have taken an unsettling turn in New Horizons as several players have started to find creepy items in the trees around their islands. When I first started playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons a few…

Sony Slowing Game Download Speeds In Europe To Help With ‘Internet Stability’ [Update: Also In the US]

Today, Sony said it’s working with internet providers in Europe to manage PlayStation download traffic now that social distancing has brought more people online than ever. Players might experience slower game downloads during this time. “We believe it is important to do our part to address Internet stability concerns as an unprecedented number of people…

Control Is Getting Some Cool New Abilities

Grow my little rock friends, grow! Control is full of fun paranormal powers you can use to manipulate its world. The Foundation downloadable expansion coming to PS4 and PC on March 26 adds a few more. One of them is called Shape and it lets you sprout giant barnacles to create platforms you can hop…

How’s It Going?: Keep Your Distance Edition

Welcome to Tuesday, and also welcome back to our daily open thread. I thought getting a dog would be a great reason to have a purpose to get outside, but it’s making me realize how hard all this social distancing is on a practical level. I live in New York City, where it can feel…

Granblue Fantasy Versus Adds Buff Grandpa Soriz April 7

Every fighting game needs a muscle-bound older gentleman to show those young whippersnappers what’s what. In Granblue Fantasy Versus that old man is Soriz, a former weapon crafter who decided he was the greatest weapon of them all. He also enjoys wearing loincloths. He’s coming to the game on April 7. One part living weapon,…

Track: Patience (Cover) | Artist: Norah Jones | Album: N/A

Man Makes Godzilla-Themed Armor Costume

Earlier this month, Mexico City-based cosplayer Salvador Hernandez unveiled his kaiju armor costume. It’s fantastic. The original kaiju armor design was created by artist Bat Zemo. Hernandez, who’s only been crafting costumes for about two years, used that for the basis of his outfit. “From there I took the design for my Godzilla armor [and]…

Tokyo Isolation Last Fall. Tokyo, Japan. By Patrick Lehrmann | Flickr 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 Snakes Of New York

Simon Tosovsky is an illustrator and concept artist based in Denmark. You can see more of Simon’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Konami Deal Stops Barcelona From Playing In Charity FIFA 20 Tournament

Whenwe reported that last week that all 20 sides in Spain’s La Liga were taking part in a FIFA 20 tournament, in reality only 18 took part. Both Mallorca and international powerhouse Barcelona were forced out of the competition over their marketing deals with Konami’s rival PES series. As both Spain’s AS and ESPN’s Samuel…

Doom Mod Has Animal Crossing’s Isabelle Help You Kill Demons

Doom and Animal Crossing fans have spent the last year turning Doomguy and Isabelle into best friends. Now there’s finally a mod for them to team up and kick ass together. Created by Doom modder itsmeveronica and released last week, the Isabelle mod adds Isabelle as a companion to the first three Doom games and…

Maybe There Are Too Many Sea Bass In Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If I catch one more sea bass in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, I’m going to scream. Fishing is probably my favorite thing to do in Animal Crossing games. Whether it’s following my island’s wandering rivers in search of elusive golden trout or spending time at the pier wrestling with blue marlin and tuna, I often…

Why Valve Gave Up On ‘Multiple’ Half-Life 3s

Half-Life: Alyx comes out today. It’s the first Half-Life game since 2007’s Half-Life 2: Episode Two—a conspicuous fact given that Episode Two was supposed to be followed by Episode Three in fairly short order, and it is now, according to my cyberpunk futurephone, 2020. This is not to say, however, that Valve didn’t try. It…

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Has An Infinite Item Trick [Update: It’s Been Fixed]

Have you been spending all weekend meticulously weeding, picking fruit, and chopping wood to make money in Animal Crossing: New Horizons the way Tom Nook intended? If so, then you are a right and honorable villager. Unlike those people who have found a new glitch that lets you earn hundreds of thousands of bells in…

How’s It Going?: Pets Edition 2

It’s Monday. (That doesn’t warrant an exclamation point.) Welcome back to our open thread! (That does!) I hope your weekend was good. Big news in my life: I’m fostering a shelter dog! I’ve wanted a dog for years, and the New York City shelters are trying to get dogs into homes in light of covid-19.…

Nier Creator’s Mobile RPG SINoALICE Goes Global July 1

SINoALICE is a role-playing game for iOS and Android which stars twisted versions of fairytale characters like Pinocchio, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood. It’s directed by Yoko Taro, who directed Nier, with music by Nier composer Keiichi Okabe. It’s been out in Japan since 2017. Everyone else can play it on July 1. The…

The Week In Games: A Red Letter Day

Well, it took a little longer than I had expected, but finally, a new Half-Life game, Half-Life: Alyx, is coming out this week. For most things, I can control myself. I love Star Wars, but I know that a lot of Star Wars books and games are mediocre at best. I love Star Trek, but…

Track: Waterloo Sunset | Artist: The Kinks | Album: Something Else By The Kinks 

Daikannon. Sendai, Japan. By Luca B. 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