Culture

How’s It Going?: More Cake Edition

It’s Tuesday, so we’re getting there. Welcome back to our daily open thread. Last weekend I baked a very fancy layer cake that took all day and was freaking delicious, but was tragically far too much cake for one person. I told myself not to bake another entire cake, then last night, I baked this…

Animal Crossing‘s Second Summer Update Adds Fireworks, Dreaming, And Cloud Backups

The second free summer update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons launches on July 30. Along with regular fireworks celebrations and the bizarre ability to visit other islands via dreaming, the update also brings one of the game’s most eagerly anticipated features—the ability to backup and restore player islands in case of lost or damaged Switch…

Track: God Moving over the Face of the Waters | Artist: Moby | Album: Go – The Very Best Of Moby

PSP Owners, Check Your Batteries

This weekend on Japanese Twitter, “PSP バッテリー” (PSP battery) started trending. Owners of the Sony handheld began noticing that the batteries were swelling up, and in some cases bursting open. The original PSP 1000 and later slim models are reportedly experiencing battery swelling. The PSP first launched in 2004 in Japan, and as IT Media…

Dumpster Line Up. Crikvenica, Croatia. By Eduard Tucaković | Instagram  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!

Gonna Buckle Some Swashes

MinJi K Yoon is an artist at Powerhouse, an animation studio that has worked on games like The Banner Saga and Mortal Kombat You can see more of her stuff at her ArtStation page

5D Chess Has Completely Broken Me

The other day, my partner and I were discussing time travel, and I brought up recent science surrounding the multiverse theory—that it’s mathematically possible for multiple (though not necessarily infinite) branching universes to exist, and time travel would merely cause us to move between them, sans paradoxes. I felt smart, having said that. Now, after…

Previously Unknown Super Mario 64 Enemy Found, Added To The Game

These big Nintendo leaksaren’t just for curiosity’s sake; there’s a real practical element to them as well, like the fact modders have been able to find lost and unused enemies in titles like Super Mario 64 and get them back in the game. Like Motos here. Motos is an enemy that was designed, created and…

Massive Star Fox Leaks Include Crystal-Clear ‘Do A Barrel Roll’ And Slippy’s Angelic Voice

The internet was recently set ablaze by a dump of Nintendo assets known as the “Gigaleak.” This batch includes incredible finds, like early Yoshi prototypes and even Luigi files in Super Mario 64. But my favorite part has been hearing the Star Fox 64 cast speak with crystal-clear clarity via new digital audio files. The…

It’s True: Luigi Really Is In Super Mario 64, And Fans Are Thrilled

For nearly two and a half decades, Nintendo fans have been trying to verify that Mario’s brother Luigi was somehow hidden away in the files of Nintendo 64 classic Super Mario 64. Thanks to this weekend’s so-called “Gigaleaks”, Luigi’s Mario 64 files have been verified, finally proving one of the longest-running gaming myths to be…

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Is So Fun Right Now

I’ve played Halo: The Master Chief Collection off and on—more off than on—since it released in 2014. The serious connectivity issues that persisted well past launch were one thing, but the game also hit that fun wall all first-person shooters hit. Sometimes it takes months or years, but the run-of-the-mill players always abandon ship for…

An Unreleased Indie Game Took Over Twitch, But It Didn’t Come Out Of Nowhere

You might have had a good weekend—maybe played a video game and then moved to a different part of your home and played another game, because that’s quarantine, baby—but you probably didn’t have as good of a weekend as the developers of Fall Guys. The battle royale party game, which isn’t even out yet, shot…

Call of Duty’s Warzone Teasers Hint At Map Changes

Cryptic teasers from Infinity Ward reveal that an upcoming live event could drastically change the landscape of Warzone, including the demolition of the map’s worst landmark. Since launch in early March, Call of Duty: Warzone’s map has seen minimal visual changes, but a series of teases about the game’s upcoming season has fans speculating about…

Star Fox 2 Almost Had A Black Female Pilot With Incredible Hair, And I. Am. Smitten.

One drip of information in the deluge coming from Nintendo’s latest “Gigaleak” was source code and unused assets for Star Fox 2, including a never-before-seen human character. Completed in 1995, Nintendo shelved the game out of fear it’d look inferior to the next-gen graphics of the PlayStation. (The game was subsequently released as an unlockable…

Ghost of Tsushima Patch Adds Higher Difficulty, ‘Lower Intensity Combat’ Setting

Ghost of Tsushima receives a few game-changing options in a new update today. The 1.05 patch will include a new difficulty level, a new combat accessibility setting, and some additional options for the game’s text. The new difficulty level is called Lethal, and it sounds exactly like that: Enemies are both more aggressive and more…

August’s PlayStation Plus Games Are Fall Guys And Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered

You can scratch both your multiplayer and single-player itch with August’s PlayStation Plus games. As always, these games are only “free” if you have an active PlayStation Plus membership. August’s PlayStation Plus games are: Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Remastered Fall Guys will be available August 4-31, while you…

The Analogue Pocket Retro Game Boy Handheld Ships In May 2021

Last year, Analogue, makers of excellent high-end retro consoles like the Analogue NT (NES) and Mega SG (Sega Genesis), announced a high-def portable Game Boy console complete with its own HDMI dock, due out in 2020. Thanks to covid-19’s effect on the supply chain, the Analogue Pocket is now shipping in May of 2021, with…

How’s It Going?: Cold Brew Edition

Oh no, Monday. Welcome back to our daily open thread. I’ve gotten into cold brew lately, after a lifetime spent insisting coffee that isn’t hot isn’t worth drinking. I’ve been drinking it with milk, a coffee habit I weaned myself off of to, as I put it at the time, break free of the tyranny…

The Week In Games: Destroy All Humans Later This Week

Cult classic Destroy All Humans! returns this week with some fancy new graphics. But don’t worry, you can still probe and kill humans. And cows. I played the demo for this game a few weeks back and I’m excited to play the whole game as soon as I can. I was a big fan of…

Unreal Engine Used To Create Virtual Baseball Fans For MLB Games

Because of the novel coronavirus, the stands are not filled with people, but cardboard cutouts of fans, dogs, or even Pocket Monster plush toys. Next up, virtual baseball fans, courtesy of the Unreal Engine. As noted on Variety, Fox Sports is filling the stands at Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, Nationals Park and Petco Park with virtual…