In The Era Of ‘Live’ Games Like Fortnite And Overwatch, Sequels Are Changing

There was a time when a sequel meant something. I don’t mean that in a wistful, “back in my day” sort of way. I mean that it largely meant one thing: A separate, new game with a shiny “2” somewhere in its title. Then expansions blurred the line, and patches blurred it even more. Now…

Xbox’s Big Annual Event Was A Disappointment

London, England—Microsoft’s fan festival X019 was a weird mix of goodie bags and over-priced hot dogs, but what exactly was it meant to accomplish? On the big opening night, the final number through the door was 880. Xbox hadn’t quite filled the 1000-capacity Copper Box Arena, but close enough, and that was surely some sort…

Minecraft Dungeons Is The Kiddie Diablo

Blizzard hasn’t tried to hide the fact that it’s going very, very dark on Diablo 4. In the game’s announcement trailer, shown at BlizzCon earlier this month, a trio of adventurers were eviscerated, their insides woven into a hideous flesh cape to be worn by the demon Lilith. Minecraft Dungeons doesn’t go quite so hard…

Hearthstone‘s New Battlegrounds Mode Isn’t Meant To Be Competitive, Designers Say

 Hearthstone’s always had a sense of playfulness; Tavern Brawls and wacky solo adventures change the rules and add bizarre new baddies. The game’s new auto-battler mode Battlegrounds follows in that vein, offering chaos and complexity that should appeal to both newbies and hardcore players. Battlegrounds, which was announced at Blizzcon earlier this month, adds a…

How To Kill Jedi: Fallen Order‘s Oggdo Bogdo More Easily

The key to beating one of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s earliest optional boss fights is to start it off with a jump attack. If that attack connects successfully, you’re golden. If not, you’re in for a world of pain. Oggdo Bogdo is a giant black alien toad on the first planet you go to…

Starting Destiny 2 Late Spared Me A Lot Of Misery

Many video games these days improve with age and a big batch of patches, which is why it often helps to play them late. Ignore the hype, laugh off the social pressure, and play this year’s games next year. Can you do it? I keep doing it with Destiny games, and it’s been great. Destiny…

How To Choose Your D&D Character Class

“What Dungeons and Dragons class should I play?” is the kind of question you could answer with a cursory quiz, but that would be a mistake. You owe it to yourself—and to your D&D dungeon master—to think holistically about character class, maybe the most important choice you’ll make in a D&D game. Picking the right…

I Didn’t Realize How Much I Love Suspending Games Until The Outer Worlds Took That Away

The Outer Worlds begins with your character coming out of cryo-sleep. They’ve been out of commission for years as their colony ship traveled across the galaxy, but once awakened they’re able to pick up right where they left off. I’ve come to take it for granted this console generation that my games can do this…

Pokémon Sword And Shield Are Making Some TVs Shut Off [Update]

Over the weekend, some players sat down to play Pokémon Sword and Shield on their Roku TVs, only to have them get stuck frozen on the startup screen before rebooting. Roku said it’s currently working to fix the problem. “We are aware of an issue when using Nintendo Switch and the latest Pokémon game impacting…

So, About Professor Oak And Ash’s Mom In Pokémon…

For years, there has been speculation that Professor Oak and Ash’s mom Delia are totally together. As in like, doing it. If that wasn’t enough (and really, it’s not), there is even the notion that Professor Oak is Ash’s absent father. That, though, would mean that Ash is Gary’s uncle. Which is nuts. So, if…

Final Fantasy VII Remake‘s Tifa Voice Actor Has Gotten Threats

In 2005’s Kingdom Hearts II, Ayumi Ito first voiced Tifa Lockhart and since then has continued to be the character’s Japanese voice. Naturally, she will be returning for next year’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, but sadly, she has recently received threats of violence. The Sankei News reports that earlier this summer, a woman in her…

Capcom has announced Street Fighter V: Champion Edition, a bundle that includes almost everything released as part of both Street Fighter V and its Arcade Edition. That’s “40 characters, 34 stages and over 200 costumes.” It’s out in February 2020 for PS4 and Steam and will cost $30

Google Panics, Adds 10 More Games To Stadia’s Launch Lineup

Perhaps spooked by the fact the only people who seem to care about the impending launch of their Stadia home streaming platform are those noting everything wrong with it, Google has at the 11th hour—this thing is released in two days, on November 19!—almost doubled the number of games that’ll be available when it goes live.…

An Australian Pokémon Game Would Be Amazing

We’ve had Hawaiian Pokémon, we’ve had British Pokémon, and after seeing this incredible fan art project by VivinkArt, I’m convinced it’s time for an Australian Pokémon next. It all began a few months back as a simple joke: (Yeahnah is incredibly common and mighty useful Australian slang that basically means yeah, I understand and/or empathize…