Inside The Ghosting, Racism, And Exploitation At Game Publisher Nicalis

At E3 in June of 2015, the game designer David Crooks was hanging out across the street from the L.A. Convention Center when he met a man named Tyrone Rodriguez. Crooks needed support for the console versions of his quirky top-down dungeon crawler, Enter the Gungeon, and Rodriguez’s company, Nicalis, seemed willing to help out.…

We Are Starting To Suspect That ‘National Video Games Day’ Might Be A Nonsense Holiday

Did you know that today is National Video Games Day? We didn’t. In fact, we are getting an inkling that this might not be a real holiday. This piece was first published on September 12, 2017. We’re bumping it today because National Video Games Day is, supposedly, still a thing Kotaku found out earlier today,…

Craig Of The Creek Uses Pokémon As A Perfect Metaphor For Growing Up

In “The Evolution of Craig” episode of Cartoon Network’s refreshingly pure animated series Craig of the Creek, our young hero struggles with the idea of growing up and the fear of transforming into a different, older person. With a tadpole taking the place of a pocket monster, Craig learns a Pokémon-inspired lesson about the benefits…

Nintendo’s New Fitness Game Puts Joy-Cons In Strange Places

Nintendo is heading back into the fitness business with Ring Fit Adventure, a new game where you strap a Joy-Con onto your leg, put another in a big squeezy new peripheral and flail about like nobody’s watching. Here is the game’s first trailer—it looks like a surprisingly decent use of RPG mechanics, given the fitness…

Zelda: Link’s Awakening‘s Chamber Dungeons Are A Big Disappointment

The appeal of a Zelda dungeon is in its intricacy. A good dungeon starts off feeling overwhelming, full of buttons and doors and strange obstacles. As you make progress, solving puzzles and acquiring items, it all slowly begins to make sense. You get a complete understanding of how the passages flow and the rooms all…

HTC’s latest PC virtual reality headset, the Vive Cosmos, goes up for preorder today for $699, with its global release on October 3. The set features a pair of 1440 x 1700 displays running at 90 Hz, satellite-free tracking, and a flip-up design, and comes with a year’s subscription to the Viveport Infinity game and…

The Motorcycles Of The Tokyo Game Show

I’ve been coming to the Tokyo Game Show since 2004, but this is the first year I remember seeing bikes of any sort at the booths. While they’re not road-ready, they are prime for picture taking. Makes sense! Both Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy VII Remake feature motorcycles. Neither of these bikes actually move. They’re props…

Yakuza 7‘s Big Changes Are Looking Good

Since 2005, Sega has been churning out Yakuza games. They’ve pretty much all followed the same formula: beat-’em-up action, mini-games, some silliness, and riveting drama. Yakuza 7 is different, trading button mashing for role-playing-game-style commands. Gameplay-wise, this is a significant departure for the series. It stars new series protagonist Ichiban Kasuga. This is not his…

Surely, This Has To Be The Biggest Arcade Cabinet In The World

Towering over the Taito booth at this year’s Tokyo Game Show is an enormous Space Invaders cabinet. Just look. It’s huge! The cabinet isn’t open for demos. I asked a representative at the booth if it’s possible to play the cabinet, and he told me that while it’s not open for demos because its height…

Project Resistance Is The Latest Resident Evil Game

First teased earlier this week, here’s the first proper look at Project Resistance, an upcoming 4v1 “asymmetrical co-op experience” set in the Resident Evil universe. Four players can team up as regular humans and play as survivors, where they can run around, interact with stuff together and try to escape a secret facility, while one…

They Came From The Future

Fernando Correa is a freelance artist based in Argentina. You can see more of Correa’s stuff at his ArtStation page

The One Punch Man Fighting Game Handles Its Overpowered Hero In A Quirky Way [Update]

Saitama is called “One Punch Man” because that’s all it takes for him to level foes. How the heck does that work in a three-on-three fighting game? Interestingly. Yesterday I checked out the upcoming One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows at Bandai Namco headquarters. It’s yet another fighting game adaptation of an anime, but…

Nintendo Suing Another ROM Site Into Oblivion

Nintendo filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the site RomUniverse, looking for millions of dollars after accusing the site of “brazen and mass scale infringement.” Sometimes, when Nintendo sets its lawyers on a site, it can be contentious, because the targets are small fan-run operations hosting retro releases that it can be argued are doing…

The Internet Reacts To Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ New Outfits

Tactical dating simulator Fire Emblem: Three Houses received a sizable update this morning, giving folks some more stuff to play around with as they alternate between leading teenagers into battle and attempting to woo the guy or gal of their digital dreams. In addition getting several new auxiliary battles and an extra-difficult mode for the…