Inside Japan’s First Nintendo Store

This week, Nintendo Tokyo will open its doors to the general public. Today was a press preview, allowing for a peek inside for what to expect. Naturally, there is a ton of merch, including some excellent Japan-only items. The statues and the store layout look nice! There is also a Pokémon Center right next door!

The Beauty Of the Japanese Countryside. Hyogo, Japan. By Brian Ashcraft | Twitter 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!

Prepped For Launch

Tom Straughan is an artist based in Germany. You can see more of Tom’s stuff at his ArtStation page

Huh, They Even Redesigned Sonic’s Sneakers

Sonic’s well-received cinematic make-over didn’t just make changes to the hedgehog’s eyes, nose and mouth. Even his sneakers, done in collaboration with Puma, got a rework. In the original, nightmarish trailer, Sonic was wearing a very real pair of Puma Speed 500s (pictured above), and back in May there were plansfor Puma and Sega to…

Modders Add Cut Pokémon To Sword & Shield

Now that Sword & Shield is out, fans are free to pick through the game’s code, and of course one of the first things that’s being done is the addition of some Pokémon that didn’t actually make it into the game SciresMfrom Project Pokémon has posted some video showing off the work he’s done so…

Google’s Stadia Just Ain’t It [Updated]

Google’s game-streaming platform Stadia is finally here tomorrow. I’ve had a week to tinker around with the Founder’s Edition. It has the Stadia controller, a Chromecast Ultra, and a charger with a USB cable you can also use to plug into your PC or laptop for playing inside of a Chrome browser. Most of my…

Upcoming Undertale Live Show Will Let Audiences Choose The Outcome

Many games have multiple branching paths where players decide who lives and who dies, indie role-playing game mega-hit Undertale chief among them. Very few (possibly zero?) concerts can boast the same thing. Undertale Live, then, will be a unique experience pretty much no matter how it pans out. Undertale Live is, first and foremost, a…

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…