The Latest Sims 4 Expansion Is Fascinating, But Not Because Of Mermaids

There are a lot of things I like about Island Living, today’s new Sims 4 expansion. Almost none of them are the new mechanics that come with the pack. Mermaids, the new “occult” type of Sim that comes with Island Living, are ho-hum. Mermaids have their hygiene need replaced with “hydration,” but there’s not a…

Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night, As Told By Steam Reviews

What is a Kickstarter-funded spiritual successor to Castlevania? Either a miserable or non-miserable pile of secrets (and gameplay mechanics), depending on which Steam reviewer you talk to. Whether they love it or feel lukewarm about it, like Kotaku’s Joshua Rivera, nobody’s pretending Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night is something that it’s not. This, pretty much…

John Wick Hex Is A Portal Into John Wick’s Mind

At a Keanu Reeves-filled E3 last week, I played a demo of John Wick Hex, a forthcoming action game directed and written by Mike Bithell, the creator of acclaimed indie games Thomas Was Alone and Volume. Playing John Wick Hex was like being transported inside of the titular assassin’s mind via a mashup of the…

Super Neptunia RPG Is Cute But Shallow, Which Is Exactly What I Wanted

While Idea Factory’s Hyperdimension Neptunia began in 2010 as a 3D turn-based role-playing game, spin-off titles have reimagined the series as a turn-based tactics game, a co-op beat-em up, a faux MMORPG and even a retro side-scrolling shooter. The latest spin-off, Super Neptunia RPG, traps the series’ CPU goddesses in a 2D platforming realm, where…

Valve’s New Auto Chess Game Is Already Way More Popular Than Artifact Ever Was

The failure of Dota-themed trading card game Artifact might have left Valve with egg on its face, but the company has now scraped off that egg and made an omelette with Dota Underlords. Valve’s take on the obscenely popular Auto Chess genre hit a peak of nearly 180,000 concurrent players today, almost tripling Artifact’s all-time…

Xbox Boss On Microsoft’s Struggles With Game Quality And Efforts To Improve It

Whatever the strengths of the Xbox platform, it’s long lagged behind Nintendo and Sony in terms of homegrown, exclusive video games. There have been highlights in its history and even some stellar games of late, such as last year’s Forza Horizon 4, but the Xbox One era has been rough. There have been prominent cancellations,…

Neon-Soaked Shooter Amid Evil Really Hits The Spot

Sometimes, you just wanna play a damn shooter. You want some gnarly weapons, some mazes to wander in, and no particular justification for blowing up whatever demons cross your path. Amid Evil, a throwback shooter now released out of early access, channels the spirit of Heretic and Hexen for a frantic, first-person burst of blood…

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

The weekend is for going rock climbing! I’m taking a class to learn to belay people so I can say “no, no, I’ll hold the rope” and cover up my ridiculous fear of heights. The weekend is also for playing video games. I’m really enjoying Lovely Planet 2, which looks relaxing but is actually twitchy…

Sexting With A Robot Is Just About As Weird As You’d Expect

Does anyone remember Cleverbot, the sort-of-not-really AI that you could sort-of-not-really have a conversation with? It was really popular around the time I was sitting my Italian exam at university, circa 2011. I know this because I asked it if it could help me learn Italian, and it replied: “pizza, pizza, spaghetti cappuccino.” Thanks, Cleverbot.…

The Netflix Release Of Neon Genesis Evangelion Is Missing Its Iconic Ending Theme

All 26 episodes of legendary anime Neon Genesis Evangelion are now available for streaming on U.S. Netflix, but there’s something missing. The end credits theme, Claire Littley’s beautiful version of “Fly Me to the Moon”, has been replaced. That’s disappointing. This week’s Netflix release of Neon Genesis Evangelion marks the first time fans in the…

YouTuber Etika Reported Missing Following Mental Health Struggles

Gaming YouTuber Desmond “Etika” Amofah has been missing for over 36 hours, the New York Police Department reports. His disappearance comes at the end of a long and public battle with mental health that, on Wednesday night, culminated in an eight-minute video in which Amofah discusses his struggles with suicidal ideation. Walking down the street,…

I’m The Only Person Playing Harry Potter: Wizards Unite In My Area

The first week that Pokémon Go came out, it was all my friends wanted to do or talk about, and we weren’t the only ones. Whenever I went on a jog around my neighborhood, I’d run into people of all ages and backgrounds at every PokéStop and gym on my journey. I expected the same…

What Tetsuya Nomura Actually Said About Tifa’s Breasts In The Final Fantasy 7 Remake

This past Wednesday, like every Wednesday, summaries of the leaked Weekly Famitsu appeared online in Japanese. The magazine doesn’t go on sale until Thursday, and this week’s leaks, along with some insufficient translations, have created confusions of what exactly Tetsuya Nomura said regarding Tifa Lockhart’s body in the Final Fantasy 7 remake. As pointed out…

We Went Hunting In Monster Hunter: Iceborne

Just in time for the beta this weekend, here’s a brand new video from E3 in which Tim and I play the upcoming Monster Hunter World: Iceborne expansion. We take a photo with one of the monsters that you’ll get a chance to slay in the game, lob off a couple tails, and then try…

Iconic Anime Characters Made Realistic And Freaky-Looking

Sazae-san is the longest-running animated TV show in the world. Debuting in 1969, the anime is iconic in its native Japan. People have grown up with the characters, and now they get to see them all real and creepy-like. This is what the characters in Sazae-san usually look like. The main character is Sazae, who…

Tokyo Tower. Tokyo, Japan. By ShuYung Wu. 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!