The Sims Is Teaching Me To Appreciate Architecture

When I was in the suburbs with my family over the holiday, I saw my old hometown with new eyes. It has some fantastic architecture—lots of old Colonials and some fancy Victorians. Part of my change of heart has to do with getting older and no longer being resentful of growing up in a small…

Japan Hasn’t Given Up On The Mini-Disc Just Yet

The Mini-Disc never caught on in the U.S. But during the 1990s, the format did in its native Japan, where MD isn’t yet dead. Launching in 1991, MD was the coolest format. It was like a compact disc, but smaller (hence, Mini-Disc). Unlike CDs, it didn’t skip. You could also chuck Mini-Discs in your bag…

South Korea’s Biggest Gaming Giant Is Suddenly Up For Sale

In 1994, Kim Jung-ju founded Nexon, South Korea’s largest gaming juggernaut. He now owns NXC, Nexon’s holding company, and is putting up 98.64 percent of the stocks up for sale, worth an estimated ten billion dollars. Nexon made its name with wildly popular online games like Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds and KartRider. When…

Bright Memory is a shooter/action game made primarily by solo developer Zeng Xiancheng in his spare time. Despite that, it looks nearly as over-the-top as some triple-A games, marrying shooting and swordplay to movement that’s akin to what would happen if a Kung-Fu flick took place entirely inside a tornado. It’s coming to Steam early…

If you missed the first part of my Skies of Arcadia playthrough, it’s now available on YouTube. This is my favorite game of all time and I’ll be streaming it throughout early 2019!

It Took Three Years To Make This Pocket-Sized Wii

While not quite as elegant as the Switch, the PiiWii is one of the more sleek and practical solutions for playing Wii and GameCube games on a handheld ever modded. And it only took its creator three years to complete it. Shank Mods, who you might remember as the guy who decided to stick the…

Kieron Gillen’s New Comic Is About The ‘Sad Mess’ Of RPGs

Kieron Gillen will never forget the time that he was a female Soviet air bomber in WWII and an airplane turned his character into “soup.” Gillen was playing in Night Witches, an “intensely serious” tabletop RPG about Soviet women air bombers in World War II. His character, a surly type who had escaped Leningrad, landed…

Meditations Will Offer One Small, Free Game Every Day, All Year

A new collection called Meditations, which will eventually contain 365 games, will celebrate the value of small games. Spearheaded by Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail, the goal of the project was for “over 350 developers” to create a series of meditative games that are no longer than five minutes. Each game will be available for only one…

Fallout 76 Starts Off 2019 With Glitched Nukes

It’s the beginning of a new year, the perfect time for fresh starts. And one of 2018’s more disappointing games, Fallout 76, is in dire need of one. Unfortunately, the multiplayer survival game has kicked off 2019 with another problem: players are currently locked out of its nuke silos. Players discovered this yesterday on January…

Yes, This Is A Custom EVE Online Fish Tank

EVE Online players tend to bring their fandom into the real world in many ways: artistic propaganda, song parodies, LEGO. One player’s meatspace expression of his devotion to the MMO is pretty unique: he’s built a custom EVE aquarium, complete with a submerged Keepstar battlestation and glowing fish. During a recent remodel of his computer…

Starlink’s First Big Update Adds A Lot Of Boring Stuff

Ubisoft’s space opera Starlink: Battle For Atlas is a series of gorgeous alien worlds, a light story anda ton of repetitive filler. The game’s big holiday update, which launched shortly before Christmas, adds even more repetitive filler, which is not fun at all. I was super excited when Ubisoft announcedStarlink’s free holiday update, outlining what…

I Unexpectedly Made A Lot Of Money Telling Fortunes In Final Fantasy XIV

Lately I’ve spent a lot of time in Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix’s most recent massive multiplayer entry into the legendary game series. Often that means running dungeons for loot or fighting difficult bosses. Yesterday, it meant accidentally becoming a paid fortune teller in one of the game’s bustling metropolises. There are numerous servers to…

Star Control: Origins Pulled From Steam And GOG Due To Ongoing Legal Battle [Update]

PC stores Steam and GOG took down the video game Star Control: Origins on December 31 following DMCA takedown notices issued by two designers of the original Star Control games, Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III. Star Control: Origins, a spiritual successor to the old games, is a strategy game about exploring space in an…

Tokyo’s Best Winter Cosplay

The winter Comic Market just wrapped up in Tokyo, bringing 2018 to an end with some excellent cosplay. There was a mix of incredibly accurate and incredibly creative cosplays. Everyone who participated braved cold temperatures, so kudos to them. Have a look at some of the standouts And finally… There’s always summer Comiket!