Valve Makes Steam Reviews More Useful

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Steam reviews exert powerful sway over people’s purchasing decisions. For a while, though, they weren’t actually all that indicative of people’s feelings toward certain games. We live in a time of constant updates. Whether a game’s in Early Access, receiving regular post-launch updates, or the creator of Stardew Valley is…

That’s No Moon…It’s A Video Game Space Station

Space combat/trading MMO EVE Online has a new expansion called Citadel. Even as someone who doesn’t play the game, I am very impressed by the scale of what’s going on here. I mean…look at the size of those stations. These are things that groups of players in the game can actually build, own and use,…

An MMO Where Your Character Can Grow Old And Die

No one lives forever. In Chronicles ofElyria, even video game characters’ days are numbered. In this age of survival games like Ark: Survival Evolved and Rust, plenty of large-scale multiplayer games have made death a thing of grave consequence. Usually, though, it’s pretty binary: you’re either alive or you’re (perma) dead. In Elyria, even if…

Oculus Rift Pre-Order Issues Have Only Gotten More Confusing

Even though Oculus is woefully behind in shipping Rift pre-orders to customers, the company has courted more controversy by moving forward with its retail plans, which includes letting people buy Rifts at places like Best Buy. “For many, this is a first chance to jump into truly immersive VR,” reads a company blog post explaining…

Indie Shooter Alien Wasteland Hit With Cease And Desist By Wasteland 2 Devs

Alien Wasteland is a rudimentary looking first-person-shooter made by a single person. It looks pretty darn different from Wasteland 2, the gritty strategy game from inXile Entertainment. Nonetheless, the developer behind Alien Wasteland was recently issued a cease and desist from the creators of Wasteland 2 Alien Wasteland’s new name is Action Alien after nXile…

Marvel’s New Punisher Comic Gives Frank Castle Big New Problems

Frank Castle doesn’t say a word in the first issue of his new series. He really doesn’t need to. At the height of his popularity in the 1980s, the Punisher’s war on crime was shown in stories that were almost exclusively narrated by the lead character. Frank Castle would tersely describe his worldview and methodology…

The Last Leviathan is one of the more ambitious Steam Greenlight games I’ve seen. It’s about building a physics-based ship and sailing the open seas of ancient Middenhir. You’ll encounter everything from rival ships to mythical monsters to physics puzzles to secrets. It’ll be out later this year.

Overwatch Won’t Launch With Competitive Mode

Toward the end of its closed beta, Overwatch got an update that included ranked play and seasons. For some, it was the final piece of the puzzle, the competitive aspect that’d keep them coming back. Blizzard, however, is revamping it. Overwatch game director Jeff Kaplan explained in a forum post: “We worked extremely hard to…

An Intro To The World of Dark Souls Hitbox Porn

You do all sorts of dodging in a Dark Souls game, sometimes by the skin of your teeth. Perhaps a blade just barely passes over your head, saving you from an instant death. Dark Souls fans call these moments hitbox porn. You might not notice hitbox porn when it happens; it becomes most apparent upon…

Star Wars vs Studio Ghibli [Update]

Inspired by CG+’s Star Wars: Reimaginedcontest (which we’ve already covered, and which he missed out on entering), artist Lap Pun Cheung has drawn a few images of his own taking the galaxy far, far away and injecting it up to its eyeballs with Studio Ghibli’s aesthetic. We actually showcased Cheung’s work fairly recently, but this…

A Pizza Box Made Out Of Pizza, For When You Want Pizza In Your Pizza

Tired of watching customers waste cardboard and obviously bored out of his mind, Sean Berthiume of Vinnie’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn created a pizza container out of another pizza. Because pizza. For just $40 people in the New York City area tired of being surrounded by stacks and stacks of pizza boxes can instead surround themselves…

Dishonored 2 Will Be Out In November

Dishonored 2, the sequel to one of the best games of last generation, will be out on November 11 everywhere, Bethesda said today. It’ll be out for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Developed at Arkane Studios in Lyon, France, the Dishonored sequel will let you choose between two protagonists, Corvo and Emily, both returning from…

The Best Bit Of Battleborn So Far Can Only Be Played Once [Update]

Battleborn’s prologue mission begins with a gorgeous animated sequence, followed by an excellent single-player story mission. Then it goes away. Update: Now it doesn’t! I’m currently working my way up the Battleborn ladder, completing story missions, unlocking characters and gathering gear for my eventual plunge into competitive multiplayer. I’ve played through several co-op missions on…

Video Games And The Door Problem

“So what does a game designer do? Are you an artist? Do you design characters and write the story? Or no, wait, you’re a programmer?” This blog post by Ubisoft designer Liz England was originally published on her blog in April of 2014. We liked it so much, we’re republishing it today, with her permission.…