Artist Completely Redraws Final Fantasy IV‘s World Map

Final Fantasy IV’s pixelated original overworld and all the locations on it got a beautiful facelift from artist TJ Townsend. Now it looks like a proper world map from a modern JRPG. And he recorded the entire process and shared it on YouTube. Pretty cool to see how it all came together. The best part…

Army of Darkness As An NES Metroidvania Game

The setting and the story of the third Evil Dead movie would have been perfect for a Metroidvania game. Something similar to the first Castlevania. We never had one, so CineFix imagined how it’d look. The biting Necronomicon would have been a tough boss fight, that’s for sure. And instead of a whip, Ash would…

Behold, The Zelda Ukulele

Dubbed the Ocalele of Time, this is an Ocarina of Time-inspired, handmade ukulele that also happens to look like an ocarina (albeit with tiny guitar parts attached). It was made by Nobo13, a man on a mission to craft one ukulele a month. He’s made two other gaming-themed instruments so far: one with a Triforce…

Anime Actor’s Cocaine Arrest Proves You Should Never Do Drugs in Japan

You’re an adult. It’s your life. Your body. Make your own choices. But if I’m going to offer one bit of advice, it’s this: Don’t do illegal drugs in Japan. Just don’t. Case in point: The Japanese media reported that voice actor Ai Takabe, who starred in the comedy-slice of life anime Kill Me Baby,…

How To Improve Fortune Cookies: Add Cats

Fortunes are nice and all, but getting little felines in your cookies are way better. IT Media reports that these cat cookies are available via Japanese site Felissimo. Each one comes with a small cat that is as big as a fifty yen coin—which is about the size of an American nickel. Japanese websites like…

Japan Now Has Anime Contact Lenses 

And they’re called, wait for it, “Anime Contact.” Clever! For well over a decade, there have been contacts designed to make your eyes look larger. These aren’t just worn by cosplayers, but regular folks, too. The difference here is that these lenses attempt to make your eyes not only look expressive, but like they belong…

Like those cool masks Destiny is offering for Halloween? Bill and Brittany Doran from Punished Props can show you how to bypass the game and make your own.

Here’s A Ton Of Concept Art From Halo 5

Back in 2012, wefeatured the work Kory Hubbell—a concept artist at 343—did for Halo 4. With Halo 5 now out, we’re circling around and checking out his contributions to the latest game in the series. You can see more of Kory’s art at his personal site and ArtStation page To see the larger pics in…

Assassin’s Creed vs 2015

Cosplay superstars Rick and Dominique Boer were picked up by Ubisoft to do a little marketing for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, filmed as they run around Antwerp doing old-timey things. Looking at their costumes here (and their acting), it’s not hard to see why. OK, so they’re not going to win any Academy Awards, but notice…

When A Game Is Busted, But You Can’t Stop Playing

For the last week I’ve been trying to enjoy a most unexpected game: Emergency 2016. I say unexpected because it’s a broken piece of shit, and yet…I can’t stop playing it. On paper, and in screenshots, it looks so cool. You take control of a mythical German super agency that coordinates all kinds of emergency…

Studio Wanted To Sue Kojima For “Ripping Off” Escape From New York

THR has a great interview with John Carpenter up on their site, and tucked away neatly in one corner of it is some interesting stuff about a Metal Gear lawsuit that never was. While discussing an old lawsuit between Canal+ (co-owners of Carpenter’s classic Escape From New York) and Luc Besson ’s 2012 film Lockout…

A Dog Butt Game Controller, Built With Disabled Gamers In Mind

Butt Sniffin Pugs is a game controlled by a giant tennis ball and a stuffed dog butt. And yet, the game is more than just a joke. I got to play a bit of the game—which sees dogs run around in highly interactive environments and gain new powers like bite and pee by sniffing butts…

How Fast Can Valve’s FPS Characters Actually Run?

Let’s find out, courtesy of some clever sums by Vlad Tretiak (top image by Segaman) Picking apart Valve’s Source engine, and translating distance in the engine into actual real-world units of measurement, he’s been able to determine both the “standard constant movement speed” and “maximum possible movement speed” (ie, using items or bonuses) of some…

A Horror Game Where Enemies Die After You Flip Them Off

Some horror games hand the player a gun, while others force them to run and hide. The Night That Speaks goes another route: flipping your middle finger. Inspired by August’s GBJam, whose theme was Nintendo’s archaic handheld, Adam R. and Guy T.—their last names aren’t listed on the game’s site—created The Night That Speaks. It’s…

​Tips For Playing Divinity: Original Sin: Enhanced Edition

Divinity: Original Sin is a really cool game, but it’s not all that interested in holding your hand. It can be complicated and challenging, and some early difficulty spikes may leave new players feeling a bit burned. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to make your first hours in the game go…