Thirteen Things You Should Know About Metro: Last Light

The first thing I thought, while checking out Metro: Last Light during a demo presentation in a Manhattan hotel a few weeks ago, was “Another grey shooter? Seriously?” The second thing I thought was “Gee, this actually looks kind of neat.” The third thing I thought was “Okay, now I want to play the first…

You Have Three Years to Prepare for the Angry Birds Movie

After what feels like years of rumblings about a motion picture based on the world’s most popular mobile game franchise, Finnish developer Rovio makes it official: Angry Birds the movie, in theaters summer 2016. Following Marvel Studios’ lead (David Maisel, former Chairman of Marvel Studios is executive producer of the film), Rovio is producing and…

Aliens: Colonial Marines Will Make You Jump at Every Freakin’ Shadow You See

The challenge Gearbox faces in making Aliens: Colonial Marines is twofold. First, since this is an authorized product, they need to make a game that seamlessly slides into Aliens continuity. Given the way that dev studio CEO Randy Pitchford can quote chapter and verse from the movie franchise timeline, this problem seems to be well…

Morning Star Enters the Race to Redefine the Mobile First-Person Shooter

It’s not enough for developer Industrial Toys to have secured the talents of science fiction author John Scalzi and comic artist Mike Choi for their upcoming futuristic mobile shooter; they also aim to change the expectations core gamers have for their mobile games. If you’re getting a bit of a Halo vibe from this teaser…

Flashback: This new Tetris game “lacks the guns…and mayhem that appeal to young connoisseurs of American entertainment software.”

A brief exchange on Twitter yesterday got me wondering how the media covered Tetris back in the day before that game’s release. I couldn’t find a lot of previews of Tetris from the late 80’s, but I did find a few. They’re terrific… and predominantly obsessed with the idea that Tetris, made in Russia, is…

Is There Really a Hidden Message in These Phantom Pain Screenshots?

Stare at these screenshots of The Phantom Pain, the new game announced at the Spike Video Game Awards that pretty much everyone knows is really Metal Gear Solid V Ah, but do you need more evidence that this is MGSV? Then keep staring. Keep staring, because what some people might see as, say, a water…

I Won A Japanese Crane Game For the First Time

A few weeks back when I was checking out Evangelion 3.0 for the second time in the theaters, I walked into the neighboring Sega arcade. Right inside the door they had a raffle set up and anyone with a movie ticket got a free draw. Even though I didn’t win anything special, the consolation prize…

Hack and slash game Dynasty Warriors 8 has over 70 characters. That’s a lot!

School Apologizes for Student’s Stupid Tweets

Last week, shortly after an earthquake rocked Japan, a tweet tore up Twitter and pissed the country off. The tweet by @Reonandnene read, “Because of the earthquake, my house collapsed, and moreover, I cannot get out. I’m trapped under rubble. Please call for help.” The tweet raised the concern of a local fire department and…

The Professor Layton Movie is a Fun-Filled Adventure from Beginning to End

The puzzle-filled Professor Layton games comprise one of the Nintendo DS’s most popular franchises. Mixing brain teaser and occult mystical plot, the adventures of the gentleman archaeologist and his young apprentice are always enjoyable to play. There are currently five games in the main series, with another on the way in the coming year. There’s…

This NSFW Wii U Commercial Is Certainly Not from Nintendo

It’s a parody. With edited porn imagery. Yesterday, this faux commercial appeared on Japanese video site NicoNico Douga, and since then, the clip has been spreading around Japanese cyberspace. This Wii U parody plays on the “game/gayme” pun and uses some footage from Japanese gay porn A Midsummer Night’s Lewd Dream (“Manatsu no Yoru no…

Naughty Dog promises The Last of Us multiplayer won’t harm single player.

The Gameplay in Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney is an Interesting Mix of Old and New

As the title suggests, Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney crosses the mystical puzzle-solving mysteries of the Professor Layton series with the courtroom logic puzzles of Ace Attorney—but not exactly in the ways you’d expect. As you play the game, you constantly switch between Layton and Ace Attorney style gameplay. The Layton side of the game…

Why Do Erotic Game Characters Wear Such Dorky Clothes?

Japanese erotic games do feature hardcore sex scenes, but there is an “adventure” part during which players interact with fully clothed characters. While there are exceptions, those clothes are often dorky. Very, very dorky. A recent thread on 2ch, Japan’s largest bulletin board, asked why erotic game characters wear such unfashionable threads. “It’s because people…

Yoshi Looks So Weird without a Nose

Just as Mario looks strange clean shaven, Yoshi looks truly odd without his round, bulbous schnoz. Then again, so does everyone. During the recent earthquake in Japan, a Yoshi figure was unfortunately damaged, which lets us see the iconic Nintendo character in a new and somewhat unsettling light. ACK! These are two photos of the…

Sega Is Suing the Crap out of Level-5

In the West, Level-5 is perhaps best known for the Professor Layton puzzle games. In Japan, the Fukuoka-based game company is also famous for its Inazuma Eleven soccer games. Those games are at the center of a lawsuit. According to Yomiuri Online, Sega is suing Level-5 for patent infringement in the Inazuma Eleven Nintendo DS…

Nike Reckons It’s Made “The First Game Powered By Your Everyday Movement”

Nike is launching some kind of reality… video game… thing in the near future. Powered by the company’s Nike+ FuelBand wristband, they’re calling it the “the first game powered by your everyday movement.” Which it isn’t, it’s far from it, but whatever. “In a world conquered by cold”, their tease says, “you’ll have to earn…

StarCraft Hoodies Are Surprisingly Wearable

Given the game, I’d have put money on any official StarCraft hoodies looking something thrown out for free at trade events, not something people would pay good for money for. Glad I didn’t put money down, because these are OK! I mean, I wouldn’t wear them out, but the way they’re designed they look exactly…

The Fastest Way To Ruin A Wii U Controller Is With These Hideous Stickers

Japanese peripheral company Hori, in their infinite widsom, have decided that the otherwise classy Wii U pad needs a little spicing up. So they’ve released a range of decals to help transform your expensive piece of consumer electronics into something that looks like a cheap Chinese knock-off. OK, maybe that’s being a little harsh. When…

Metal Gear, Phantom Pain & Fish S**t

I’m not exactly the world’s biggest Metal Gear fan, so for me, the most enjoyable thing about the reveal of The Phantom Pain (which might or might not be Metal Gear Solid 5) wasn’t the game itself, but the emergence of its “CEO”, Joakim Mogren. And an accompanying Twitter account. While it’s a fake/joke account,…