Games Should Let You Skip Boss Fights, Nintendo Shouldn't Brick Switches Over Piracy, And More Of The Week's Top Takes

In a gaming world increasingly built out of Soulslikes, where the concept of the boss battle becomes the central game mechanic, some of us have been left behind. I have always hated boss fights, and while I have no interest in convincing anyone else to agree with me, I have long lamented the lack of accommodation made for the many other people who are already with me. But, sniff the air, something’s changing. - John Walker Read More

On May 5, Xbox announced a new remaster of the original 2006 Gears of War. Yes, this is the second time Xbox has remastered Gears of War. But this time, Xbox is doing something that a decade ago would have seemed extremely unlikely: Gears of War Reloaded is coming to PlayStation 5. And while it’s not the first time Xbox has brought an exclusive to PlayStation, it’s still really weird! - Zack Zwiezen Read More

With Bethesda’s (sort of) surprise announcement of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Remastered, you might find that there are some out there who’d try to encourage you to play fan-made Morrowind remakes instead. Ignore those people, they’re cowards and fools. You should be playing Daggerfall right now, like any right-minded person. And with Daggerfall Unity, you can enjoy the all-time classic RPG in HD widescreen entirely for free. - John Walker Read More

As you’ve probably heard, Grand Theft Auto VI just got a brand new trailer, giving us our best look yet at the world, characters, and story of Rockstar’s upcoming crime epic. The trailer tells us a lot more about the game’s leading couple, Lucia and Jason, and takes time to emphasize the atmosphere of GTA VI’s Florida-inspired setting, at one point showing Jason cruising down the highway listening to “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” by Wang Chung as an airplane flies overhead. And man, am I here for it. However, I see some folks on social media criticizing the trailer for not showing gameplay, suggesting that we can’t know if GTA VI is actually worth our interest until we see what it’s like to play it. I don’t fault anyone for feeling that way, but it’s not an argument that lands with me. For me, at this point Grand Theft Auto is probably more about vibes, environment, characters, story, and immersion than anything else. We know Rockstar can handle the gameplay stuff. It’s everything else I still need to be sold on. - Carolyn Petit Read More

Grand Theft Auto 6's second trailer is packed with a lot of action, crime, and vehicular mayhem. This is the kind of stuff you expect to see in a GTA game. But what it also contains is something we’ve never really seen before in a Grand Theft Auto sequel: a couple cuddling and having a real relationship. And that’s the part of GTA 6 that surprised me the most. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

I finally got to play the Switch 2. It happened as part of a demo here at PAX East, and though my time with the system was brief (and I wasn’t even allowed to look at the console itself as it was hidden beneath a demo station), it did give me a chance to play around with one of the features I was most curious about: the mouse controls. I don’t typically play games on my PC, and when I do, I don’t often use my mouse if I can help it. However, I’m always interested in control methods that can bridge the gap between styles of play we typically associate with other platforms. PlayStation’s touch pads have given console players a trackpad equivalent, for instance, so naturally, someone needed to build a proper mouse into a console controller at some point. I found a surprisingly convincing tech demo for the Switch 2’s mouse controls in Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster. The specific playing experience I had wasn’t ideal, but it did sell me on the tech. - Kenneth Shepard Read More

Nintendo’s crackdown on all things tangentially related to potential piracy continues, but this time the company is turning its ire on its customers, rather than those who might distribute hacks or ROMs or, um, join a Reddit. According to a change in the Nintendo Account User Agreement, as spotted by Game File’s Stephen Totilo, the Mario monolith claims the right to deliberately brick your Switch if you’re caught modifying your hardware. And, look, Nintendo, none of this is going to achieve anything you’re hoping for. - John Walker Read More