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Some Things I Noticed In Super Mario Odyssey

I did not get to play Super Mario Odyssey at E3 2017. However, my colleagues did, and I got to study 20 minutes of delicious footage they captured. I spent too much time frame-by-frame studying the glorious dust cloud effects when Mario butt-stomps. I also noticed an overt “Glengarry Glen Ross” reference in the New…

Nintendo Announces SNES Classic, Which Comes With 21 Stellar Games [UPDATE]

Forget the NES Classic—this is the vintage system we’ve been waiting for. Nintendo today announced the Super Nintendo Classic, which will be out on September 29 for $80 and come with 21 games including the previously unreleased Star Fox 2 The lineup, which is excellent, also includes Earthbound, Final Fantasy III, Link to the Past,…

Kingdom Hearts II Is Full Of Bad Romances And Rad Bromances

The latest in the Boss Fight Books series, available tomorrow, is Kingdom Hearts II by veteran games writer Alexa Ray Corriea. In the exclusive chapter excerpt below, she discusses one of the most intriguing aspects of the Square-Disney crossover’s plot: eschewing boy-girl romance in favor of themes of male intimacy. When I played Kingdom Hearts…

Final Fantasy XV’s Off-Roading Looks Ridiculous 

The Final Fantasy XV 1.2 update is live, bringing an off-road upgrade to the Regalia. Called Regalia Type-D, it lets you drive all over the place and make some sweet jumps.  The 8.65GB update fixes bugs, adds Episode Prompto compatibility, and includes Episode Prompto music. It also makes off-roading possible. The Type-D option is available…

Shadow Of The Colossus Was Unfinished, And Better Because Of It

Shadow Of The Colossus was broken, unpolished, and incomplete, and the upcoming remake shouldn’t try to fix that. Technically, Team Ico did complete Shadow Of The Colossus. It shipped in 2005. You could put the disc in a PS2 and experience what would become one of the most iconic adventures in gaming. But a much…

Pokémon Go Players Are Making Themed Gyms With The New Update

In the main Pokémon games, every gym had a shtick, or at least a type affinity. In real-life Pokémon Go gyms, players often had to face the same handful of monsters over and over again. While that’s still true to some degree now, the big gym overhaul also makes it possible for players to set…

A Game Where You Slap A Watermelon To Learn About The Existential Horror Of Being A Watermelon 

The Revolutionary Watermelon came out of the Watermelon Game Jam I covered a few months ago. Unlike the other games that came out of that joke, however, this one actually uses a watermelon as a controller. In the game you play as a self-away fruit trying to escape its circumstances. The music and sound design…

868-HACK is getting an expansion next month according to a tweet by creator Michael Brough. Arriving first on iOS in 2013 and then Steam a couple years later, 868-HACK is a brilliant, beautiful puzzle game that totally deserves more levels, or even a sequel. (H/T Rock, Paper, Shotgun). 

We’ve mostly recovered from the E3 flu, which means it is time for some PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds live now on our Twitch channel Fingers crossed for a Kar98, 8x scope, and a suppressor.

Fan Transforms Old Game Boy Advance SP Into A Nintendo Switch Dock

This used to be an ordinary Game Boy SP until DIY-er Alexander Blake decided to make it into a retro-accessory for his Switch. It’s a lot more work and less sturdy than the one that comes packaged with the console, but you have to admit it looks way cooler. “In the process of tinkering with…

Green. Providence, Rhode Island. By Keven Lopez. JPGs is a photo peek into wherever gamers might find interesting. If you’re a photographer and have images you want to share, drop us a line! 

Mod Turns Stellaris Into Star Trek

If you thought Paradox’s grand strategy game Stellaris sounded very Star Trekky with its big alien alliances and deep space exploration, you are not alone. Star Trek: Infinities is an ambitious mod project that is overhauling the base game’s factions and ships with those from Star Trek. It’s a good fit! I guess Mass Effect…

Robberies, Injuries, And Lapses: This Year’s E3 Had Some Alarming Security Incidents

Attendees walking in with badges obscured. Security declining to approach an injured show-goer. Robberies, one allegedly carried out by security guards. No metal detectors, no bag checks. E3 2017, by many accounts, had significant issues with crowd control and security. This year’s E3 Expo was the first in the gaming trade show’s 22-year history to…

Pokémon Go Players Are Fighting Gym Raids Against Magikarp, Of All Monsters

Our beautiful, splashy fish son can now occasionally be found as a boss fight in Pokémon Go. Earlier this week, Pokémon Go’s gyms were redone and revamped. One of the new additions are “raids,” which are timed events where powerful monsters take over a gym. Raids come in five different tiers of difficulty, and the…

How To Take Down Susano, FFXIV Stormblood’s First Primal

Primal battles in Final Fantasy XIV are massive spectacles that pit a group of players against powerful creatures that usually show up in the series as summons. Stormblood’s first primal, Susano, gets more massive than most, but a well-coordinated group can take him down pretty easy. Susano is a take on Susanoo, the Shinto god…

Pokémon Go’s New Gyms Are Off To A Rocky Start [UPDATE: Coin Problem Fixed]

Pokémon Go’s big gym overhaul hasn’t been live for very long, but many players already dislike some of the new mechanics. PokeCoins, as many of you know, are the currency of Pokémon Go—you can use coins to purchase shop items, such as incubators (150 coins) and lures (100 coins.) Previously, players could install monsters at gyms,…

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered Goes Standalone For $40

Last year, Activision included a remastered version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare with every high-end copy of Infinite Warfare. But lots of people wanted to buy Modern Warfare separately, and now that’s finally an option—for forty bucks. On Tuesday, June 27, Modern Warfare Remastered will be available both physically and digitally for PS4, with “other…

Overwatch‘s Confusing Reporting System Is Making Trolling Worse

When a player reports an abusive teammate in Overwatch, the most common response is rarely fear, regret, or even an apology. It’s “go ahead!” Overwatch’s reporting system is opaque, like any game’s, but word on the street is that it’s toothless. As someone who spends roughly 10 hours a week playing Overwatch, I’ve seen toxicity…

Hardcore Destiny Players Will Get Emblems In Destiny 2

We’re just two-and-a-half months away from Destiny 2, a video game that I cannot wait to play obsessively and complain about even more obsessively. But what will I get to bring over from the first game? Emblems, as it turns out. Among other surprises. Destiny fans have been bracing for the loss of their weapons…

Celebrate Sonic‘s 26th Birthday With A Little Traveling Music

Just in time to kick off Sonic the Hedgehog’s 26th year, the folks at Overclocked Remix release Speeding Towards Adventure, a free 23-track album celebrating a quarter of a century that went by in a blue blur. The great thing about the Sonic franchise is that no matter how good or bad the games released…