The Big N is celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda series by remaking a remake of an N64 classic, as per their standard practice, much like with the latest Lylat Wars remake. The only reason it caught my eye was the redesigns of the characters and the world. I think most people would’ve preferred seeing the remake model itself after the original artwork and visual flavour the N64 original had, rather than taking cues from 

That's what my better half said after I showcased her some of Palworld's Pals. Specifically the go-to cute ones. The game still needs its giraffe, but maybe some day down the line. Let me muse about Palworld for a moment. The game hit its 1.0 release recently and I was playing it with friends during my time-off from work and other things (like writing.) I gave the single-player mode a go, but found that it has less drive to it than teaming up with two other knuckleheads who concentrate on different things.

With the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6, we’re seeing the digital future people were selling to me twenty years ago. Instead of games getting cheaper now that the physical discs are slooooowly vanishing, we’re paying about a hundred bucks for ’em. GTA6 will still see a store release, with a code in a box. Publishers recognise people still want to walk into a store and buy (or order online) something that they can own, something that is theirs.

I’ve written these same words in different orders throughout the years now. I don’t enjoy seeing Xbox imploding on itself because of gross mismanagement, standard bad Microsoft practices and absolutely stupid use of money. Hell, if Microsoft had been visionary, they would’ve tackled Steam way ahead of the game, but if we’re real for a moment,  that’s not the sort of thing Microsoft excels at in any manner.

Games and art share a common spot in the Calvinistic world view; they’re both largely useless entertainment that are suited for children and are not considered a suitable profession. If you’ve ever visited art galleries, you probably have heard at least some mutter that their five-year old child could do the same kind of painting. Nevertheless, the art world is as serious as it can get.

I’ve covered this topic before, but I need to expand it a bit. The English language doesn’t have a word making a distinction between playing (a game) and playing (with a toy.) For example, Finnish has two words for these two distinctly different actions: pelata (to play ) and leikkiä (to play.) Arguably, gaming has become an activity of its own, but it applies strictly to video and computer games.

At times I really have to wonder what's with Nintendo, but then I recall that they've always been jealous when another company does something better with their IP than they themselves. I'm almost certain there hasn't been a new F-Zero because they don't want it to take any light away from Mario Kart, which allows them change the format however they want, and that AM2 did 

Adjustments to some English localization text. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ▶ In-game Net User Comments やめろ Old: END FASCISM New: SO...

Ampere Analysis presented a study earlier this year where they concluded that women make up 48% of the gaming community. We can say that’s effectively half. That’s approximately 922 million people across 21 countries. Big numbers for sure. Supposedly, the gaming industry is largely ignoring this major possible market segment, as there is a serious lack of games for women who would like to play story-driven single-player games with a social aspect and romance.

 I’ve been on a Mega Man bent this month. (I’ll write about something else in the upcoming weeks; I just need a bit more crunching time on it.) Replayed the NES Mega Man games, and then turned to replay MM 11, 10 and 9 in that backward order. I admit I have a bias against the retro-throwback duology, and for a good reason; they’re also mechanical and design throwbacks when it comes to the game series.

Whenever I see someone asking why there isn’t a collection for the Mega Man Legends games, I point them to the Japanese-exclusive PSP ports. Of course, these get ignored as they’re in Japanese and don’t fit the schema that the Legends series doesn’t have a port on then- and now-current consoles and Steam. The PSP ports are important, however. That handheld console was the locus for Mega Man trying to get a new start.

A mass distortion event at the local university JADE COVE UNIVERSITY Founded: 1898Location: Coastal academic enclaveReputation: Liberal arts, anthropology, comparative religion One of the founding …

I believe you are in league with the butcher

Highguard is an interesting case study. It’s a game that developed within a safe bubble among a curated number of people, got a massive push at an awards gala, and then launched a generic, corporate-like PR campaign. Sure, let’s call the devs independent while ignoring the money they got from big investors, who put millions into the game. The culture…

"I've got Oration, I'll sing at the ghost!"