Every few years, an obsession comes along in the gaming world that sweeps everything else off the board. Coverage of games like World Of Warcraft and Minecraft frequently takes on the tone of some kind of epidemic thriller, as reports spread of hooked kids, infuriated parents, and shattered relationships. Now, Fortnite…
Last night, Nintendo announced that just about all of the main Final Fantasy games from the PlayStation and PS2 eras were coming to their Switch console—except one. Missing from the line-up, despite the presence of Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, X-goddamn-2, and XII, was 1999's Final Fantasy VIII, a hilarious slight to a…
When Nintendo launched the Switch in March of last year, the system was missing some of the basic online functionality that is a cornerstone of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Various online-enabled games have come out since then that let you play against other people over the internet, but Nintendo has maintained…
Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft has been an iconic video game hero for decades, but all that’s ever really mattered about her character—beyond the lumpy polygons of her original model—was that she’s good at raiding tombs. Various games have indicated that she grew up in a big mansion with her father, and that he was a big…
Swing through the New York of Sony’s new PlayStation 4 exclusive, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and you’ll soon learn that Peter Parker is constantly being assaulted by sound. Gunshots, police sirens, voicemails from the various aunts, bosses, and exes that he periodically disappoints—Pete’s life is rarely quiet, a constant…
For a certain demographic, GoldenEye 007's multiplayer mode is imprinted on the mind. Say the word “Facility” (or, if you’re the neighborhood bozo, “Faculty”) and a flood of low-res grey and blue tiles are instantly conjured; mention “Slappers only!” and the body tenses in anticipation of a frantic, karate-chopping…
It has been a long time since we got a video game adaptation that considered legitimately good, not counting the stuff that dedicated fans really ate up like Warcraft or Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever, but nothing will ever stop producers from deciding that they’re the ones who will finally crack the video game adaptation…
For years, characters on sci-fi shows and police procedurals have been asking technicians to do the impossible with grainy, out-of-focus images. Suspect’s pixelated faces are transformed into crystal clear mugshots and reflections of partial license plate numbers become usable clues thanks to the vague, catch-all…
Starting a game of Tetris is one of the great meditative experiences. The blocks fall gently from the top of the screen, waiting for the player to guide them into orderly rows. Arrange the blocks properly and neatly enough and they blink out of existence, the screen ready for more tidy constructions. It’s a process of…
Rockstar Games has released a couple of trailers for Red Dead Redemption II already, but they were both centered on the story and the general tone of the game’s Wild West setting. Finally, with just a few months to go before we get what will hopefully be another heartbreaking ode to the pointlessness of cowboy…
Look, we get it: It’s probably not terribly easy being the social media team for the United States Marine Corps, an organization that is, even in the best of circumstances, a lot more likely to have its applicants be shot at than most any other career path you might hope to name. And god knows there are only so many…
In June, we reported that Showtime had ordered 10 episodes of a show based on the Halo video games, making it the latest in a very long line of attempts to turn Halo into something other than a video game (though the original spin-off novels are supposedly really good, at least according to some kids that this…
The internet has largely killed off the once-cherished art of the video game strategy guide; after all, it’s hard to get hyped for an analog guidebook when one or two quick Google searches can get you a written walkthrough, dozens of screenshots, and roughly a million Let’s Plays of every game ever created to help you…
Why does Nintendo even bother? It spends millions of dollars every year developing new Super Mario games, convincing people to spend $80 on Nintendo Switch controllers, and producing new stuffed toys based on Pokémon, when all it really needs to do is come up with new ways to sell people the same games they’ve been…
Welcome back to Trailer Happy Hour, where we track the rise and fall of pop culture properties, as expressed entirely in moody clips that feature various rock and pop songs being played in a happier or more depressing fashion than what you normally hear. Today we’ve got face tentacles, mind-controlling serial killers,…
If there’s one thing the internet has proven, it’s that there’s meme potential everywhere. While some of us walk the earth, thumbing through websites, watching movies, and playing video games with only a surface appreciation of what’s on the screen, others identify something more.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Showtime has stepped into its Mark IV Mjolnir armor and ordered 10 episodes of a show based on that Halo games. Various attempts to turn Halo into a live-action feature film or a TV show have been made since the first game came out in 2001, but Showtime has actually hired a…
Despite numerous attempts—many of them responsible for some of the strangest, most interestingly upsetting online content of the last few years—Adult Swim has never managed to match the sheer viral punch of Too Many Cooks. The 2014 short caught the internet totally off-guard when it debuted, unannounced, at 4 a.m. on…
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. published a new mobile game based on Westworld that has players blatantly disregarding the message of the show and building the best robot-murder theme park they can. One look at the details and images from the game, and anyone who’s played Fallout Shelter can tell its borrowing quite a…
Everyone has a Mario Kart character they consider “the best.” With all the fervor of a kid on a playground, explaining why their Spider-Man toy can totally whip a friend’s Batman toy’s ass, even grown adults will call on every argument in the book to defend their choice of squealing go-kart cartoon.
