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Five standalone ‘sidequels’ that are far better than their main series The bitesize masterpieces that edge out their main series counterparts.
An ever-more-common style of game is the standalone ‘sidequel’. An experience that, while not quite enough of a leap forward to be thought of as a fully-fledged sequel, still keeps the fans happy that year and can be sold separately. It’s easy to see why they prove to be a tempting prospect. Built in the same engine, reusing certain assets, and released separately from their base game, these standalone sidequels have obvious attractions for the industry. The surprising thing is that, increasingly often, they can outperform their bloated inspirations. They’re often more focused, and don’t feel the need to add interminable filler. They respect players’ time a lot more and, better…
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Video game journalism is killing itself Game journalists are killing themselves through political peacocking and attacking consumers.
The increasing irrelevancy of video game journalists Being good at games is now political. Is this a sign of the end times?
Forking hell: a decade of Devolver Digital "There was and is no ‘exit strategy' for us, nor for the vast majority of the developers we work with."
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Mario and Sonic: a tale of two mascots Super Mario Odyssey and Sonic Mania reflect the histories of their star characters almost too well.
This article contains minor gameplay spoilers for Super Mario Odyssey and Sonic Mania. Back in the early 1990s, two mascots bestrode the gaming world like platforming colossi. For a few years there in the 90s, before guns and car theft started to dominate public perception, these two basically symbolized the gaming industry. Nintendo’s Mario, the mustachioed patriarch who established the foundations on which all other platformers were built. Sega’s Sonic, the spiky challenger who promised to do what Nintendon’t. Spin dash ahead to the present day, where the gaming landscape is dominated by sports games and online shooters, and Mario and Sonic aren’t quite as central as they used to…
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The magic of video game cartography Video game maps shift and redraw the borders between real and imaginary.
“You will suffer beyond imagination!” WoW Classic player fights girlfriend while streaming Annoy this WoW nerd and you will suffer beyond imagination, you will see the punishment.
“Taiwan #1!” AngryPug hilariously trolls Chinese H1Z1 cheater "Japan number two, China number four!"
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Magic: The Gathering has a pedophile problem no one wants to acknowledge Magic: The Gathering is mired in a controversy surrounding allegations that some of its high-level tournament “judges” are pedophiles who were not given background checks by Wizards of the Coast, allowing them to mingle with children who play the game.
Jeremy Hambly, better known as the host of The Quartering and Unsleeved Media on YouTube outed several high-profile judges for their pasts, who are serving time for convictions on child pornography charges. Hambly is currently embroiled in what some refer to as the “next GamerGate” for taking the Hasbro-owned Wizards of the Coast and its surrounding entities to task for failing the gaming community. Hasbro, the American toy and board game company, owns Wizards of the Coast, which produces Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and the Pokemon Trading Card Game. In documents and court filings reviewed by DANGEROUS, several such individuals who were convicted on charges of child pornography…
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The 11 hardest survival simulators Casuals, stay away. These are the survival games that make staying alive difficult.
Ventrilo Harassment: Arnold ruins a clan meeting Mission objective: Infiltrate and harass.
The games players love more than critics We use statistical analysis to shine some light on the divide between video game players and critics.
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South Koreans outraged over “africanized” Korean queen in Civilization VI Makers of the popular Civilization series of video games have angered the Cree Nation and South Koreans over the depiction of both civilizations and their leaders in an upcoming expansion.
Attempts to virtue signal gone awry. Concerns were first raised by South Korean gamers who complained that the female ruler chosen to depict the South Korean civilization was intentionally made ugly. Civilization VI’s depiction of Korean Queen Seondeok was aesthetically unappealing—she had fat cheeks, dark skin, and Africanized facial features uncommon with Korean people. The developers at Firaxis Games quickly responded to the complaints by reconstructing her face to lighten her skin and reduce her weight. They also modified her facial structure to accentuate her more Asian features by accenting the sharpness of her jawline, slanting her eyes, and thinning her lips. South Korean Civilization fans have also threatened to…
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The Destiny clan that saved a family Think of the average bunch of guys in an online clan and the word 'heart-warming' doesn't usually spring to mind. But then most clans aren't the Dads Of Destiny, a 30,000 strong group bound by two common themes: parenthood, and not being a dick.
Seditionis: Tower Defense reinvents while making love to the classics Seditionis harkens back to classic tower defense games while adding gripping new features—and we can't stop playing.
The increasing irrelevancy of video game journalists Being good at games is now political. Is this a sign of the end times?
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Battlestar Galactica’s Nicki Clyne and Smallville’s Allison Mack involved in “NXIVM” sex cult Women became branded sex slaves in group that told them it "empowers women."
Canadian actress Nicki Clyne, who was one of the main characters in the sci-fi TV series Battlestar Galactica, is embroiled in a celebrity sex cult called NXIVM alongside other young female celebrities. Ostensibly a “multi-level marketing company,” allegations that NXIVM is a cult surfaced in an explosive report on the New York Times in October 2017, detailing a secretive subsect of the company called DOS, in which women are branded near their genitalia. Women who joined the group were given the impression that the sisterhood was created to empower women. DOS supposedly stands for “dominus obsequious sororium,” which is Latin for “master over the slave women.” Women were ultimately branded,…
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Mortal Kombat has kept a secret for 24 years That's... a long time to keep a secret. Huh.
Why video game movies fail as adaptations What are movie makers doing wrong?
The craziest Pokémon Go stories so far Spontaneous friendships, Diglett dick pics, illuminati conspiracies, dead bodies, and all the other crazy Pokémon Go stories so far.
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IGN fires editor-in-chief Steve Butts for workplace misconduct “As a result of the investigation, the Company has appropriately determined to part ways with Mr. Butts.”
IGN, one of the world’s most popular destinations for video game news, has fired its editor-in-chief after investigating him for allegations that he harassed another employee. “IGN initiated an investigation into alleged misconduct involving Steve Butts,” the publication’s general manager Mitch Galbraith said in a statement to Kotaku. “As a result of the investigation, the Company has appropriately determined to part ways with Mr. Butts.” News of Butts’ dismissal comes two months after former IGN employee Kallie Plagge accused former IGN editor Vince Ingenito of sexually harassing her and at least one other female employee over several months in 2016. She alleged that IGN’s HR department failed to act on…
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10 reasons Alien: Isolation is the greatest survival horror game ever made I really loved about this game. But I’m writing this with all the lights in my house on.
Why Final Fantasy 7 is (still) unstoppable 25 years since its release, the cultural phenomenon is still generating headlines.
Playing with the human side of history Games traditionally present history as monolithic spectacle, but this new breed focuses on the individual experience of simply existing alongside great events.
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Don’t believe the fake news — “Gaming disorder” is not a “recognized mental illness” Nevermind reality when the narrative is too tempting.
The World Health Organization may classify “Gaming Disorder” as a mental health disorder in the 11th edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) diagnostic manual–but it hasn’t, at least, not yet. Contrary to recent reports on the BBC, GameSpot, Mashable, and elsewhere, the diagnostic is not yet official and remains in beta. The ICD-10 and the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) are both used to treat mental illness in the United States. Originally planned for release in 2012, the ICD-11 has been delayed several times. First in 2012, then 2015, then 2017. It is currently scheduled for a June 2018 release, with…
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Metroid Prime like you’ve never seen it before An extract from the new issue of Heterotopias.
These photographs make video game worlds look real The Continuous City is a book that looks at virtual environments through a different lens.
Top 10 licensed songs in gaming There are times when the use of a licensed piece of music is so perfect that it elevates the gaming experience to a new level.
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Intel CPUs have a major security flaw, and fixing it causes huge performance hit Affects all of the company’s modern CPUs.
Reports are surfacing all across the tech world that Intel chips suffer from a fundamental flaw that affects all of the company’s modern CPUs. It’s impossible to fix with a chip-based update, and requires a software-based solution through the operating system, which in turn causes a performance hit of up to 30 percent. While the bug is simple enough to deal with through a Windows, Linux or Mac OSX patch, the performance hit is severe. Microsoft is expected to address the bug in its monthly “Patch Tuesday” update, while Linux patches have already been distributed to users. The circumstances of the bug remain under wraps due to the severity of…
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Seditionis: Tower Defense reinvents while making love to the classics Seditionis harkens back to classic tower defense games while adding gripping new features—and we can't stop playing.
RIP Konami console games, 1983-2015 With Konami moving away from mainstream gaming and onto pachinko and mobile, it's time for a nostalgic look back over its best games.
The magic of video game cartography Video game maps shift and redraw the borders between real and imaginary.
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LAPD arrests Wichita swatter following reports from gamers who identified him The Los Angeles Police Department has arrested a 25-year-old man in connection to the fatal Wichita swatting case, which claimed the life of one man.
On Thursday, a man whose address was sent to an alleged swatter by a Call of Duty player following an online dispute over $1.50 became the victim of a police raid, which ended in the tragic loss of his life. The alleged swatter called in a fake hostage situation on the home address of Andrew Finch, who was unarmed at the time of the fatal shooting. Following the incident, the swatter gave an interview with Daniel “Keemstar” Keem of the YouTube channel, DramaAlert, acknowledging his role in the tragedy. He refused to take responsibility for the man’s death. He was identified by gamers on social media following the incident as…
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J. B. Harold: the 20-million-selling game series you’ve never heard of With their labyrinthine plots and adult themes, the J.B. Harold games drummed up huge sales in Japan. But despite their success, they never made it to Europe.
10 beautiful 2D games exclusive to the PlayStation (PS1/PSX) The future of gaming was 3D, but the PlayStation had several beautiful 2D exclusives.
Before Old Kratos, there was PSP Kratos How Ready at Dawn humanized Kratos a decade before the recent God of War did.
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Marvel finally realized Social Justice doesn’t sell Marvel cancels many of its flagship comics. The reason is simple: no one likes them.
Marvel Comics has canceled many of its flagship comics that heralded the company’s shift toward social issues in 2016 and 2017. The reason is simple: no one likes them. As MILO pointed out on Breitbart in 2016, readers were abandoning Marvel Comics in droves following the tide of social justice-infused comics—highlighting Thor’s transformation into a woman. Not literally, of course—but the publisher has, among other things, altered existing characters like Iceman for the sake of diversity; or retired old ones, like Iron Man’s Tony Stark, to introduce “diverse” new ones, like a black teenage girl. While progressive critics embraced the changes, comic book enthusiasts found new heroes elsewhere and abandoned…
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The rise and fall of video gaming’s most vocal enemy Over the course of 10 years, lawyer Jack Thompson aggressively pursued video games in the courtroom. This is a history of his career.
Media calls for VR safe spaces Everyone will finally be safe in places where nothing can hurt you to begin with.
The incredible career of writer and game designer Flint Dille He’s worked on everything from Transformers to Diablo to Pokemon GO, and can tell you all about Vin Diesel’s D&D character.
