Gaming
Star Wars: Battlefront II Called Out for Borderline-Abusive Game Mechanics (UPDATED)
I’ve tried to stay away from the loot box shitstorm after a few articles highlighting their insidious bullshit. Apparently, EA wants everyone to keep talking about it with regards to Star Wars: Battlefront II. So I will. These bastards want the venom? I’ll dispense the venom happily! EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront II has been fighting negative publicity for a couple of weeks. Their loot box system, w...[Read More]
BlizzCon 2017: World of Warcraft and Less Important Stuff
Last year, I ponied up for my BlizzCon 2016 Virtual Ticket. I’m not posh enough to afford a trip to California, hotel stay for that weekend, and two tickets for BlizzCon (my daughter would disown me if I went without her). Besides, there was little news I cared about. I only wanted news on Overwatch and Diablo III. Those were the games I was playing. StarCraft II was nearing its end, and I never j...[Read More]
“Nintendo Hard”: Bringing People Together Since 19XX
In the year of 20xx… One year ago, my daughter forced me to challenge her. She loves to play video games, but she’s far from what I consider to be a gamer. Her experiences are limited; the games she’s played the most are The Sims 3 and Left 4 Dead 2. That’s not a bad thing; I’m happy I can share my love for video games with her in whatever way I can. We even play Left 4 Dead 2 together on oc...[Read More]
Retro Review: House of the Dead (Saturn)
Release Date: March 1998 Developer: Sega AM1 R&D Division Publisher: SEGA of America, Inc. Last year, I decided to do a Halloween-themed Retro Review. I took a look at Castlevania: Symphony of the Night because I love the game. But in a twist, I chose to look at the Japanese SEGA Saturn version. The game was different enough compared to the U.S. PlayStation version that it made it a novel revi...[Read More]
Destiny 2 on PC Swings Banhammer Early
Destiny 2 officially released this past Tuesday on PC and saw heaps of initial praise. I figured that would be a foregone conclusion. I’m not a fan of the series; I’m not even a fan of FPSes. But I felt there was no way an MMO FPS series like Destiny wouldn’t do well on the platform. The series is essentially the unholy marriage of Halo and Phantasy Star Online. I figured there was no way that wou...[Read More]
SEGA Spartan: A Whole Lotta Nope
Not being optimistic here I will forever accuse Digital Crack brother-from-another-mother Punisher of trolling me into writing about this. Further, it’s my belief that he wants me to write this so resident Sony fanboy – and reformed SEGA fanboy – Grumpy Joe can have sparks fly out of his ears that are bright enough to be seen in space. Punisher denies it. I think he’s full of shi...[Read More]
The (Single-Player) World is Not Gonna End
It’s the end of the world as we know it! I remember being dropped off at school one day way back in the sixth grade. This was before the NES and stuff. There were a bunch of adults in front of the school that day. They were holding up signs and chanting something I didn’t care to catch. I didn’t care to catch what they were chanting because the signs they held said everything I needed to kno...[Read More]
Personal Top 5 – Fighting Games
Round 1: FIGHT! It’s been a great couple of years for fighting game fans like me. I’ve been able to gorge myself on quite a few titles. Some have been pretty awesome (Tekken 7 and Injustice 2); one has been absolute balls (Street Fighter V). On the horizon, I have Dragonball FighterZ and Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition (i.e. what the original game should have been out of the gate…no, I’m not bitt...[Read More]
The Debate Surrounding Loot Boxes and Gambling
Video games as a form of entertainment media have seen more than their share of debate and controversy. The witch hunts that U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman formed in the 90s surrounding video game violence come readily to mind. Former lawyer and full-time professional crackpot Jack Thompson also raked video games through the coals. The less said about him the better because, again, he’s a crackpot. Vi...[Read More]
Loot Boxes Grow in Prevalence and Insidiousness
What ya buyin’? I’m sure most everyone is sick of reading about loot boxes. Trust me, I’m tired of having to bitch about them. Trust me, we’re all going to hate the prevalence of these little gambling boxes way more soon. I recently lambasted Microsoft and Turn 10 for introducing loot boxes into Forza Motorsport 7. Back in August, I did the same to Monolith’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. It ...[Read More]
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition Announced
Game will finally receive Arcade Mode Back when Street Fighter V launched in 2016, I was conflicted. Part of me was happy that the series that sparked my love for the competitive fighter was entering a new era. The other part of me lambasted the newest entry as a piece of garbage. My reasoning for the hate was that the game was only half of a game. Modes that were considered essential for a fighti...[Read More]
The HD Retro Movement: New Systems, Old Games
Gotta Go Fast…and Pretty! As anyone who follows me (all twelve of you) knows, I have my foot firmly planted in retro gaming. There are huge legions of gamers who share my love for all things retro, including Digital Crack mate Cousin Jose. My Facebook feed is littered with posts from the dozens of retro groups I follow. They run the gamut from the Magnavox Odyssey to the PlayStation 3 (which...[Read More]