2020 was the year I thought I conquered tons of games, but now as I reflect I realize I missed so many that I still want to try. Where did the time even go? My quarantine hell experience was mostly dominated by building a new gaming PC and pulling out every console I own. I had a rough go of it, much like I’m sure many of you had too, but I’m hopeful there’s an end to this....
One of Japan’s many themed cafes will let you eat a menu full of Nintendo’s lovable pink ball Kirby’s friends without feeling guilty. Located near the Tokyo Skytree within the Hachiko District’s Solamachi entertainment complex, the Kirby Cafe has been in business since 2018 and was designed to be set within the Whispy Woods. All dishes are reasonably priced for locals and tourists with most main dishes coming in at around 1,600 yen (approximately $15) with the most expensive dish, the Whispy Woods Sweet Plate, coming in at 2,580 yen (about $24)....
Video games are a thriving industry today due to consumers and how much they spend on games. Some games sell more than others, as there are a few series that have pushed themselves to the top of the charts by selling more units and banking more than any other franchise. It’s a rather eclectic group at the top of the charts, with all manner of genre being present. Sports, shooters, platformers, adventure, racing, RPGs, and even a sandbox game (you can probably guess which one) all find at least one series on this elite list....
A recent leak for Creative Assembly’s Total War: Warhammer reveals the content of the first new set of DLC for the strategy title, with The Beastmen apparently inbound. In the eyes of many, Total War: Warhammer is the must-have strategy game of the year so far. Developer Creative Assembly managed to combine the effective tactical gameplay of its Total War series with the beloved fantasy world of Warhammer to create what may well be the best Total War game to date....
According to a new report from industry analysis firm SuperData Research, Twitch now has a larger audience than HBO or even Netflix. In 2016, 185 million people tuned in to gaming streams on Twitch, in comparison to HBO’s 130 million viewers and Netflix’s 93 million. The amount of Twitch viewers is expected to grow significantly this year, too, with SuperData estimating that viewership will rise to 212 million. It should be noted that a substantial part of Twitch’s success is because it does not require a subscription....
Twitch representatives have now confirmed that the streaming platform recently suffered a potentially massive security breach that may have exposed a significant amount of the company’s internal data and source code information. While we are still waiting for official confirmation regarding the extent of this breach, initial reports suggest that it is one of the biggest tech hacks in recent memory. There will certainly be more to say about this story in the coming days and weeks, but the one thing you absolutely need to know right now is that this breach represents a potential security risk for Twitch users everywhere....
Twitch has taken down a video meant to support the Black Lives Matter movement following a harsh string of backlash from fans on social media. The streaming avenue tweeted a video captioned: “Working together to make an impact for Black lives” on Thursday. And, while the intention was probably genuine, black fans and creators took umbrage at the footage mostly showcasing white persons while black creators were given very little screen time or meaningful lines....
Third-party Twitter apps like Fenix, Tweetbot, and Twitterrific have not worked for a number of days now, with users unable to log into their accounts and developers reporting that they no longer have access to the Twitter API. The social network has been suspiciously quiet about the whole thing, and it looks like the move was intentional. It had been hoped by Twitter app developers and their apps’ users that the issue was a glitch or bug rather than something that was done intentionally....
Shortly before the release of Assassin’s Creed: Revelations last November, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed that the next game in the popular series, what we assume is Assassin’s Creed 3, would hit store shelves and digital libraries in 2012 presumably around the holiday season. While it’s still anyone’s guess as to how the series will continue without Ezio, Guillemot has now stated that Assassin’s Creed 3 will be the ‘biggest to date’ for the popular series....
Ubisoft and Lucasfilm games have announced that Ubisoft Massive is working on an open-world Star Wars game, breaking EA’s exclusive rights to the franchise. Few details have been released about the project, but with plenty of hugely successful open-world games released over the last decade, Ubisoft Massive could take the game’s design in many different directions. An open-world Star Wars game has the opportunity to take the franchise back to its roots: Framing the player character as a Ronin-like Force user, wandering the galaxy looking to do good and serve the light or, depending on the player, the dark side....
If there is a game that’s likely to remain a cult classic for decades to come, it’s indie RPG Undertale. A combination of fantastic music, intense battles, and charming characters cements this as a pretty remarkable game. And let’s not forget the secrets. In every area in Undertale, there are more secrets than one can count. Waterfall, which houses some of the biggest fan-favorite characters in the series such as Undyne and Napstablook, makes for a location that is truly worth exploring if you’re on the hunt for things you missed in your first playthrough....
Valve openly addresses Steam users, explaining why they’re aggressively employing new methods to prevent the theft of virtual items and Steam accounts. One of the worst feelings a gamer can have is discovering that their account on a digital distribution service has been hacked, and Steam users are some of the hardest hit. According to Valve, 77,000 of Steam accounts get hijacked every single month. In a news bulletin posted on Steam, Valve explains that while their newest attempts to counteract hackers may be irritating to some users, they’ve been employed for a reason....
An upcoming indie game that allows players to plant seeds and learn how to make them thrive, entitled Cloud Gardens, has been announced by its developer on Twitter, coming later this year. Though the summer has seen amazing gaming news, with PC ports like Horizon: Zero Dawn coming to Steam, new PC AAA games are in a bit of a lull currently. It’s the perfect time for PC gamers to try out some experimental games from small developers....
Remember GameStop? That store you used to trade in your games but now you basically only ever go there to purchase a new console every decade? Well, for a while there, it looked like that the game retail chain was going to go bust in the digital age of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then a few things happened to at least start to turn things around. GameStop got some new board members that started to turn the company towards more digital endeavors....
Akimbo (dual wield) pistols in Call of Duty: Warzone are incredibly useful, but it is not always clear how players can unlock them. Fortunately, we have the challenge details for all six different akimbo variants. Most importantly, the challenges have very little to do with XP aside from unlocking the required perk, so don’t keep blasting away in multiplayer hoping to work towards the unlock. Below we detail how to unlock all six akimbo pistol perks in Call of Duty: Warzone....
Skins are everything in modern multiplayer shooter titles. What better way to win a Fortnite match than as Kratos wielding a golden pump-action shotgun? But in order to wear character skins these days, you have to buy them with a credit card. Long before online multiplayer, FPS games like GoldenEye 007 locked such content behind achievements. Want to play as a certain character? You had to earn it. While many understandably long for such systems in the age of microtransactions, it’s worth noting that those mysterious gameplay-based unlocks usually led to quite a bit of misinformation, half-truths, and urban legends....
This past week Microsoft announced that it was dutifully tracking its Xbox Game Studios teams to see if the COVID-19 pandemic was affecting game development. It appears that inXile Entertainment is one team affected, as inXile confirmed recently that Wasteland 3, its RPG published through Deep Silver, is unfortunately delayed. Wasteland 3 was previously planned for a May 19 release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It’s now scheduled to launch on August 28, giving inXile an additional 3 months to work through the issues that working from home might have caused....
While the gaming community goes through a small drought, longing for announcements from the upcoming biggest AAA of the year or another Nintendo Direct, Wasteland 3 surprises everyone as a fantastic summer game to fit the new norm of 2020. Pulling unexpectedly high numbers, it’s a nightmarish version of America that could be frightening enough for some players that the developers at inXile Entertainment decided to put a warning at the beginning....
This article contains Watchmen episode 2 spoilers. HBO’s Watchmen episode 2 continues the pattern of the first episode, not only reminding audiences of its ties to the comics, but also offering echoes of the original story in unexpected places. And just as we did with episode one, we’re here to track down all of the Watchmen Easter eggs on the HBO series. If you spot something we missed, let us know in the comments or on Twitter and we’ll get this updated!...
There still isn’t any official word from Ubisoft on the authenticity of Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok leaks, which is surprising considering the history of leaks of Assassin’s Creed games, but Assassin’s Creed Ragnarok could still very well end up being the next AC game at the rate these rumors have been piling up. While there is no doubt that Ubisoft will continue to build off of the RPG systems that shaped AC Odyssey (which itself was preceded by, and is based on, AC Origins), AC Ragnarok could draw some more inspiration from the game that seemed to influence AC Odyssey the most - The Witcher 3....
