Category: Read
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From Fan Art to Film Crew: RJ Palmer Talks Detective Pikachu
The recent quality and appeal of CG-heavy films like the upcoming Cats, and Disney’s remakes of The Lion King and Aladdin have been called into question. The film adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog has experienced tumultuous development, with a universally reviled design undergoing revision. A desire for a return to 2D animated cinema has been…
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Women in Gaming: Borderlands 3 Mission Designer Kate Pitstick
In the veritable shadow of larger-than-life statues of new Borderlands 3 characters at E3 2019, mission and level designer Kate Pitstick got to see her work showcased to thousands. During the bustling exhibition at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Pitstick took the time to talk about her career and work on the latest entry in…
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Equipping Your Emotions in Crystar
Though action RPG Crystar is already available in its native Japan, it will be heading to North America and Europe later this month. Along with promising action-packed gameplay, Crystar carries its own philosophy on emotions. Published by Spike Chunsoft and FuRyu, and developed by Gemdrops, Crystar follows Rei Hatada’s efforts to revive her dead sister,…
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A Community’s Lifespan in Dialect: A Game About Language and How It Dies
Embodying the spirit of encompassing all gaming, the IndieCade showcase at E3 2019 featured tabletop games too. This included Thorny Games’ Dialect: A Game About Language and How It Dies. But before players can reach the destruction of a language, they have to create it first. Communally Created Words “For every turn of the game,…
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#Voices4Devs: Voice Actors Give Online Support for Game Unionization
As more people working in video games try to form their own union, they’ve recently gotten another burst of online support. Apparently starting on April 2, voice actors united under the #Voices4Devs hashtag on Twitter to call attention to the developers they work with on games. A wide variety of voice actors from AAA titles…
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BadLand Publishing Stole Money From a Disabled Toddler
As if you thought gaming couldn’t get any worse after the whole Rape Day fiasco it turns out that Badland Publishing went and stole money from a disabled toddler like some sort of cartoon villain. What the fuck video games? BadLand is a Spanish company who publish a whole bunch of indie titles and they…
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Classic Dragon Ball Antagonist Cell Finds New Life in Games
Dragon Ball FighterZ has been phenomenally well-received on a wide scale, sparking the interest of long-time franchise fans, the general fighting game community, the esports scene, and casual players. Part of the appeal of the game is how well it committed to the aesthetic of Dragon Ball’s 2D origins as a manga and anime when…
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NPCs Massacre Game Shows Steam Still Isn’t Doing Enough
Steam recently did something notable, it actually blocked a horrendous game from appearing on their storefront. It’s notable because their policy up until this point was essentially “Fuck it, do what you want just pay our cut.”. The game is question was pretty awful. It was a rape and murder simulator. Unlike Night Trap, this…
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Troll Games and their Place in Gaming Culture
It is hard to make a good game, it may even be harder to make a game that sells well. Some focus only on the former and some only on the later. When a game developer only wants to make a game that sells well without taking the time to make it actually good, they…
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Anthem Reviews Aren’t Being Censored
Every few years the remnants of GamerGate re-emerges to attempt to construct an outrage over something. Between complaining about any form of diversity or politics they don’t agree with; they like to play the hits from time to time. Broadly speaking, game reviews. More specifically, complex crazy conspiracy theories about game reviews crafted into a…
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Apex Legends Accessibility Options Shows other Battle Royales Up
Apex Legends is the latest game to burst onto the battle royale scene, releasing on February 4th. A character-based version of the popular online multiplayer format, Apex is free to play, like many of its counterparts. Players can unlock characters by leveling up or, of course, by buying in-game currency. Each character has their own skills to…
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Donkey Kong 64: A Marxist Interpretation
Donkey Kong 64 is one of the most seminal games of the 90s. The collectathon platformer re-cast a former villain in a brand new role as a 3D hero. The title has been unfairly maligned in recent years by rightists seeking to downplay the importance of the Kong family’s struggle. By viewing Donkey Kong 64 through a…
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Indie Appreciation on the Switch
This past holiday season was a good one for the Nintendo Switch. Mario Party, Super Smash Bros, and Pokemon Let’s Go were huge successes. Many a person’s January was spent running through these titles. Now though, it’s February. The holiday excitement has worn off, but there are still weekends to be filled. So what is…
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Videl in Dragon Ball FighterZ: Blasting Past the Glass Ceiling to Reach the Arena
Like many things, Dragon Ball and its shonen genre have a history of male-heavy casts with an emphasis on action. The most featured characters are often the fighters, and they’re often men. It’s refreshing whenever that status quo is shaken up by female characters punching through the glass ceiling to join the fray. Out of…
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Streamer Raises Funds with Donkey Kong 64 Charity Stream
On January 18th, Twitch streamer Hbomberguy tweeted “here we go….HERE WE FREAKING GO”. With that simple message, he started a stream that would attract attention from all corners of the world. Out of pure spite for transphobia and compassion for youth in need, a movement began. The Beginning This all began when Hbomberguy decided to…
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Soldier 76, Gay Icon
Blizzard recently brought Soldier: 76 out of the closet. A new short story, Bastet, brings new lore about two fan favorites, Ana and Jack Morrison (or Soldier: 76). This comes a little over two years after Tracer was the first Overwatch character to become canonically LGBT+. In this story, it’s revealed that Jack gave up a life…