Matt S. is the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of DDNet. He's been writing about games for over 20 years, including a book, but is perhaps best-known for being the high priest of the Church of Hatsune Miku.
I am a firm believer that as many video games, be they popular, good, bad, and loathed, should be preserved as possible. All these retro collections that have been released by publishers to cash in on their classic properties (and undermine the value of emulation and the second-hand market) have been both good for the publisher’s business model, and the…
Nintendo’s timing with its no-pressure comfort food games has been fortuitous. Animal Crossing landed at almost the exact moment that people around the world were desperate for some no-stress escapism from COVID-19. Now, Pokémon Pokopia launches right at the time that America massively escalates global tensions by committing war crimes…
For people who enjoyed the vibes of Monster Hunter, but found the…
Just when I think my love for the work of Hamster Corporation…
It’s that time of year, friends! The house is filled with greens and reds, the music channels all start dropping the Wham, Buble and Mariah, the fridge fills up with eggnog and we gorge ourselves on fruit mince pie. It’s such a special time of year! We love the season…
Read More
Normally December is meant to be a quiet month for big game releases, but thanks to Square Enix in particular, this year’s December release schedule is actually pretty robust! Join the DDNet team as we go through the big December releases, and please do let us know what you’re looking…
Read More
Welcome everyone to the last podcast of 2022, and we have a bumper 2-hour special for your listening pleasure. First of all, we talk about the last wave of games to land in the year (there’s more than you think!), and then we chat about the challenges of open-world games,…
Read More
I have had the opportunity to get some good hands-on time with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII – Reunion, the remake of a PSP classic and one of the very few Final Fantasy games that I hadn’t played previously. I absolutely love this thing. From my preview of the first…
Read More
I’ve had the chance to settle down and get stuck into a substantial chunk of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII – Reunion, and I am so impressed with this game. It’s the first time I’ve played it (I missed it on PSP for years), and yeah, it’s really, really enjoyable.…
Read More
Well, here we go. I guess this was always inevitable, but “VTubers” – Virtual YouTubers – are getting their own VNs now. I can’t say I can complain. After all, Dee Dee might not be a VTuber, but she’s our site’s mascot, and she’s got a VN on the way…
Read More
Typing isn’t entertaining. I write 100,000 words in a typical week. The idea of playing a game with typing as the central mechanic doesn’t scream “entertaining downtime” to me, on the face of things. Yet actually sitting down to play one of these things is an oddly compelling experience. The…
Read More
I’m a big fan of itch.io for the freedom and open platform that it allows for developers to be creative, experimental, and directly canvas the audience for feedback for games that are not yet ready for primetime on Steam and its ilk. In addition, itch.io allows you to be transgressive,…
Read MoreThe “Loathing” property occupies a very distinct part of gaming and Internet culture. Kingdom of Loathing is 20 years old now (and still going strong!), and one of the pioneers in Web-based, massively online role-playing gaming. Thanks to hugely entertaining stickman character artwork and ridiculously entertaining nerd humour, it was…
Read MoreMy favourite film of all time is The Crow. I have seen the film so many times that I can recite it from heart. “It can’t rain all the time…. I thought I’d use your front door… And I say I’m dead, and I move.” It’s a classic. One of…
Read More