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Why do games so rarely draw inspiration from the “high arts”?

September 23, 2020

Opinion by Matt S. Video games are very good at drawing inspiration from outside of the industry. Popular authors, from J.R.R Tolkien to Tom Clancy, Andrzej Sapkowski through to Franz Kafka have all been tapped, and frequently, to inspire various video games. Popular film is a happy hunting ground of…

Great Conqueror Rome and other EasyTech Switch strategy games: Perfect accessibility

September 23, 2020

EasyTech/Strategy/Video/Video review

Video by Matt S. This week, EasyTech and Circle Entertainment have released the third in the “Conqueror” series of strategy games on Nintendo Switch. These are excellent, highly accessible games, and I do think they’re the perfect entry point for anyone who has been a little hesitant to step into…

Azur Lane: Crosswave is coming to Nintendo Switch!

September 23, 2020

Azur Lane/Idea Factory/News/Nintendo Switch/SHMUP/trailer/Trailers

News by Matt S. Idea Factory’s Azur Lane: Crosswave, the 3D SHMUP about naval battles (with the ships being replaced by leggy, big-chested girls) is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2021. Related reading: Our review of Azur Lane on the PlayStation 4. This was already a pretty chunky game, but…

Review: Great Conqueror: Rome (Nintendo Switch)

September 22, 2020

EasyTech/history/Nintendo Switch/Reviews/Strategy/Switch Review/turn based

Review by Matt S. For over a decade Chinese developer, EasyTech, has made an art form out of managing the delicate balances required to make a strategy game on mobile devices work. From the World Wars to Napoleon’s campaigns, and all the way back to Three Kingdoms-era China, the company…

Fight Crab and Surrealism: It’s about more than “weird”

September 22, 2020

Fight Crab/surrealism/Video/Video review

Video by Matt S.Fight Crab is one of the finest surrealistic games we’ve seen in quite some time. I love this game (check out my review for more), but in playing it I was reminded of just how narrow our understanding of surrealism is. These days it’s a placeholder to…

Interesting games on itch.io: September 22

September 22, 2020

Indie/itch.io/list

List by Matt S. 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…

Microsoft buys Bethesda

September 21, 2020

acquisition/bethesda/Financial results/Microsoft/News

News by Matt S. Microsoft, the tech company focused on providing content to consumers the world over, has continued in its quest to emulate Disney’s ability to do so in Hollywood and bring the same strategy to video games by announcing that it has acquired Bethesda for $7.5 billion. Bethesda is…

Arrest of a Stone Buddha: Harvard Let’s Plays

September 21, 2020

action game/Arrest of a Stone Buddha/Art Game/Indie/let's play/Video/Video review

Video by Harvard L. Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a new collection from Nintendo that includes Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, and Mario Galaxy (1, not 2). The three games in the collection are all excellent, and while the overall package isn’t perfect (check out my review on DDNet for that…

Review: Fight Crab (Nintendo Switch)

September 21, 2020

3D fighting game/Art Game/Fight Crab/Fighting game/Nintendo Switch/Reviews/surrealism/Switch Review

Review by Matt S. We already knew what the developer behind Fight Crab was capable of. The previous title, Ace of Seafood, was a manic, truly Dadaist trip of a game, eschewing such mundane considerations as “good gameplay” to instead throw players into something wild, different, and really quite subversive…

Is this the most beautiful Hatsune Miku figure of all time?

September 21, 2020

collectibles/figures/Good Smile Company/Hatsune Miku/News

News by Matt S. As just about everyone knows by now, I have an extended collection of Hatsune Miku figures – we’re talking dozens of them. It’s my big collection and hobby, and has been for some years now. The quality of these figures has been trending ever-upwards (to go…

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