25,357 community articles
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As a subtle(?) appreciator of explormers (don't worry, this week's game is not one of those) I've always held a lot of respect for the amount of thought that goes into each of those respective games' map tech. This equally applies to RPGs (especially dungeon-crawlers) and the open-world format in general too, of course, as we depend on these little cartographical conveniences to help us stay or...
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Note: This was originally posted to namcompendium.com in April 2019. It has been lightly revised. I had a professor during my undergraduate years who was a great inspiration to me. One of the things this professor hammered home for me was to avoid using the passive voice when possible in writing. Be direct. Write in weighty, punchy prose. I’m not great at this mode of writing, as you may have n...
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An explanation of what we're doing here can be found in the introduction post . Last time, we went knee deep in PC ports released on the 3DO in 1994 by looking at Space Shuttle, Star Control II, Super Wing Commander, The Incredible Machine, and The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes . When we were last with the PS1, we closed out kicked off release season 1996 with Crash Bandicoot , Killing Zone , D...
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March begins with Vice joining Terry, Joe, Kyo, Benimaru, Andy, Shingo, Daimon, Iori, Geese, Billy, Yamazaki, Raiden, Haohmaru, and Mature as the 15th SNK delegate in my Video Game Hall of Fame. Next week's addition will also be an SNK favorite.
justiceleaguecanada (Premium member)
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The Switch has been Nintendo's primary system for 8 years. Just typing that is a little jarring. Assuming most of us will live about 80 years, that means the Switch will be the prime Nintendo platform for 10% of our lives. If you're 40 the Switch has been the Nintendo machine for one fifth of your life already. Nintendo is a company with a long and storied history, but the Switch is still a maj...
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I finally had an opportunity to visit a pop culture event in another country. I had an amazing time and I got to meet the cast of Resident Alien.
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Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash Clash of Clans is a strategy-focused mobile game that has increasingly enjoyed popularity since it was launched in 2012. Over the years, the game has evolved with new features and mechanics that have contributed to player progression. One significant change is the introduction of chests, a game mechanic that provides players with random items such as gems and...
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Preamble One person's blight might be another person's delight! I don't know about you, but 2025's incarnation of Blight Club has been an endless source of hilarity. In particular, Dan's short but sweet journey through Drake of the 99 Dragons has been a continual go-to to lift my spirits. That series was enough for most to cement the game's status as one of the worst games ever, but I bought a...
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Hello! There are two different "sign of life" style posts in two different .txt files on two different computers, which were incidentally written in two different years. This is not either of those. I used to have a job. I used to have a job that gave me what is, presently, an unbelievable amount of money for not a ton of work. That's one sentence. Here's another one: I used to write on this an...
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Rounding out the month of February, in very much the same style I started it, we have another explormer I'd like to share with you all. Mercifully, this one's much briefer than Afterimage though the adage "short but sweet" might not necessarily apply in this case. Teslagrad 2 is the long-awaited (by someone, somewhere, presumably) sequel to the first Teslagrad , released over a decade ago now,...
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It’s not an exaggeration to say that AAA gaming has reached an inflection point. Games cost more than ever to make, but only a few of them break through and sell enough to be profitable. Excellent games, like Alan Wake 2 , can be Remedy’s fastest selling game while also taking over a year to just recoup its costs. Star Wars Outlaws was projected by analysts to sell 5.5 million units in its firs...
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An explanation of what's going on here can be found in the intro post . Last time with the PS1 we closed out kicked off the second year of that console in North America with Crash Bandicoot , Killing Zone , Die Hard Trilogy , and Impact Racing . When we last saw the 3DO, we saw what was definitely a collection of video games with Seal of the Pharoah, Sesame Street: Numbers, Sewer Shark, Shadow:...
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We wrap up February 2025 with Steve from Minecraft joining my Video Game Hall of Fame. Next week's character will be an SNK favorite.
justiceleaguecanada (Premium member)
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I’ve been a little bored with video games lately. Part of that is likely just a cyclical mood thing, but another part is probably that I’ve been anticipating Monster Hunter Wilds (out in about 48 hours as I write this), and when you’re anticipating a game, everything else can seem a little lackluster in comparison. Nothing over the past few months had really been able to get me out of my funk.....
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Selecting the right school chairs is a crucial decision for any educational institution. Chairs play a significant role in student comfort, posture, and classroom engagement. The right seating helps students stay focused during lessons while preventing discomfort and promoting better learning outcomes. From preschool chairs for young learners to plastic school chairs for older students, underst...
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Around this time last year I embarked upon the figurative spectral jog that was the first Ghostrunner which, despite being hard as balls, had a very encouraging "one more attempt" masocore approach to its diabolical one-hit, one-kill combat and traversal scenarios in conjunction with its picturesque (if that's the word; certainly shiny) cyberpunk dystopian environments and storytelling. I decid...
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A Primer On The Current Situation With BioWare A reflection of BioWare's misunderstanding of its past or unrealistic owner expectations? ¿Por qué no los dos? Near the end of January 2025, news broke that EA was restructuring BioWare . A blog post by BioWare's current general manager , Gary McKay, confirmed that many people who worked on last year's Dragon Age: The Veilguard were being relocated...
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How to Get Easy Jeweller's Orbs in PoE 2? Appearance of Jeweller's Orbs in Path of Exile 2 Path of Exile 2 is the much-anticipated successor to the free-to-play hack-and-slash RPG Path of Exile. Like its predecessor, the game is filled with thousands of loot that will help you craft better gears or enhance them to gain bonus passive effects. Keeping track of all the loot and figuring out where...
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An explanation of what we're doing here can be found in the introduction post . Last time, we FMV-ed our way through the 3DO catalog with Seal of the Pharoah, Sesame Street: Numbers, Sewer Shark, Shadow: War of Succession, and Space Pirates . Last time with the PS1, we entered September with NCAA GameBreaker, Project Horned Owl, Strike Point, and Bubble Bobble Featuring Rainbow Islands . It's a...
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Ezio Auditore da Firenze joins Altair Ibn La Ahad as the second Assassin's Creed character to appear in my Video Game Hall of Fame. Next week's character will be a character from Minecraft.
justiceleaguecanada (Premium member)
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I figure in a year that's shaping up to be as challenging as this one, Indies are going to be our best source of escapism: not only in the sense of having something else occupy our thoughts for a while, but also in how the more throwback types take us back to a simpler and more peaceful time (hey, as a Millennial, I feel my generation is uniquely qualified to say "things were better in my day")...
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As I step out onto the sandy beaches and sip some papaya juice in this, uh, seasonably cold -4° February weather I'm once again faced with the consequences of my own actions, starting this little quest of mine figuring that I'd have some fun sweeping up the easy achievements in the first half of the game without it somehow crossing my mind that I'd eventually have to navigate my way through Nok...
