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Spike Chunsoft’s 428: Shibuya Scramble tells a interconnected tale of six people whose lives are woven over the course of a single dramatic day. Set in the area surrounding Tokyo’s most iconic multi-directional crosswalk — made famous in films like Lost in Translation — 428 initially appears to be a police procedural starring a young detective who hopes to help thwart a case of kidnapping and ransoming. The case goes awry, though. The day stretches on and the narrative perspective expands to bring in more and more citizens who unwittingly become the keys to stopping a conspiratorial threat with deadly global consequences. 428 starts far more straightforward than Spike Chunsoft’s other adventure games such as 9-9-9 and Danganronpa, but as the game unfolds it proves every bit their equal in terms of intricacy. The story behind 428 involves nearly as many interesting coincidences and overlapping narratives as the game itself. 428’s history begins three … [Read more...] about Making a game in the world’s busiest crosswalk: The story behind 428

Geoff Keighley owes more than you’d think to Britney Spears. In 2014, the first year of Keighley’s annual Game Awards show, he found himself in a precarious situation — his team didn’t have the money to build the type of show he wanted. Spears had recently begun a residency at the Planet Hollywood Axis Theater in Las Vegas, and happened to have a week off when Keighley’s team wanted to shoot. So, The Game Awards asked if it could use her stage. And Spears said yes. As Keighley tells it, getting the first Game Awards up and running had its fair share of challenges. From budgeting issues, to talent such as Trey Parker and Kiefer Sutherland not confirming their appearances until 72 hours before the show, to having to stretch for time as bands re-rehearsed after someone running sound accidentally deleted levels, Keighley’s team had an uphill battle just getting the show live. Now in 2018, The Game Awards is, in terms of viewership, budget, and scale, … [Read more...] about The making of The Game Awards 2018

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate may not be the actual “ultimate” (as in “final”) game in the series, but it certainly is the biggest to date. Its character count alone has swelled past six dozen, which is ... well, it’s a lot of characters. Enough that newcomers (and even seasoned pros) are likely to find themselves freezing up at the character select screen, trying to decide which of these tiny little portrait selections best represents their personal ethos. Well, good news: I’ve ranked the entire Smash Ultimate cast for you. This is not a ranking of the best fighters in Smash, because ... well, honestly, Smash isn’t really the kind of game most people play as serious competition. Smash is a good-times party fighter where you have fun and show off your great taste. That makes this list far more useful, as it grades characters according to their value based on their gaming legacy. Making your fighter selection based on our pecking order is the way … [Read more...] about We rank the Smash Bros. (and friends)

It’s been a long, strange road for the Xbox One. From the ill-considered rollout at E3 2013 to the subsequent abandonment of Kinect, one of the system’s signature features, it’s hard to escape the sense that the past five years have been a pivot and a subsequent sprint away from much of what the planners of the console intended it to be. Yet Microsoft has continued to update its box with an array of useful features, and great games for it continue to roll off the presses for its millions of eager owners, so let’s take a look at the ways that the console has evolved over the past half-decade. Xbox One X: a super-console in search of an audience At E3 2016, in what was partly an attempt to lift the cloud that had been hanging over the original Xbox One since launch, Microsoft announced two new versions of the system. The first of these was the Xbox One S, a slimmer, modestly upgraded version of the launch console that would go on to replace it in stores. The … [Read more...] about Xbox One re-review, five years in

Trophy hunting isn’t easy (especially for these games). Getting to a high level on PlayStation Network requires completionists to sink countless hours into titles on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita. Thankfully, a few games on these systems offer very achievable PlayStation platinum trophies. The following is a list of the easiest you can acquire on Sony’s hardware to boost your PSN level quickly and impress your friends. Easy PlayStation Platinum Trophies – Terminator: Salvation Should you browse through someone’s trophies on PSN and find Terminator: Salvation on their list, he or she is most likely a trophy hunter. Based off the movie of the same name, the game is widely considered easy among members of the community and is helpful in boosting one’s PSN level significantly, given that every trophy aside from the platinum is gold. It’ll take about four hours to complete it in its entirety on hard difficulty, which is a … [Read more...] about The Easiest PlayStation Platinum Trophies Ever