Kids recreation games

The balance feels just right. In 64 Mario's jumps are thrillingly quick and excitingly high (I was watching Eurogamer's Let's Play and Aoife actually let's out an oh my gosh at the first triple), with enough travel and suspension at the zenith to feel convincingly, momentarily free. But there's enough gravity in the pull-down to feel the weight and the platforming stakes. On a flat, too, the game has real lean, like that beautiful (I mean it!) sense of compression as Mario pivots - torso first then head spin - and leans a superbike, released with a Side Flip. In 64 there is just so much fun in heft and speed, the simple joys of momentum. And that's the point, surely? Momentum management? … [Read more...] about Is Super Mario 64’s movement STILL the best in gaming?

What these games miss - as they try to surgically separate the fascinating tactical mechanics of collectible card games from all that grubby business of opening blind packs - is that a big part of the appeal is in the collecting, which is to say that a big part of the appeal is in the cards themselves. For a card game to sing, the cards need to express thrilling ideas and to be covetable objects; you need to feel excited to see a favourite turn up in your hand. In Magic and Hearthstone, the cards are characters, and they overflow with personality in their florid illustrations and witty text, in the match between function and concept that excites the imagination. Small surprise that Blizzard, the undisputed champion of high-impact skill design, should get this right, or that others should find it so hard to match it. … [Read more...] about Griftlands, and the trouble with everything being a card game now

"I don’t think it's inevitable this will disappear as the competitive environment at retail is completely different to the storefront where there are no competing services," he said. "Microsoft is continuing with an aggressive strategy to convert users to Ultimate. This will likely continue through 2021, but in the mid-term I can see price increases for Ultimate in the future especially as more users adopt streaming for distribution. This eats into profitability so will likely need a price increase to boost margins." … [Read more...] about Xbox Live Gold’s Price Is Increasing For One Reason: To Shove You Toward Game Pass [UPDATE]

"For example, if you have 11 months of Xbox Live Gold now, and you upgrade to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, those 11 months convert to 11 months of Ultimate at no additional cost," Microsoft said. Microsoft has been pushing Game Pass very aggressively over the last few years, making it clear that it's the future of the Xbox brand. … [Read more...] about Microsoft Reverses Xbox Live Gold Price Increase, Unlocks Free-To-Play Games For Everyone

While we haven't checked out this exact mouse ourselves, we did review the wired DeathAdder V2 last year, which has the same 20K sensor and a nearly-identical design. We gave it an 88% for its excellent sensor, comfortable design, and optical click sensors. However, the left and right mouse buttons did feel a bit flimsy. … [Read more...] about Razer’s DeathAdder V2 Pro wireless gaming mouse is on sale for $100