Guitar Hero DS tracks revealed

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  329 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Activision has listed 15 of the 25 tracks that will feature in Guitar Hero: On Tour for DS. Speaking to US magazine Nintendo Power, the publisher confirmed that relatively contemporary hits from both Maroon 5 and Blink 182 will be included alongside songs from Twisted Sister, KISS, and Jet from Gladiators. Guitar Hero: On Tour works by clipping a "Guitar Grip" into the GBA slot on your DS so the four coloured fret buttons rest on the bottom of your handheld. [Read More]

House of the Dying Sun review

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1221 words  |  Fernande Dalal

A thrilling reminder of the golden era of the space genre, House of The Dying Sun is sadly a little too slim to be a breakout hit. Now don't get yourselves all worked up over this, I'm just using them as reference points rather than yardsticks of depth and quality, but when you first fire up House of the Dying Sun (and for quite a long while after you've closed it down), the two games you're likely to be reminded of are Homeworld and Freespace. [Read More]

Kane & Lynch 2 is nasty, pointless, and well worth playing

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1204 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Kane & Lynch 2 is an ugly game in almost every sense. It's aesthetically ugly, it's thematically ugly, it's even mechanically ugly, a clumsy and chaotic third-person shooter with a sticky cover system and AI thicker than asbestos soup. What's interesting about it all, though, is that most of this ugliness (although admittedly not all of it) is deliberate, in what is a fascinating example of a developer exploring its own mistakes and mishaps through another creative work. [Read More]

Mario Kart 8 DLC courses will be playable online, even if you don't own them

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  341 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

A closer look at Mario Kart 8's DLC expansion blurb has revealed that players will still be able to play the new courses, even if they don't actually own them or have a subscription to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. Despite fears to the contrary: the information on Nintendo's official Mario Kart page reads: "Courses from Wave 1 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - Booster Course Pass can be played from 18th March locally or online in Friends and Rivals races, even if only one player owns the Booster Course Pass or has access to it as part of a Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership. [Read More]

Meet the man Gabe Newell called an ass on Reddit

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  22 minutes  |  4490 words  |  Trudie Dory

Five months ago, Gabe Newell, perhaps the most beloved video game developer on the planet, called James "2GD" Harding an ass on Reddit. That was that, you thought of Harding's career in the video game industry. Not so. Harding has just launched a successful Kickstarter for a game of his own. Diabotical, described as a fast-paced multiplayer arena first-person shooter, has at the time of publication raised £135,000 from over 5000 backers. [Read More]

Metroid Dread - a brilliant game that breathes new life into Switch

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  8 minutes  |  1515 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

It's finally here. After multiple cancelled attempts over the years, Metroid Dread is finally here. Nintendo's collaboration with Spanish developer Mercury Steam pays off beautifully for Switch - this is the first entirely new side-scrolling series entry since 2002's Metroid Fusion and this is a true return to form for the franchise, breathing new life into the ageing Switch hardware thanks to a pristine presentation. Not only that, but the style of its aesthetic also makes it a brilliant showcase for the new Switch OLED model too. [Read More]

Nvidia DLSS in Nioh 2: the most demanding challenge yet for AI upscaling?

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  7 minutes  |  1286 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Nvidia's DLSS has gradually evolved into one of the most exciting technological innovations in the PC space. The idea is remarkably straightforward: the GPU renders at a lower native resolution, then an AI algorithm takes that frame and intelligently upscales it to a much higher pixel count. There's an instant performance win, but remarkably, also a quality advantage too up against native resolution rendering. In the past, we've wondered whether this quality win comes down to mitigating the artefacts of temporal anti-aliasing - TAA - but the recent arrival of a DLSS upgrade to Nioh 2 provides us with an interesting test case. [Read More]

The Ultimate Retro Console Collectors' Guide

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  28 minutes  |  5928 words  |  Patria Henriques

Despite the interactive entertainment industry's manic obsession with relentless technological progress, improved audio visual capability and cutting-edge artificial intelligence, the enduring popularity of vintage software proves that good old-fashioned gameplay remains the biggest draw for most players. All three current console manufacturers offer the ability to digitally download past classics to their systems, and on the PC, retro enthusiasts are ably served by the likes of Steam and GOG. [Read More]

Where to buy Tiny Tina's Wonderlands: editions, price and more

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  8 minutes  |  1637 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands has landed on PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. The game's release date is today, 25th March 2022. The game is a full-sized version of the Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC from Borderlands 2 that came out in 2013. It will feature the same cell-shaded art style, endless weapon loot, and explosive abilities that are in Borderlands, but will also have more RPG elements found in Dungeons and Dragons like rolling character stats and multi-classing. [Read More]

Xbox quietly updates a handful of fan-favourite 360 games

 Posted on February 23, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  252 words  |  Patria Henriques

Xbox has updated a number of its 360 games - many of which are Bethesda titles - in anticipation of its upcoming Xbox 20th anniversary livestream. As spotted by VGC, the games affected are Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fable anniversary, Dead Space, Dead Space 3, Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, and Fable 3. Right now we're unsure what, exactly, these updates entail, but many fans are hoping the updates will enhance backward compatibility for the listed titles. [Read More]