I think it took me close to a year to complete Pokémon Picross without paying for anything. It's still good clean fun Picross, but that paywall was rough, especially since I blew picrats early on the two unlockables I thought would get me the most satisfaction but just turned out to be a waste of time: maxing out my…

Yup, it's officially the seventh game in the series (I guess they're not counting Layton Brothers: Mystery Room or Ace Attorney/Professor Layton). Came out last week as a simultaneous iOS/Android/3DS game in Japan and a iOS/Android game in the West with a 3DS release in a couple months. I actually really like playing…

The frequency of PSN sales is exactly why 90% of my PS4 library is digital (and probably 96% of my Vita library). Sony doesn't give a hoot about upsetting retailers like Best Buy, Target, or WalMart because those stores need Sony for things like TVs and cameras. Nintendo thrives on attractive retail displays drawing…

I remember watching a tv mini-doc about the rise of Napster back in, like, 2000 or so, and they made the case that something like 90% of the price you paid for a CD was actually going towards the packaging and shipping of the physical object, and that the final 10% was split between the musician, label, producers,…

Nope! I got money-up tickets that way both last night and this morning, post-update.

I cancelled my Amazon Prime preorder (same discount as Best Buy Gamer's Club) on Spla2n simply because I knew I'd be playing it so much that swapping out the card would be a hassle, and I also worried about losing the card now that I have friends and family with small children who like to grab things. I was at a…

The two games I'm playing this weekend are the same two games I was playing last weekend, Splatoon 2 and Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires' Conspiracy.

That's happened to me a whole lot in both Splatoons, being on a losing team but getting a very high score simply because you have more territory to cover than the opponents. There were a few games in Splatoon 1 where I actually had a higher score than the highest score on the winning team (keeping in mind that winning…

Yeah, but that was two-screen, not split-screen. We knew that would be out because the Switch only has the one screen. I'd happily to take a graphics dip (like Splatoon 1 did for local multiplayer) in favor of allowing me and a friend to play side-by-side on the same hardware.

Nope. In the campaign, I've definitely used the Hero Shot, Charger, Slosher, and Dualies while grinding, as well as bombs. Haven't tried the roller yet, but if you can use the slosher, I see no reason why it won't let you use the roller.

I fear the day that someone suggests I join them in a voice chat Splatoon match, as my wife has taken great pleasure in observing the absurdities that spill out of my mouth while playing this game.

I'm still flabbergasted by the lack of split-screen local multiplayer. It made some sense on the Wii U, as you couldn't have two gamepads on the same console, but the Switch was marketed all around easy on-the-go multiplayer experiences. And what's the point of saving your character's load-out on an amiibo if you're…

Not just virtually, all the special weapons are different. Bomb Launcher is similar to Bomb Rush, but it's no longer dependent on your sub weapon (for instance, the Aerospray has suction bombs as sub but curling bombs as the special). Ink Armor is similar to Bubbler, except it applies to your whole team. The rest are…

I had basically no interest in Salmon Run when it was first shown off a while back, but finally giving it a shot last night, holy cuddlefish, that is a lot of fun! While turf wars usually amount to "everyone just do your own thing and try to do good," it really felt like teamwork was such an important part of Salmon…

It keeps saying anywhere between six hours, two hours, or just disconnecting all-together… except, as seen in this Instagram I just shot, if I leave my Switch alllllllllll the way in the corner of the room where it will be ready in… ten minutes now!

I feel like most Kirby platformers have one or two levels where getting all the collectables means being perfect with your timing and power combinations. I remember a few of the treasures in Super Star's "Great Cave Offensive" driving me nuts for weeks for being a half-second off of where they wanted me to be. The…

I'm at San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, so not a ton of intensive game-playing, though I am presently using the hotel's wifi to attempt to download Splatoon 2 so I can dive into the single-player campaign on the flight back to New York.

I love that the "red & black" color scheme suggests that anybody found the Atari Jaguar to be nearly as iconic and worth remembering as the wood-paneled Atari 2600.

Donkey Kong '94 also introduced the triple-jump, a useful skill in all of the 3D and "New" Super Mario games.

Team Cake FTW!!! Because some of us are lactose-intolerant, and dairy-free ice cream just isn't the same.