The game itself I was interested in enough to try the demo. But the demo was that underwhelming. Mike’s write-up and the game writing suggests that there is something there and it was just basically a poor demo that didn’t bother to make the game mechanics look interesting or suggest that the script might have been…

It varies, but I don’t like reviewers feeling rushed. So if we know we’re getting a copy of the game close to or on release day, we plan to run the review days later. Me or the other top editors here check in with the writer to see how it’s going and sometimes they discover they need more or less time and we adjust.…

Maybe, though there is one other charitable reading to that sentiment that I didn’t get into in this piece.

Because video games are so long, they are at a disadvantage compared to other forms of entertainment when it comes to generating a common cultural conversation around them. We see this at our company when…

“we want everyone, including those in the media, to experience our games at the same time.”

6/10

Even outside of the 20th anniversary, I think having crazier than normal designs on an island setting makes perfect sense. In the real world, islands are home to crazy evolutionary variants and oddities, which makes the Alolan variations a really clever way to experiment with that idea. Well done, Game Freak.

Pokemon design will never again reach the peaks of Alolan Dugtrio.

Aw shit, I think we need Chocobros to become a thing now.

Oh lordy. Having tried the demo, I was thoroughly underwhelmed.

If your audition sides don’t include it, how would you know before signing your contract?

Or the Vita version of Gal*Gun, ugh.

Yeah, your mileage may vary. There are times when it is endearing.

There’s no dismissing. And this isn’t pure fan wank. There’s a good story here, and the...wait, I wrote this stuff. You must have read it. Carry on.

Cutesy dialog? That’s a plus in my book if the game features that many chibi characters

Haha, right? Fucking weirdo and their non existent love lives. What they need to do is stop being so weird and maybe a girl will find them attractive. Hahaha!

My go-to Slenderman series was always Marble Hornets, but I’ll definitely have to give this one a shot. I know for awhile there it seemed everyone was doing a Slenderman youtube series, and maybe they still are, so it’s hard to pick out the really good from the mediocre.

It’s not a scandal, it’s stupid. If you want to know why it’s stupid, then study Diffusion of Innovations. It’s a widely accepted and well regarded theory about how ideas evolve and spread.

Don’t ever pay to be marketed to.

Actually, let’s do it. Send me an e-mail stephentotilo at kotaku dot com. We’ll see how boring you are.

Nah. If he’s involved in something interesting, we’re posting. Here we’ve got a playful way to look at the general pointlessness of pre-ordering video games. It only works because of the scale of his success.