Promoted from our Community Blogs [I never owned a current-gen console as a kid, and I really didn’t mind that much either. CowBearSnail takes me back to a time, before the internet, when others’ opinions didn’t have as much sway over the way I played video games. Sometimes, it’s nice to find your own fun… – DeadMoon] Originally, this article was intended as a top ten list of the most influential games of my childhood, but, in the process of whittling years of personal gaming history into that all-important top ten, I was taken down a much longer road of reminiscence and reflection....

Developers are from Cameroon Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odanis an incredibly interesting game. It’s billed as an “African-fantasy action-RPG,” putting a lot of emphasis on combos and combat while also having a setting based on African mythology. I played a build of the game a few months ago, and it’s difficult to explain whatAurionis specifically. The closest comparisons I can make are the very different gamesDust: An Elysian TailandDusty Revenge, who all have a similar flow to their combat....

Microsoft released a Windows 7 themepack for Alan Wake today. Let’s all download it to send a “Signal” that people still want Alan Wake on the PC, shall we? If you never used one of these before, it’s just a collection of twelve 1900×1200 backgrounds and 14 Windows sounds. The “Device Failed to Connect” sound is pretty funny though. According toIntowindows: “If you are not familiar with Alan Wake, it’s a popular game developed by Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft for its Xbox 360....

The Eevee Grove expansion brings a fresh set of secret missions inPokémon TCG Pocketfor players to complete, and you can do them to earn a few amazing rewards. If you’ve completed secret missions in the past, you’ll have a fair idea of what to do. To start, you’ll need to collect specific cards to complete different collections. These collections offer different rewards in turn, and some of them can be relatively harder to complete....

Winston and Zenyatta get buffs Ana has dominated theOverwatchscene for a while, but that may change when the next round of PTR changes hit (as a reminder, the PTR, or Public Test Region, is where the dev team tests their changes before they go live mostly for bugs, and for occasional balance reasons as well). Blizzard has provided some updated patch notes following what’s become known as the “Bastion patch,” and it heavily deals with Ana, among other heroes....

Blue Lockofficially unveils the title and key visuals for its much-anticipated second season. Titled “Blue Lock vs. U-20 Japan,” the upcoming season is set to premiere on October 5 in Japan. The newly released key visual captures the tension of the upcoming season, featuring the series’ protagonist, Yoichi Isagi, as he dribbles up the pitch alongside his teammate and captain, Rin Itoshi. They face off against Japanese soccer prodigy Sae Itoshi and a mysterious new player, Oliver Aiku....

The writer’s strike that is plaguing everything in the entertainment industry (excluding videogames) has now struck theCastlevaniamovie.Varietyis reporting that Rogue Pictures had to halt production because the script needed additional work. Since they can’t get anyone to work on the $40 million project, they have had to put the movie on hold indefinitely. The film’s production was set to start in April in South Africa.. For some reason, I have always been oddly optimistic when it comes to videogame movies....

Gunnar ‘Gunni’ Nelson will beat some devs down! EVE Fanfest is an amazing event already, but this year’s sounds like it’s going to be completely nuts. The craziest thing they’re doing is probably staging an event called Eve of Destruction, where MMA fighterGunnar “Gunni” Nelson (12-0-1) will go up against CCP staff and special guests on May 2. The CCP staff are great guys, and I don’t want to see them get hurt, but they’re going to as Nelson is a Brazillian jiu-jitsu specialist that has Viking blood in his veins....

An “Ultimate” first impression Though Sony and Marvel’s deal meansSpider-Man can join the MCU, with Sony still holding the franchise rights to the character they’re going to try and make as many projects as they can. There’s a Venom spin-off, a Black Cat and Silver Sable spin-off, and probably one based on Morbius the Living Vampire. But the most promising project is the animated film based on the Miles Morales version of Spider-Man....

So, about thatUltimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3— it’s got quite the opener. Having been tragically born without the fighting-game gene, I can’t really do much with the series other thanwatch others playprofessionally. But I do love the characters from both sides, and this full cinematic trailer is a lovely bit of fan service. Perhaps one day we’ll get a cinematic of this visual fidelity that actually depicts the fights from beginning to end....

The free Whack-a-Mole update is out on PC and consoles [Update:Dead Cells‘ Whack-a-Mole updatereleased todayon PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.] New weapons? More mutations? Hard-hitting balance tweaks? Where do your eyes dart whenscanning the patch notesfor a majorDead Cellsupdate? It probably depends on your goals for the game and where you’re at with them. For folks stuck in Boss Cell hell, the revamped difficulty curve is a big deal....

shakes fist at IGN We’re not too far from theDestiny 2beta(on console, anyway), with open access hitting on July 21 and preorders gaining access 2-3 days sooner. The full game is just two months away. In this home stretch, Bungie is trying to ramp up the hype with an assist fromIGN First. No,you’rejealous. Shut up. The month ofDestiny 2kicked off Wednesday with abrief glimpse at the Farm, the new social space in which Guardians will congregate since the Tower has been overrun by the Cabal....

Challenge Rifts, Necro, D1 event, new zones to augment 2016 Just this weekend,I askedif a character and a special event were enough to carryDiablo IIIthroughout 2017. You guys had an array of opinions, some positive (“good on Blizzard for supporting the game”), and some negative (“charging for a character is bad form”). It created an interesting discussion that I wanted to expand up on further, and I got to ask that question and more directly toDiablo III‘s production director, John Lagrave....