Localization sounds like a cool concept right? It allows for players all over the world to have access to a game or a media even if they don't know the language. Games become available with over a dozen languages and tend to employ hundreds of people to localize their text and dialog, it's pretty awesome.But by now if I am saying it's awesome you should know there's a much darker and annoying side to it all. While localization is a cool concept, today I want to talk about how it's implementation tends to be invasive and discriminating.This is an issue that

This is Bruce. He and his three pals have been asked to talk to a not so nice man inside a Unidad base. Scouting out you see three snipers in towers as well as four patrols making sure there is no funny business going on. There is also half a dozen grunts on the ground to keep the area tidy. Taking out the snipers is a good start so Bruce goes ahead and does that before the four of them move into the base proper.One pal calls out a lone grunt in a bunker which is made short work of, then

“What Frightens you more? The FEAR that you know, or the FEAR that you don’t know.” - F.E.A.R 2007“I say, is it too much to ask for both?” - Iron Man 2008  What makes a game not just terrifying but interesting as a video game experience? Resident Evil 7 may be a well developed game with great atmosphere, but I want to talk about some of the classic horror games that managed to not only inspire but also reinvent the genre, adding and restructuring different horror elements and mechanics.Each game has it's unique take on horror and while multiple characteristics can exist

After over 170 games played by over 200 runners for more than 150 consecutive hours and many emotional speeches this year's Awesome Games Done Quick has come to a conclusion raising more than $2.2 million, decimating the previous record set at AGDQ 2015 by nearly $700k.For those that do not know GDQ is a twice yearly charity event for the Prevent Cancer Foundation that revolves around speedrunning. Runners from all over the world converged at Hilton Washington Dulles, Herndon, Virginia for the seven day event now in to its seventh year.Alongside the usual classic runs of Mario, Metroid, Kirby and Zelda

From Dark Souls to Ninja Gaiden, from Overwatch to Rocket League, from Shovel Knight to Super Mario. Every game has it's traps, it's secrets, difficulties and intuitive aspects.What makes a game "Well Designed"? How is Game Design responsible for a game being Difficult or Easy? What causes players to stonewall for hours against a boss, or defeat an area on their first run?I believe the best way to put it simply is to describe Game Design as 2 opposing forces. One side is always trying to challenge the player, while the other always trying to help the player. Let's take a

Before we can say anything, I have a better question. "What does it mean to be a Casual Game?"Most people may think that a casual game would be a bad game, or that a casual game is a game casual gamers play, an insult or something degrading. Most people may look at Overwatch's Competitive mode and call it at that, how could a Casual Game consist of a Competitive mode?But before figuring any of that out, what does that word truly mean?Wikipedia describes "Casual Games" as A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by a mass audience

Simulators Simulator It already feels like there’s been those simulators like forever. Police, Airplane, Firefighter, Farmers, Garbage Disposal, Street Cleaner, etc. etc. There are way too many to count them all, but what is the deal with that? Well, I don’t have a freaking clue.Even though they have always been so full of bugs and have been so unbelievably bad, they’re still so incredibly successful.I can not explain this phenomenon, but know there must be something in our DNA that loves to simulate things. (Simulate, not fake!)Maybe it’s just the thrill of being a pilot, the fascinating danger of patrolling the streets and

Let it sale, let it sale, let it sale!Steam Winter Sale is very close (22nd December) and I hope to catch some great deals! After users were complaining about the bad deals that got worse and worse over time (used to be around 70% average but went down to only 10 maybe for new games if at all), chances are that Valve changes the system back again, though I would not entirely rely on that.Even though the sale is a great chance to get yourself some nice games, the real blowing ones will be released early 2017, so you might as well save

You may remember my article in March about the Desura website going down, where I pondered the future for Desura. Since then the website has been on and off (mainly off) and most people have passed the acceptance stage of grief. Recently it has been announced that the company "OnePlay" has now acquired Desura from Bad JuJu games, along with Indie Royale and Daily Royale. OnePlay have announced this on their website, stating "We are working hard to bring back Desura, IndieRoyale and DailyRoyale to deliver you more awesome indie games". OnePlay currently own their own digital games store, which they launched

Gears of War 4 released to the world last week both on Xbox One and Windows 10, many fans hoped for a sequel packing everything they'd dreamt of since Gears of War 3 hit the shelves back in 2011. The last 3 titles in the franchise have been developed for the most part by three separate development teams. GoW 3 by Epic, Judgment by People Can Fly and GoW 4 by The Coalition - this means all three don't share as many similarities as the first three made by Epic.Each has their own pros, cons and features we consider to be