Exploring a toxic rivalry of dependence and loneliness My friend Johnny and I had a complicated relationship based around loneliness, a mutual sense of humor, drugs, booze, and video games. I’m not sure if we were ever really friends. One time he tried to open up to me about his dad and their problems, and it just made me feel uncomfortable; I never felt like myself around Johnny. But we spent an insane amount of time together in my teenage years....

A nice gesture in the wake of server issues Fall Guyshad a rough time keeping up with its tremendously popular first week, and even into the weekend, players were dealing with all-too-frequent disconnects. Things are smoother now – I couldn’t tell you the last time I dropped out of a match – and we’re getting an apology gift for the server issues. Coinciding withan updateto fix a tragic Fall Mountain crown-climbing glitch and add a new finale called Jump Showdown, Mediatonic has given players 5,000 Kudos to spend in the shop and a complete legendary Prickles costume....

Was the Luminous Engine worth it to you? Final Fantasy XVcame out four years ago almost to the day (June 24, 2025). I repeat:Final Fantasy XVcame out four years ago. And in the time you’ve pondered what that means to you, Square Enix just greenlit another spinoff. It’s kind of insane just how many cottage industriesFinal Fantasy XVcreated. I’m talking anime episodes and DLC for each individual party member. A pre-release demo that granted you a bonus summon....

Which one will stick? No one ever keeps resolutions. I tell myself every January that I’m going to stop inspecting cheese for fingerprints before putting it on a sandwich or that I’ll actually start wearing something other than sweatpants and a hoodie out in public when it’s cold, but it never happens. And it never will happen. What would I even wear? A pair of Uggs and leggings with some kind of lame scarf?...

Genshin Impact’syearly orchestral concerts are a great way toappreciateGenshin’sstunning soundtrack together with other fans. Last year’s concert ticketssold out immediately, so if you’re interested in attending one of this year’s concerts, you’ll want to be prepared. Genshin Concert 2024 locations and dates Genshin Concert performances happen across the world on different dates. Your experience will vary depending on location, since it’s not just the venue that’s changing. Different orchestras led by different conductors will handle each performance....

This is getting a bit weird now. Two weeks ago, Steambroke its concurrent player record, registering 34.6 million users. One week later, it broke through that number, loggingover 35 million playersusing the platform at the same time. Seven days later, it’s gone and broken the record yet again. According to figures from the third-party website SteamDB, over 36 million concurrent players were using Steam over the weekend. The screenshot posted to Twitter/X shows the exact figure as 36,294,835....

July 13, 2025. A day that will live in infamy.Nubageddon. The day Nintendo announced the “Slide Pad Expansion,” the second nub’s cradle attachment. Now officially known as the Circle Pad Pro, presumably because…it’s for pros (?), I got to play a videogame using this incredibly divisive piece of plastic. The 3DS augmented with the Circle Pad Pro was surprisingly lightweight, though it adds plenty of bulk to what is meant to be a portable system....

A must-see for fans of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night There’s been a resurgence of Metroidvania games in recent years thanks to crowdfunding but not all of them have lived up to our lofty ambitions for the genre. Many haven’t. As such, I hope you’re not so skeptical as to avoid givingHeart Forth, Aliciaa chance — it’s the real deal. If you enjoyedCastlevania: Symphony of the Nightand have been waiting for another game to come even close to attaining that level of excellence, you’ll want to read up onHeart Forth, Aliciaafter watching the pitch video above....

A recentHelldivers 2Major Order seemed to be aimed specifically at forcing players to unlock the Anti-Tank Mines Stratagem. Something fans had been dodging every time it came up. However, this time, when they finally gave up on the meme, they didn’t expect it to cost Super Schoolchildren their air. The Major Order in questiontasked theHelldivers 2community with killing a total of 1.5 billion enemies. If they succeeded, Super Earth wouldn’t give them the new mines because the old ones obviously worked....

We teamed up with Kia to promote theirKia Forte Koup, the first coupe in its class to include MP3, USB and Bluetooth connectivity standard in all models. They wanted people to check out the new car by installing the Speed Racing app onto their Facebook accounts. This is the Internet though, so people expect a little something in return for their efforts. Kia thought ahead and offered up a 120GB PlayStation 3 Slim and a $25 Best Buy gift card to one random Dtoider....

Just two days after launch,Inflexion Games announcedthat the developer is now prioritizing the development of an offline mode forNightingale. In its current state,Nightingalerequires a consistent online connection to the game servers. Having just released into Early Access, this is what every player hopes to see. A developer open to changing its game to fit community feedback, which it appears Inflexion is willing to do. Adding online to a connected world Without a doubt, the biggest hurdle for adding anoffline modetoNightingaleis going to be at a fundamental design level....

Sean “Day[9]” Plott has become a very popular person within theStarCraft IIcommunity. He runs his own stream over atday9.tvand has become one of the most prolificSCIIcommentators (read: casters) on the scene. He’s known for his zany antics on his stream, something that is likely to carry over into today’sRed Bull LANevent, which allows the audience to interfere with the players inca-razy ways. I got a chance to interview Sean about himself, eSports, and the Red Bull LAN event, which proved to be quite the surreal experience, as I’m such ahugefan of his....

Launch info still TBA I always keep my GameCube on standby as an old reliable multiplayer party machine, but it’ll be nice to enter thecrazed world ofkiller7with a few quick clicks. The upcoming PC version looks on point. I expected as much given how well the original art has aged, but it’s nice to see the gang up close. As CJ put it in his recent hands-on coverage of the port, this is “Suda51 at his most reckless and pure, and if you truly consider yourself a fan of his because you likeNo More Heroes,Let It Die, orLollipop Chainsaw, you owe it to yourself to see just how unconventional his creations can be....