How our hero has fallen “I think we have a demographic for it,” I was told by a Namco Bandai PR rep. Let me back up — mere moments earlier, he asked what I thought ofPac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures; I returned his questioning with nothing more than a five-second blank stare. Fittingly, that blank stare was encapsulating of all thatPac-Man and the Ghostly Adventuresappears to stand for — an emotionless venture that’s devoid of any soul or effort, and will simply be dismissed as an awkward misstep almost immediately....

I’d buy that for a dollar IndieGameStand isrunning a sale onBridge It, a game that looks exactly what it sounds like. It’s a pay-what-you-want deal, with the minimum set at $1. The fascination withsimulation gameshasn’t caught on with me in any meaningful way, but the description for this one sounds devilish enough that I might just have to give it a go: “Set in the picturesque surroundings of sparse deserts and dense forests it is your task to strategically design and construct an engineering masterpiece....

Xbox One users get Duel Mode today Though early adoption of new consoles is something I tend to avoid these days, there is one game that has made me jealous of Xbox One users:Peggle 2. Soon enough, the ball-bouncing lesson in geometry and rainbows will not be exclusive to the current generation Microsoft console. On May 7, it will release for the Xbox 360, bringing joy to the unwashed last generation masses....

Candy and Stardust for all! Pokemon Go Festkinda stumbled, to put it mildly.Severeconnectivity problems and other tech issues made the event redundant for a lot of people, despite the awkward on-stage attempts to keep spirits high among the baking, pissed-off attendees. I’m not really up onPokemon, I know that Gardevoir’s hot, and that’s about it. Oh, and Jigglypuff sings you to sleep, right? But I do feel bad for the attendees, a lot of players were very excited for the inaugural (final?...

At GDC this week, Sony’s Chris Norden described thePlayStation Vita‘s shape as “Super Oval.” I had no idea that was an actual thing, but if it was, you’d think it would be reserved for the truly fantastic. I’m thinking about living eggs, like Humpty Dumpty or Sheldon fromOrson’s Farm. Those are some really super ovals. Norden also boasted that the Vita’s touchscreen is so sensitive, it can offer sub-pixel precision. Basically, if you cut your fingers off and replaced them with straightened paper clips, you could still enjoy as muchUnchartedas you ever could....

Shoot grunts until July 5 I don’t think I’ve ever played a badHalogame. I have my favorites (Reach&ODST), but I can see the merits in every installment. EvenHalo 5: Guardians, which received a fine, ifmuted reaction, is still a well-made video game. When the low points in your series are just “good,” that’s an impressive batting record. (Except for that one time 343 Industries bungled theeasiest slam dunkin the history of current-gen remasters, but those games are still good!...

The survival game that lets you worry about potato genes Rustis such a ridiculous game, and I mean that in the best possible way. It’s fascinating to watch it grow from the sidelines. The latest update, Farming 2.0, encapsulates that sentiment well. In a game about surviving on a harsh island with less-than-trustworthy players looking to keep themselves entertained in bizarre and sometimes cruel ways, you canalsoobsess over your plants’ light intake, water saturation, temperature, and genetic makeup....

Salvage or sell, or neither? If there’s one inevitability inDiablo 4, it’s that you’ll collect atonof gear. While you can hold a small array of gems and equipment in your inventory, a single dungeon run can single-handedly fill your inventory to maximum capacity. You’ll need to offload all this excess gear somehow, but how? At the outset,Diablo 4provides two ways to turn your loot into something useful. The most obvious option is to sell your items, which will give you a small sum of gold....

I walk, to be perfectly honest Slightly Mad Studios has released another glossy new trailer for its upcoming driving simulatorProject CARS 3, which launches on PS4, PC, and Xbox One on August 28. The new trailer, titled “What Drives You,” gives fans a look at some of the sleek and sexy roadsters available to take for 200 MPH burn around any one of the sequel’s 140 global tracks. Whether you’re all about speed, handling, drifting, or just looking like a massive wanker billionaire, you’re sure to find the car of your dreams among the 200 models on offer....

Potentially $25M up for grabs It was basically only a matter of time, but this year’sDota 2main tournament, The International, has surpassed last year’s total of $24,787,916 and has officially become the biggest prize pool ever for an eSports event. For those unaware, this prize pool is funded by the viewers, with a mere $1,600,000 contributed by Valve. Fans ofDota 2can buy the in-gameCompendiumand related items to add to the prize pool....

‘Put it out, you fools!’ I’ve been playing a lot ofMinecraftlately, and part of that process involves checking in on past projects to see their progress. And you know what? The folks who are working on Minecraft Middle Earth are pretty damn talented. It was started back in 2010 by user “q220,” and builds arestillhappening as we speak. What’s really crazy is that I had one window with the game, another withtheir own interactive map, and another with a picture ofthe actual map of Middle Earth from the books....

But the box art is great Bless ’em for trying, but the retro inspired mini-games 20th Century Fox cooked up to promoteX-Men: Apocalypseare pretty damn terrible. Tenuously tied to the film as a throwback to the ’80s when the movie is set,Retro X: Arcadeis a set of three classic titles with a vaguely mutant spin.Pac-Man,Robotron, andTrack & Field, have beenmorphedintoMutant Conquest,Revenge of Hero X, andMutant All-Star Track & Fieldrespectively. Nice idea, terrible execution....

For PS4, Xbox One, and PC, although you could probably have guessed that [Update:Well, it’s official. IGN has now added theofficial reveal trailerforDarksiders IIIto its YouTube channel. You can check it out at the end of the article.] As of late, it’s been coming across as if THQ Nordic has been doing everything in its power to put theDarksidersseries back into the public spotlight. Taking into account therecently-releasedWarmasteredEditionof the first game, as well as the the fact that bothDarksiderstitles were added to the Xbox One’s list of backwards-compatible titlesa little over a month ago, I couldn’t help but get the impression that the publisher was gearing for an announcement for a third title in the hack-and-slash game series....