In the East, the amnesiac hero is a pervasive trope, showing up reoccurring in the role-playing genre. As an expositional device, the method can be effective, with the player’s gradual discovery of the world mirroring ...

Across the last two decades, the Japanese role-playing genre has undergone a number of significant shifts. Many of these changes of obvious- the capability of contemporary hardware now offers the ability to render richly detailed ...

With the holiday shopping season on the verge of critical mass, this week offers a remarkably robust collection of new titles hitting both store shelves and digital marketplaces. Most notable is the number of cross-generational ...

Not long ago, localization of the lascivious Senran Kagura franchise would be nearly inconceivable. But gradually, stateside sensibilities have changed, spurring a trickle of Japan’s more salacious titles. Beyond the moe-istic merriment in games such ...

While the desire for innovation is a virtuous ambition, some developers would rather pursue perfection- offering a succession of sequels aimed at the realization of a specific genre. Such is the path plotted by Phoenix-based ...

While Metal Gear Solid 4 once asserted that “war has changed”, Fallout 3 proclaimed that “war never changes”. The Call of Duty franchise has contently existed somewhere in the middle of those two contradictory tenets. ...

Traditionally, early November is a time when publishers trot out their triple-A holiday titles; this week’s itinerary of new releases confirms that industry custom. With big name releases such as Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Rogue, ...

An English professor once explained why Shakespeare’s sonnets were still a fundamental part of the college curriculum: they are the quintessential model of triumph over form. Shackled by a structure of a rigid rhyme scheme ...

Beyond a quartet of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare SKUs and The Wolf Among Us’ leap onto Sony platforms, the week offers a number of remarkable new releases. The Binding of Isaac makes its console ...

Beyond offering impressions of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Fluster Clunk, Skylanders: Trap Team, Hohokum, Escape Goat 2, Ingress, To the Moon, and Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments, the crew also tackles trivia, offers responses to ...