Jason Love - Lead Editor

My earliest memories of gaming involve a Nintendo Entertainment System, a television that still used tubes, a family room, and my brother. Before we even had a game where two people could play together, I remember sitting and watching my brother play Super Mario Bros. Occasionally, he’d let me play a life or two, but that was all I needed to get hooked. Pretty soon, games like Blaster Master and Final Fantasy were finding their way onto my Christmas list alongside the Transformers and GI Joes. I used to play so much that my family nicknamed me “Nintendo Boy”, a moniker that occasionally still gets brought up today. From the Nintendo I moved on to playing PC games, thanks once again to my family. I was too young at the time to really understand them, but my mom used to play the “Zork” series and I’d sit next to her while she played trying to contribute and follow along as best as I could. Nowadays I mostly play Playstation and Nintendo DS games, although I still occasionally sneak in a PC game or two and a large portion of my co-op time comes from playing with friends.

Aside from gaming, I also enjoy watching movies, listening to music (anything but country), re-learning to play bass, and reading authors like Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, and whatever good science fiction/fantasy novel comes my way. It is my hope that one day I might be able to switch jobs from government contractor to full-time games journalist or freelancer. A man can dream, a man can dream…

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We chat with Mark Cooke about the latest update and more

Inkbound Interview with Shiny Shoe

Following up on their deck-building, roguelite hit, Monster Train, developer Shiny Shoe set their sights on making another roguelite; this time with a focus on turn-based mechanics and the ability to play with friends. Inkbound became available via Steam Early Access this past May and already showed a lot of promise. This past week it received its first free major update, "The Starship of Terrors," that added a bunch of new features and improved a number of things based on community feedback. We spoke with founder and CEO Mark Cooke about this update, along with inspirations for Inkbound and the challenges of balancing classes for solo and co-op play.

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A lot of QOL changes make a great game even better

Inkbound: Starship of Terrors Recap and Impressions

Inkbound, the new co-op roguelite from Monster Train developer Shiny Shoe, received a big update last week, titled "The Starship of Terrors." This was a significant milestone for the title as it not only added new content to the game - including a new character class, a new zone, a new daily challenge, and a new way to craft your ideal build via "trinkets" - but it also tweaked and refined a number of existing features; it's also entirely free.

by Jason Love 0
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  • playstation 5
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Monster Hunter for the Fortnite generation

Wild Hearts Impressions and Stream Recap

Over the past 20 years, there have been a number of action-RPG titles that fall in line with the reductive/encompassing idea of "Monster Hunter-like." The latest entry into this field - Wild Hearts - comes from Koei Tecmo and Omega Force and published by Electronic Arts, and it shows a lot of promise... if it can just get out of its own way.

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From balancing to the game's original fantasy designs

Developer Interview on The First Descendant

The first open beta for Nexon's The First Descendant wrapped up last week to mixed results. While there is definite potential there, it's largely going to depend upon how the game gets supported and how the time-investment/reward structure for players shakes out. We were fortunate to get some questions answered by Lee Beom-jun, Producer and Head of Magnum Studio (the development team within Nexon that's working on The First Descendant), and while it may not lay all concerns to rest, I appreciate how committed and enthusiastic he sounds about the title.

by Jason Love 0
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Bustin' makes me feel alright

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed Impressions

Illfonic's latest 4v1 multiplayer game, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, arrived last week to scratch that certain itch you've been feeling for a while now. You know the one; you strap on a Proton Pack, pull out your PKE Meter, crank the Ray Parker Jr tunes, and destroy just a few chandeliers while trapping a class-five full-roaming vapor.

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7 co-op titles are on the way for Switch owners

Co-Op Roundup - September 2022 Nintendo Direct

Ah, fall (in the Northern Hemisphere)... the weather starts to cool, the leaves begin to change, and the holiday video game releases loom on the horizon. While the start of summer typically marks developers and publishers hyping up the gaming community with big announcements for what's to come in a year (or two or three) via digital presentations and "Keigh3," the fall is when we usually get teasers of more immediate releases. For example, the September Nintendo Direct dropped yesterday and not only did it finally give a full name and release date for the next Zelda game (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, May 12, 2023), but there are four new co-op games, two remastered co-op games, and one existing co-op title that are coming to the Switch within the next 6 months.

by Jason Love 0
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Some friendly banter about Square-Enix's popular MMO

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Stream Recap

Square-Enix's flagship MMO, Final Fantasy XIV, has been through its share of ups and downs over the past 11 years, including an entire reboot three years after its release. We've touched upon the title here and there throughout that time between Tally's MMO Co-Opportunities articles and the occasional stream of it, but this week we're giving it a little bit more of its due as Jason and Mike sit down for a nice relaxing chat about this particular behemoth.

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