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The Medium is the latest video game under Microsoft’s helm. It was developed by Bloober Team, a studio that has made a couple of decent horror games before, and their latest entry is another psychological horror that will delight any fans of the genre out there. This game is not action-packed or adrenaline-inducing. It’s slow, contemplative, and emotional. Despite receiving mixed reviews, The Medium can hold its own due to its unique mechanics and emotional beats....

Board games, or as they’re mostly known today as “tabletop games” are some of the most fun players will ever have with a group of friends. It’s hard to realize that if they’re a casual fan of board games, but deep in the catalogs of gamers’ minds they have a memory when they really got into a tabletop game with friends. The days of tabletop games getting a bad rep are over; games today are more modern and have a mixture of casual and advanced elements to make for a great experience for everyone....

Video game villains can appear for a brief moment, yet the games wouldn’t be the same without them. Often more intriguing than the heroes they face, an independent video game for each of these characters makes sense. In some films, the bad guy wins. Could the same happen in video games? The following villains might appear as a final boss, but they each cause problems for the hero. A standalone game branches away from the main series and might include a character’s origin story....

There are a number of tropes that are a dime a dozen in RPGs. Let’s not get it twisted: tropes aren’t necessarily a bad thing; they are just the tools that help to build the outlines of a fantastic story when used correctly. Among all the kidnapped princesses, magical blessings, and chosen ones, we also have the classic epic betrayal. It can be a sudden and climactic shift in the story that propels the player down a new path....

100 gamers were asked to draw some of gaming’s most famous characters, logos, and icons, and it seems as if it’s not as easy as you might think. There are certain logos and characters almost anyone in the world will be able to instantly recognize. The golden arches of McDonald’s, Coca-Cola’s iconic red branding, and Apple’s apple. While not as globally recognized as those, the same can be applied to the gaming world....

The developers at Rocksteady Studios have shown a certain knack for getting their fans scrambling in anticipation, and the announcement of Batman: Arkham Knight was no different. Excitement and mystery abounded when the team revealed that ‘Arkham Knight’ wasn’t just the arbitrary title of the third game in their series, but the name of a brand new villain created specifically for it. Exactly how the Arkham Knight will fit into the surrounding roster of classic villains isn’t yet clear, but fortunately, the character’s design has finally been revealed in the latest batch of released images....

Following fast on the heals of news that Batman: Arkham City might actually feature a fourth playable character (in addition to Batman, Catwoman, and Robin), the official list of achievements for the title has leaked online. The Batman: Arkham City achievement list (or trophy list, if you’re a PS3 gamer) also, and unsurprisingly, offers-up a few clarifications on prior speculation - as well as details on the highly anticipated game’s story....

Batman: Arkham City is nearly upon us, yet news on the game continues to appear at an astonishing rate. While players are clamoring to get back into the virtual skin of the Dark Knight, Arkham City’s other playable characters – Robin, Nightwing, and Catwoman – are a major draw in their own right. However, Bat-fans are going to have to buy the game new, or shell out extra for a Batman: Arkham City VIP pass, if they hope to play as Catwoman....

In terms of sales, Battlefield is one of the biggest series in publisher Electronic Arts’ line up. But in recent times, the Battlefield games have also been some of the most heavily criticized. Many players felt that Battlefield 3’s single player campaign was lacking while it was Battlefield 4’s performance issues that came under fire. From launch, BF4 has continued to face problems with its online multiplayer mode - problems so bad that EA shareholders took the publisher to court....

Heading into the weary end of the summer, it may be that the bank account is a little low. You could get yourself a real job… but where’s the fun in that? Microsoft and Activision have teamed up to give players a chance to earn some serious cash by doing what they love: playing Call of Duty. The payout: a staggering combined $1 million in cash and prizes. The $1 Million Tournament will consist of 32 four-person teams, with each team having to earn a place in the competitor pool....

It’s impossible to deny the scope of what Destiny intends to be. The game boasts some incredibly solid shooting mechanics and while it aims to bring players together with its MMO/FPS hybrid gameplay, there are times when one might want to indulge in the more simple of pleasures. Sometimes, a simple arena-style deathmatch is what’s required and if recent rumors prove accurate, gamers could soon see something of the sort implemented....

Easter Eggs have become a major staple in video games. Ever since Warren Robinett inserted his name into his 1979 Atari game Adventure, developers have taken great joy in leaving hidden messages and clues for players to find, and gamers have reveled in the hunt for these secret additions. While most games may have two or three Easter Eggs at best, the folks over at Techland have taken the practice to whole new levels....

Those familiar with Turtle Rock Studios don’t need to be told the significance of four-player co-op; with Left 4 Dead, the studio showed that four was the magic number, and all that players needed to either survive or hilariously fall victim to the zombie apocalypse. With the team’s next project, Evolve, the same core concepts seem to have been refined, expanded upon, and placed into an even bigger, more complex set of mechanics....

Fans of the renowned fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin will already be excited at the prospect of an actual RPG set in the universe. Game of Thrones, which will be developed by Cyanide Studio is now confirmed to be working alongside publisher Atlus, (Shin Megami Tensai, Disgaea) who will lead the vanguard to bring the game to audiences. Game of Thrones’ story will be personally supervised by the series’ author, George R....

Gamers everywhere have been holding their breath to see if Rockstar would make any changes to the next-generation and PC versions of Grand Theft Auto 5, and today the company confirmed that those tantalizing rumors were true. They also went on to announce the release dates for both next-generation consoles and PC, as well as revealing that next-generation players would get everything from new vehicles weapons to a more robust online mode to bolster their Grand Theft Auto 5 experience....

The world of MMO gaming has been in a transitional state for quite some time. Paid subscriptions no longer appeal to a massive audience as they once did in the days of World of Warcraft’s launch. Gamers prefer a single payment for their games - or no payment at all - with optional transactions once they decide they want to spend more money. ArenaNet felt the winds of change far before many other developers when creating Guild Wars, so its no surprise the long-awaited sequel sold gangbusters weeks before it even launched....

Sayonara Superman, later Lex, and bon voyage Bane: NetherRealm’s resident predator is on the loose, and he’s positively aflame with anticipation. Officially unleashed on June 11th, owners of Injustice: Gods Among Us’ ‘Season Pass’ feature can now get their hands on Scorpion a whole five days ahead of schedule. Following the game’s well-received April debut, Scorpion’s DLC appearance marks the first time Injustice has openly favored ‘Season Pass’ holders over non-adopters....

If you only played through the main story missions of Avalanche Studios’ open-world “amusement park of chaos” action-adventure Just Cause 2, then you should probably go back, pick it up again and play it properly. It will take about 20-30 hours of alternating side missions and stronghold sieges with general pointless-yet-happy destruction, but at least you won’t be alone. Christofer Sundberg, CEO of Avalanche and creator of the Just Cause series, has said that the three year-old game still attracts hundreds of thousands of players every single day....

There’s been no shortage of news for both the PC and Xbox 360 editions of Minecraft lately, with snapshot updates and console edition catch-ups on the horizon. Nathan Adams of Mojang and Paddy Burns of 4J Studios (in charge of the console version of the game) recently both let loose some major update news for fans, which will bring huge updates to both editions of Minecraft. Adams, known affectionately as ‘Dinnerbone’ by the staff at Mojang, revealed over Twitter almost nonchalantly that he has been working on texturing and shaping witches for the upcoming Minecraft 1....

It may sound like a bit of broken record at this point, but EA Sports has exceeded previous numbers of both first-week sales and online activity with the latest edition of their hockey simulation NHL 12. With another hit in the books, EA can now leave behind NHL 12 and turn to their next frontier of hockey gaming, announcing the free-to-play NHL Superstars for Facebook next month. It comes as no surprise to us that EA Sports can officially claim to have outdone their past work, since we had more than a ringing endorsement of the game in our review....