Some new info straight from the horse's mouth...

http://store.steampowered.com/universe/

"Steam is bringing the best games and user-generated content to exciting new destinations. At GDC 2015, we’ll be giving demos of the refined Steam Controller, new living room devices, and a previously-unannounced SteamVR hardware system."

This is exactly what I wanted to see from Valve, in addition to new games. Maybe... we can hope right?

From the official site:

Re-Logic and Engine Software have combined forces to develop the next progression in the open world/sandbox arena: Terraria: Otherworld.

Set in an alternate dimension within the Terraria universe, Terraria: Otherworld places the player in a life-and-death struggle to restore a once-pristine world – now overrun by a malevolent force that has corrupted nature itself – to its original splendor.

Combining elements of sandbox gameplay with role-playing and strategy elements, Terraria: Otherworld explores the Terraria experience in an innovative and unique way - providing a fresh approach to the “open world” genre.

This must be the secret project we've been hearing inklings of information about for a while. The trailer doesn't show a ton yet, but it does show that the basic layout and fantastic art style stick around, with some great new lighting and particle effects. I'm excited about the RPG and Strategy elements. While Terraria had some of those already, it'll be great if this gives you more focus while you explore., as long as it doesn't tie you down to one kind of playstyle.

One thing to note, this isn't Terraria 2. That's a separate project.

http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/2013/08/excited1.gif

You can find more at http://terrariaotherworld.com/ and on the forums here: http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads%2Fterraria-otherworld.11627%2F

I remember playing Doom in the '90s, and loving every minute of it, but there was always something missing. What if I wanted to make Doom look like a photograph from the 60s? What if I wanted to take a picture of myself to remember the moment forever?

Well, now my prayers have been answered.

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/71767-instadoom-screw-nofilter-rc1/

As Kotaku has said, "After almost 22 years, Doom is finally finished."

Bethesda is hosting their first E3 conference this year. June 14. Mark your calendars!

I present this without comment; speculation is naturally going to be out of this world. I think from the picture I chose you can tell what I'm hoping for, though. But they have something big to discuss, it seems.

http://www.bethblog.com/2015/02/10/bethesdas-first-ever-e3-conference-save-me-a-seat/

Before leaving Mario behind for a while, I wanted to take a look into one of the most confusing situations involving a game's trip from Japan to the US, or rather two games.

After the major success of Super Mario Bros., Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan. The game was meant as a continuation of the first more than a typical sequel, so that it would be challenging for people who had already mastered the first game. The graphics were basically identical, but it introduced a couple of new mechanics and seriously hard levels. However, Nintendo of America decided they didn't want to release it stateside, since it looked too similar and would be too hard for western audiences.

As it happens, Miyamoto and co. had recently released a game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, which was received well in Japan, and for the release of what would be called Super Mario Bros. 2 in the west, Nintendo just re-sprited parts of the game to add in familiar characters and items, and changed the way some of the characters handled. For a full list of changes, the Mario wiki has you covered: http://www.mariowiki.com/Yume_K%C5%8Dj%C5%8D:_Doki_Doki_Panic

Interestingly, as the reworked Doki Doki Panic was selling well in the west as Super Mario Bros. 2, it was then RE-released in Japan as Super Mario USA.

Down the line, when the Super Nintendo came out, with the release of Super Mario All Stars, the west finally got a peek at the original Super Mario Bros. 2, where it was called "The Lost Levels" instead of its original name, to prevent confusion.

So, now that the history lesson is over, lets dive in, first with the Japanese version. From here on I'll just call them SMB2J and SMB2A so you know which one I'm talking about.

SMB2J is hard, as I mentioned before. For this piece, I played the original on a Famicom emulator, and that made it a bit harder still, since the Lost Levels rerelease added a few things to make it easier, most notably being able to save your game. I used save points, a lot. I normally don't care for emulator save points because it makes things so much easier, but for this game I didn't consider it cheating.

In terms of game mechanics, a few notable things changed. There's only a one player game, but you can choose between Mario and Luigi. For the first time, Luigi handled differently, being able to jump higher but handle a little more loosely. Also, the poisonous mushroom was added, which will kill you if you're small, or shrink you if you're Super Mario. In addition, the wind. Anyone who has played this game hates the wind. You know how to time your jumps, but then wind throws you further or prevents you from jumping as far.

When you beat the game, if you haven't warped, you will go into a "fantasy world" called World 9. It's a "What if" world, where the overworld is flooded, or you have to beat bowser to get to the flagpole, etc. Unfortunately it just keeps going in a loop and doesn't allow you to get to worlds A, B, C, and D. On the famicom version, you have to beat the game 8 times to access these. In the Lost Levels, they just continue on past world 9.

So what did I actually think? It's hard. It's good, don't get me wrong, but if I was a kid looking for something to play on a Saturday afternoon I doubt I would have picked it up, because it's nearly the same gameplay as SMB and the frustration would have made me leave it on the shelf. I can definitely see why Nintendo of America didn't want this. As an adult, though, I totally dig it. As long as I can use emulator savepoints! There are some truly challenging things that have to be pixel perfect to pull off.

SMB2A, on the other hand, brought some major changes to the series. Luigi's gameplay changes remain, because the character he was replacing from Doki Doki Panic had the same abilities. The Princess (my fave) couldn't jump as high or run as fast, but she could float, and Toad was a brute, able to throw enemies farther than anyone, and pick things up faster. And wait, what? Jumping on enemies doesn't kill them! You just ride them until you pick them up. You can only kill enemies by throwing objects or other enemies into them.

Another thing you notice is that all the enemies are different. You're thrown into a place that's obviously not the mushroom kingdom, with new unpredictable enemies. But once you get the hang of things, you feel right at home. Miyamoto obviously borrowed some physics from SMB, which helps the transition.

Even though not originally a Mario game, this is the first Mario game to have worlds based on different climates (unless you count wind). The ice world was frustrating, but I can still remember the pattern of those flying guys with pitchforks when you're running down that long path of ice cubes, sliding all over the place. This trend of worlds in different climates is something that continues on to this day in the Mario series, and many other games.

SMB2A is probably tied with the original SMB as my second favorites of the series, behind Super Mario World. Even if SMB3 went back to the old style game mechanics, leaving most of SMB2A's behind, I still find it quite appealing. Maybe that's part of why I like it as much as I do: It's truly unique in the Mario series, and hasn't had a chance to get diluted at all.

So many major gameplay changes, all the enemies were different, but we still accepted it as a Mario game, because it's incredible. This game felt totally fresh, and everything just worked. The plot explained it all away as a dream at the end, which makes it fit into the chronology easily, but not everything was left in dreamland. Pokeys, Shyguys, and especially Bob-ombs have become a major part of the Mario series, and it's all thanks to the original SMB2 being too hard.

I'm glad that as an adult I get to play both these games, but I'm definitely glad that 8-year-old me got the American version.

I have three functional NES consoles, and two of them are currently hooked up and ready to play. You could say I'm a fan. But nobody talks about these old games much anymore, even though the gameplay in many games holds up even in the present day. Let's do something about that. There's no better place to start than the game everyone played, Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. isn't the first appearance of Mario, or even the first Mario Bros. game, but it's the first introduction most of us had to the characters, and it's what most consider the first game in the core Mario series. It set the rules that platformers would follow even to the present day. There's no question about the influence this one game has had on the whole industry.

I used to love poring over instruction manuals for NES games, but one thing that sticks out for me with SMB is that it doesn't need one. In the first few seconds of the game, you learn the basics, and by the end of 1-1 you know pretty much all you need to know to get you through. If you run straight forward, you get killed by the goomba. Oh, you must need to hit one of these buttons. Whoa, A jumps, and jumping kills enemies, and makes things come out of these question mark blocks. And suddenly, you realize you've got the hang of it. But then the fun starts.

It isn't an incredibly easy game, but the difficulty curve ramps up nicely, and beyond being accessible, the mechanics are good. Even today, the physics in the game feel natural, and the challenges are well thought-out.

For the time, the graphics were decent, but they were impressive in how they convincingly made this world with such simple pixel art. And the music, especially that iconic theme, lives on in the Mario games even today.

Out of every game I've obsessed over since I first got my NES back in the 80s, this one still probably takes the record for most hours of my life taken up. Even the 550 hours I've put into Terraria or the few 200+ hour games I've put into Skyrim don't hold a candle to the hours I put into beating Super Mario Bros. over and over again. I was obsessed, and I still play it a few times a year.

I realized at some point in college that I almost always played it the same way, warp from 1-2 to world 4, and then warp from 4-2 to world 8, and decided to check out some speed runs. "I can do that," I thought. So for months, I rediscovered the game in a new way, trying to power through as fast as possible to get as close to the record as I could. I think the record at the time was around 5:30 (currently on SDA the world record is 4:58), and I was able to get down to around 6:30 before burning out. I never got good enough to be competitive with it, but it was a blast.

For this blast from the past, I decided to play through the game without warping, and I was surprised at just how much I had forgotten. 1-1, 1-2, 4-1, 4-2, and all of world 8 were still quite fresh in my mind, but especially world 6 and 7 were almost foreign to me. I could almost get through the 8-4 maze blindfolded, because I've done it so many times, but some of the later castle mazes are tricky until you learn the pattern. Overall, it struck me how great the level design was coming into it with fresh eyes. Like I said, I had forgotten so much so it all felt new again, and it was all well done.

This game is a classic for obvious reason. Even if it wasn't the bundled game for most of the NES's lifespan, it would have been huge. The technology available back in the mid-80s was limited, but Nintendo pulled off something truly special with what they had, and its impact can still be felt today.

Shovel Knight is on his way to dispense shovel justice to every platform, now adding Sony's current platforms. This trailer is mostly going to be stuff you've already seen if you care at all about Shovel Knight, but at the end there's a very short clip of a Kratos boss fight. This means I'm probably going to be buying the game all over again.

In addition to officially announcing Linux support for the Pre-Sequel, today Borderlands 2 can be played on Linux.

Some DLC is still showing Windows/Mac only, but an Aspyr rep on Reddit says that it's taking some time to flag everything properly.

In addition, there's a massive sale on the game and all the DLC so if you don't have it yet, now's your chance to get it cheap!

http://store.steampowered.com//sale/borderlands2_steamos

Do you see that? That's a drill mount. This is the coolest thing I've seen so far coming up in 1.3

Recently the developers at Relogic have been dropping some hints at what we can expect from 1.3. Check out the full post here

http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/a-lively-world-terraria-1-3-spoilers-tcf-launch-event.342/

I wasn't all that excited about Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel until this video, honestly. It seemed like a filler game between last gen and current gen, for the most part. But Mr. Torgue is the cure for what ails you. Not just Torgue, but the info in this video makes me far more excited than I was. The news that this is coming to Linux in addition to all the other common platforms is certainly another point in its favor. But rather than just a cash-grab while working on their current-gen titles, this seems to add quite a bit to the Borderlands formula. What do you think?