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Game Trailers show Pop Fiction recently produced a really great episode about the secrets of Super Mario Brothers. In this episode they find out if there are more secret levels in Super Mario Brothers than just the minus worlds. It's a very technical episode and goes over mechanisms on how people found these levels and how you can go about playing them now.

If you love Nintendo lore and knowing as much as you can about Super Mario Brothers you need to watch the video linked below, your inner nerd will thank you.

http://www.gametrailers.com/full-episodes/bbcd7o/pop-fiction-episode-35--the-lost-levels


"Videogames generally suck when it comes to storytelling. Their stories are often ineffective, clumsy, or just plain unnecessary. And so many cutscenes!!! We're disengaged, and it breaks our immersion. WE want to play the game, not have it told to us. Enter Dark Souls: the plot may seem threadbare, but when you dig in, whole new backstories and depth begin to emerge as you interact with the things you find. Is this the future of storytelling? Or should games even be TRYING to tell stories?"

This episode of Game/Show is pretty interesting as it brings up a point that was made in a recent Cheerful Ghost Roundtable, typically games contain pretty bad stories. Jamin talks... Read All


Not gonna lie, I am excited about Reaper of Souls launching in two weeks. That said, when I see something new drop about the expansion, I want to share it and this latest video showcasing more about the Crusader is pretty awesome

It seems the Crusader is very similar to the Diablo II Paladin except he seems to bring a few Barbarian like things to the table. It seems the Crusader has "auras" but also seems to have an ability that makes him almost giantlike.

Are you getting Reaper of Souls when it launches and if so will you play the new class? I know I will be.


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The somewhat reclusive creator of Flappy Bird recently accepted an interview with Rolling Stone. In it, he discusses the ups and downs of creating a hit mobile game.

I have to admit to a slight addiction here, folks. I've criticized the game and Mr. Nguyen on the site before, and I still stick by those criticisms. The game is derivative and unimaginative, and its creator handled criticism very poorly. I still believe that. However, upon the news that it was being removed from the various app stores, I re-snagged it just in case I changed my mind. Well, I have. Kinda. The art is incredibly derivative, going farther than just homage, and the mechanics are identical to a... Read All


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Valve has pulled code straight from the belly of the beast (by which I mean DOTA2) to bring ToGL to the world. ToGL is a translation layer to convert Direct3D code to OpenGL.

The code is being released as-is, and isn't necessarily ready for prime-time, but it can hopefully be used by other game developers to bring their D3D-only code into the OpenGL world, enabling future porting to Linux.

This is great news for the gaming community looking to get a Steam Machine, and obviously a good decision for Valve. It's nice to see a developer contributing back to the community with good code. I hope to see more games building on this to expand the Steam Linux library, as I'm... Read All


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"During presentations and hands-on demos at Crytek's GDC booth, attendees can see for the first time ever full native Linux support in the new CRYENGINE. The CRYENGINE all-in-one game engine is also updated with the innovative features used to recreate the stunning Roman Empire seen in Ryse – including the brand new Physically Based Shading render pipeline, which uses real-world physics simulation to create amazingly realistic lighting and materials in CRYENGINE games."

Valve should be letting us know the publishers that will be coming to SteamOS soon and I hope this signal from the Cryengine folks is a recipe of what is to come. The Cryengine powers games such as:... Read All


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As the days to the release of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls count down, Blizzard is letting out more information about the expansion. In this latest update they kicked out some really interesting bits of lore about the Crusader. I'll clip out a few things I found interesting:

"While there is some debate among scholars as to the true nature of Akarat’s prophecy—specifically, whether the "being" Akarat saw was the archangel Yaerius or simply an echo of Uldyssian’s sacrifice at the end of the Sin War—its significance is undeniable. It is said that the vision, manifesting as a magnificent flash of light and energy across the sky, ignited the fundamental belief within Akarat... Read All


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Curious to hear what everyone has been playing lately? I haven't really been playing anything specific and hope to hear something interesting that I can dig into.


I recently was let into the beta for Nekro and I am excited to finally be able to write about it. Nekro is a pretty dark game where you take the role of an evil Necromancer hell bent on usurping the sitting king in favor of replacing him with a dark lord of the undead. In the first few missions you learn the ropes of the game and spend in game "sins" to upgrade your Necromancers abilities. I really enjoy playing as the brawler Nekro and sunk most of my points into the bats as my summons. One aspect of Nekro is that your summons automagically target bad guys leaving you free to kite around taking shots at the games antagonists. Whereas you can use your Nekro to attack... Read All


"To whet your auditory appetite, we've put together an exclusive preview track featuring just a small sample of new melodies you'll hear as you adventure through this haunting environment."

I really enjoyed the Diablo III score and appreciate the direction they took with this music for Reaper of Souls. The music shown in the clip above seems to have an airy choral quality to it. The songs are also layered such that the individual instruments really stand out in a way I didn't hear in the Diablo III score.

Blizzard also did a Q&A with the Diablo III music director Derek Duke. I cut a snippet from the interview for your viewing pleasure.

""Q. The world of Sanctuary is... Read All