Gaming

24Feb By William Lim1 Comment
Esports & Competitive, Gaming

The Price of Hype – Looking at a few “Failures” in the Gaming Industry

“Failure” is a strong word. In the gaming world, a failure is when a game fails to meet consumer expectations, either failing to sell well, getting bad reviews, and sometimes both. There are many reasons why a game would fail, perhaps it was too rushed, or it was too ambitious, or maybe the audience expected too much and got too little in return. Either way, the game just did not quite hit the mark for people. The gaming industry has had its fair share of duds in the past few years, games that shot for the stars and missed, all with their own stories of mismanagement and confusion. Hopefully, by looking at these games, people can understand just where and why these titles broke down. A City to Burn: Cyberpunk 2077 Cyberpunk 2077 had a lot going for it before release. Developers CD Projek...
Read More
20Feb By Bryan WurtzNo Comments
Esports & Competitive, Gaming, Guides

League of Legend’s Moonstaff Build – Explained

If you enjoy MOBAs or any competitive game, then you must be well aware of the term "meta." It defines a set of strategies that combines flawlessly with the game's always-changing champions, items, and skills. Because those factors (champions, items, and skills) are being tweaked regularly, the "meta" also adapts. The League of Legends' season 11 is live. With it, new metas emerge to help competition thrive. We have all seen the terror that Olaf and Goredrinker cause in solo queues, first-hand. In the past few months, more players are optimizing mythic items' unique passives with certain champions to make them even more potent than season 10. New builds and playstyles are being discussed every day on Reddit and alike communities. The arrival of changes also guarantees one idea: off-m...
Read More
The Mexican Runner Takes on The God Run Challenge in Cuphead
7Feb By Lydia MockensturmNo Comments
Challenges, Gaming, Speedruns

The Mexican Runner Takes on The God Run Challenge in Cuphead

The Mexican Runner, the absolute gaming legend, is working on his latest Cuphead challenge: The God Run! The Mexican Runner, also known as TMR, is a speedrunner who usually plays retro games, particularly NES. At the time of this article, TMR holds 30 speedrun world records, with times on leaderboards of 40 different games. Despite his many speedrunning accomplishments, he's most known for something else. He was also the first-ever player to complete the entire NES catalog. And he did it all live on Twitch, with most games being completed blind. Despite this being an insanely massive challenge to take on, it only took him 3 years. In just 3 years TMR completed all 714 officially licensed titles in a project he dubbed NESMania. You can find more details on this project, including TMR’s r...
Read More
3Feb By William Lim2 Comments
Esports & Competitive, Gaming

The Phenomenon of “Dead” Games: A Deep Dive into a “Dying” Titles in the Video Game Industry

There is a strange phenomenon that is going on within the games industry. Over the past few years, popular video games that are no longer the golden child of social media are very quickly considered “dead”. A quick browse on YouTube will give you hundreds of videos that explain to you why your favorite game is dead. Fall Guys, Animal Crossing, Among Us, and Phasmophobia are a few examples of games that exploded in popularity due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, before fading from the spotlight. Games like Fortnite or League of Legends are examples of games that are extremely popular, but internet forums are quick to deem the games dead or dying. We will take a look at a few massive games over the past half a decade that has faded from the limelight to see if they’re really “dead” or not. Redefin...
Read More
29Jan By Pluma de ÍcaroNo Comments
Gaming, New Releases

Dead by Daylight’s Chapter XVIII: A Binding of Kin Adds to the List of Ongoing Issues

It has been more than a month since Chapter XVIII: A Binding of Kin arrived for Dead by Daylight. This new DLC added, as usual, a pair of new characters who can be acquired by spending in-game currency (9000 iridescent shards each), or simply buying it for $6.99. The new killer, Charlotte, whose power is being able to control her brother Victor, and the survivor Élodie Rakoto, a mysterious woman that works as an occult investigator, have come with three new perks each -- and this is where the trouble begins. There has been a conflict among survivors and killers because while Élodie's perks are fun, Charlotte's are not really helpful or useful in any way. However, this is not the main cause of players' complaints. The problem lies in Charlotte’s power. Her power has presented over ...
Read More
Link’s Awakening Ending EXPLAINED
6Jan By SpeedGamingNews1 Comment
Gaming

Link’s Awakening Ending EXPLAINED

Most people beat The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, and are left thinking that everything was a dream, and it was a completely wasted plotline within the Zelda timeline. However, upon deeper analysis, you will learn that without waking the Windfish, this would end the timeline, and be the full demise of Link. Before we get into the details, let me just provide you with a quick summary, and then we'll continue forward with breaking those details down. In short: In the ending of Link's Awakening, upon waking the Windfish, Link saves three of the four real characters (the Windfish, Link, and Marin), while Nakura (the ghost) succumbs to the storm and cannot be saved. Ending the game, we learn that Koholint and the rest of its inhabitants only exist within the Windfish's dream. Eac...
Read More
A Secret Hidden RNG In Mario Maker 2 (1-1 with a Twist)
31Jul By SpeedGamingNewsNo Comments
Gaming

A Secret Hidden RNG In Mario Maker 2 (1-1 with a Twist)

By now, everyone knows 1-1 with a Twist. It's the Super Mario Maker 2 level which took a Super Mario Bros. classic, and turned it into a firestorm! So, what is it that truly makes it so painfully difficult? Of course, there is the blatant firebar spam which is difficult to navigate. But we wanted to know if there was more than meets the eye. Welp! We put it to the test, and we found exactly what ramps up the difficulty and left the level with such a low clear rate. Okay, to be totally honest; it wasn't our idea. We stream over on Twitch where we accept viewer-level submissions. And we finish all of them. Though this channel has since turned into a 24/7 world records stream. But as soon as I saw 1-1 with a Twist, I knew someone would send it our way. One of our cruelest chatters sent ...
Read More
First Impressions! Return of the Tentacle
14Aug By aliceNo Comments
Gaming, New Releases

First Impressions! Return of the Tentacle

Return of the Tentacle is the highly anticipated fan-made sequel to the classic Lucasart point-and-click adventure game Day of The Tentacle. It features the same lovable cast of misfits as the original and, of course, more puzzles than you can shake some chattering teeth at. The game was developed by the small five-man (and woman!) German team at Catmic -- and we are stunningly surprised by how great this early-release looks. Our favorite Purple Tentacle is back and his appetite for world domination has only gotten worse ever since we last squished him under our sneakers. Our favorite heroes Bernard, Laverne, and Hoagie are thrust into some more convoluted space-time-continuum-bending shenanigans in order to save the planet. As far as fan-made games go, this game goes above and beyond.  ...
Read More
First Impressions! The Funny Boneyard
3Aug By aliceNo Comments
Gaming, New Releases

First Impressions! The Funny Boneyard

The Funny Boneyard is the freshly minted brainchild of Austrian-based game company ZORPEK. Founded by Josef Zorn and Andreas Capek, this is the duo’s first foray into the gaming world -- and we are excited. For all of you 90s kids that grew up on Lucas Art adventure games and Saturday morning cartoons, this game will feel like a blast-from-the-past, albeit with a few caveats. The game looks and feels like the retro point-and-clicks of our youth but with a tinge of social commentary. You play as Maria Romero, your typically disenchanted millennial, as she tries to save her local pub, The Funny Boneyard. Maria is a product of missed opportunities in university, an overactive social media presence and a crippling struggle with anxiety. If she seems a bit blasé at first, it’s probably be...
Read More
LADX Rando Races
16Dec By SpeedGamingNewsNo Comments
Gaming, New Releases, ROM Hacks, Tournaments & Races

LADX Rando Races

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX now has a randomizer! At the time of this post, the randomizer is in alpha. LADX speedrunners who know all the tricks may be able to work around this, but casual players can encounter unbeatable seeds. You never know where a door might lead, how you'll use it to your advantage, or how you might have to work around it! See what items you'll discover within the randomized chests. Where you end up, with whatever resources you have, can only be overcome using in-depth knowledge and understanding of the Link's Awakening universe matched with your skill and wit. Though it may sound overwhelming to someone who is new to Link's Awakening, the randomizer includes a very useful tool to help you along your way. You can mark the items you've found and entranc...
Read More