Posts By Mat Growcott

Nineties warriors unite: it’s time for the battle of Sonic and Mario to rage again. For the first time in forever, new major 2D entries in both franchises will be coming to fans. And to celebrate I propose we do away with the corporate worship of modern gaming fandoms, and beat the shit out of each other in the schoolyard instead. Because look at how awesome our heroes look in the picture above. Look at the edge, the sheer cool…

Every time a new social media platform comes along, it doesn’t take long for people to start asking how to use it to market. It makes perfect sense. When you’ve got millions of people paying attention to a single app, you want some of them to look your way. Making it happen – that’s the trick. And it goes without saying: most the people who make it big on any brand of social media, TikTok included, do so completely by…

There was a time when I was certain the newly announced Metal Gear Solid Collection would be a cash grab. I hoped I’d be wrong. Taking the original HD Collection off the shelf and just smashing it on PS5 would have been very, very easy. Even the addition of the original Metal Gear Solid felt a bit like we were getting additional value. But as part of the Nintendo Direct, Konami confirmed exactly what we would be getting. They also…

I sometimes complain about the lack of surprising news in the gaming industry. Well, here’s what I’m talking about. A new Game Boy Colour game has been released… and it’s been put out by McDonalds. No, this isn’t a madlib. You heard it right. The game, Grimace’s Birthday, can be played in your browser or on your phone. It even sits on a suitably retro website. Or, because this is the internet and people take seconds to do ...

Starfield had a blowout today as part of the Xbox conference, and it’s safe to say it did its job. Opinion on the game has shifted dramatically. Not that the muted reaction to it before was ever fair. I think a nice combination of Fallout 76, Bethesda’s reputation for janky launches and general attitude to Xbox made people comfortable to knock it. And maybe those people will still turn out to be right. But before it felt like those critics…

The second part of the Final Fantasy 7 remake – Rebirth – got a reveal yesterday, and it was the most joyous moment of gaming I’ve had in a long time. Sometimes you get into a rut, and nothing you play seems to capture your imagination. We’ve all been there. And that might be due to busy schedules, or changing tastes, or a mild dislike of many modern games. For me personally, it’s just a bit of burnout. But I…

Since the pandemic, it is undeniable that mobile casino games have become more popular. And they’re likely to keep increasing in popularity too. There are a lot of reasons for that. Ease of use is a big one! It used to be if you wanted to play something like you would at a casino, you needed actually to go to a casino. That’s not true anymore. Thanks to the rise in smartphones, you can play anything you want anywhere. And…

Some of you may have heard about the issues with Steam, Nintendo and Gamecube/Wii emulator Dolphin in the last couple of weeks. It boils down to this: it ain’t happening. Dolphin was trying to get onto Steam, but Valve contacted Nintendo to check on the legality of that. Nintendo shut it down. Regardless of if they’re right or wrong, anybody who follows this stuff won’t be surprised by that move. Emulation exists in a grey area. You’re ...

A couple of people have spoken to me about a tragic new trend amongst blockchain fans – the odious idea of “play-to-earn”. No longer will playing a video game be frivolous – your time will be rewarded with actual currency. If you’ve got to the second paragraph without feeling your stomach churn in disgust, you may well be part of the problem. The idea that playing for the love of the craft isn’t enough, but that digital busy ...

There may not be many surprises here, but it perhaps confirms what we all suspected. A new article from Jason Schreier has spilled the beans behind Redfall’s miserable development, and its critically poor reception. This isn’t an article revisiting what is already at Bloomberg. In short: Redfall was planned as a GaaS title, but direction was extremely muddled. Morale was low. Microsoft did nothing to fix the project. The most damning part, in my ...