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Why Are Video Game Movies Almost Always Terrible?
Hollywood has notoriously had difficulty adapting video games to the big screen. Starting with the original Super Mario Bros. film released in 1993, there have been 47 live-action video game movies that have received theatrical releases. Collectively, these 47 films have a Rotten Tomatoes score of 28.6% and an average Metacritic score of 36/100. As always, aggregated…
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Battlefield 6 Beta First Impressions
The first weekend of the Battlefield 6 open beta ended early this morning and I found the game made quite an impression on me. The last few iterations of Battlefield felt soulless and completely turned me off of the franchise. The games looked great, and the core mechanics felt intact but there was something off.…
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Cross-Play and the Death of Console Loyalty
When I was growing up, the division between PlayStation, Xbox, and PC felt immense. Each console had an array of exclusives that made owners of the opposite console envious. PC players had access to thousands of indie games that never made it to the consoles but had to wait months for ports of Call of Duty and Grand…
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Product Placement in Games: Immersive Enhancement or Capitalist Intrusion?
Brad Pitt’s F1 Movie: A Billboard on Wheels Watching the new F1 movie with Brad Pitt, I was trying to keep a mental count of the number of brands whose products were prominently placed in the movie. Sure enough, I lost count 15 minutes in. From sleek Apple products to the numerous brand patches on the main…
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Gaming’s Identity Crisis: Why New Consoles Keep Replaying Old Hits
As the rumors swirl around the upcoming release of a GTA IV remaster, people online have reignited the debate surrounding the place of remasters in gaming. This generation of consoles has seen its fair share of remasters. From the surprise release of The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion to the re-rerelease of titles like The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto V, remasters…
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Fortnite and The Supremacy of V-Bucks
If you’ve played Fortnite, you’ve probably purchased some V-bucks. Swiping over to that store page and purchasing V-bucks is a guilty pleasure of mine. Just as the developers intended, I get a little shot of dopamine every time I hit the purchase button and buy some new skin or item. Is it childish? Yes. Is…