TinhmanDer

Ahh, Tetris. A game that your parents and almost every other parent knows. The longevity of it has made it evolve over its existents with the “hold” mechanic – which I’ve grown up with -- and doubling down on the competitive nature of Tetris with Tetris Battle, Tetris DS, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and more. Growing up I was terrible at Tetris – making lines with falling blocks was simple enough, but I didn’t understand how to fix my mistakes. There are many insane Tetris players that I can’t even think about competing with. The stress of trying to keep the best layout of blocks while trying to keep up with my opponent is too intense for my taste. However, Tetris Effect is the total opposite of all those competitive Tetris incarnations. The way Enhanced Games and Mizuguchi plays with music and players emotions to then incorporate it into a puzzle game or even something like Rez: Infinite can give old concepts like Tetris a new breath life. Everything in Tetris Effect is amplified by x...

Destiny 2’s competitive scene has always been a second thought compared to the co-op PvE activities. At the launch of Destiny 2 Bungie tried a different more team-play orientated approach with an all 4v4 pvp match-up. Over time players got tired of that formula, especially, the way players were strategizing. The only way to be competitive is to team-shot a player at long distance, this was the only way everyone played. This kept the matches long and stale. Bungie understood the frustration and decided that they will change something about the Crucible (PvP). In July, Bungie pushed an update that changed the 4v4 format for Crucible to a 6v6, just how it was like in Destiny 1. Adding two more players on a team might not seem like a big change, but it completely changes how freely your team can strategize, this is especially true with solo matchmaking. Bungie knocked it out of the park with this change, of course they had a lot of help from the community. The community wanted th...

Mario Tennis Aces is the latest entry to the Mario Tennis series. This time around Nintendo did no wrong with their tennis series giving us an adventure mode where you move from level to level to complete a series of challenges, a fun online/offline tournament, and exciting local play. I haven’t played the Mario Tennis series since the GameCube days, but I’m having as much fun as I did back then, expect for one mode that made me hate motion controls. During the lead up to launch I had questions about full motion controls, if they would support it for full matches? Can it be an alternative? and will it be like Wii Sports or will it have depth will in the base game? These questions were answered just a couple of days before launch and I was disappointed in how Nintendo implemented the motion controls. Coming from the developers of Wii Sports and how well the motion controls worked with the tennis mini-game gave me hope that Nintendo could do something great with motion ...

It’s finally E3, but for some it might have started earlier in the week. This is always an exciting time for gamers. Seeing all the announcement, trailers, gameplay, all those juicy video game tidbits that we want to know about for the upcoming games. First up on the podium is EA. Expectations 2017 was a rough year for EA, with Star Wars : Battlefront 2’s loot box controversy. From my perspective, this was the best thing that could happen for EA and the gaming industry. Sure, EA took some hits with sales and players’ perception, but it made the industry act. Loot boxes are now in the back end of any developer’s minds, it even went as far as to banning loot boxes in curtain regions. What EA needs to do in this conference is to just communicate to the players. They need to be as transparent as possible to give some reverence to the players. Explain how they’re handling loot boxes and microtransaction going forward. Anthem needs to blow players minds, they need to go...

Nintendo Japan is releasing a new Switch bundle for ¥26,978 ($246) saving about ¥5000 ($50) from the original – if you can still call it a bundle, but here’s the catch, it’s only available in Japan. This bundle will come with the Switch, L + R Joycons (Color of your choice), and the L + R Wrist Straps. This lesser bundle is specifically for having a “second set” for households that already have a Switch and dock. This handheld-only bundle is a great response from Nintendo for the players that only use it handheld, especially in Japan, as handheld gaming has taken over Japan. One thing that is necessary for the Switch to work and is missing in the cheaper bundle is the USB-C Charger. This isn’t new to Nintendo as the new 3DS didn’t come with a charger either. Other accessories that are missing from the handheld bundle are the Dock, Joy-Con Grip, and HDMI Cable. For players that want all the tv functionality grab the original bundle, as you will have to give-up some cash for al...