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Back in the day, there used to be two baseball games that would compete with each other; Sony’s MLB The Show and MLB 2K. Following the release of MLB 2K13, 2K Sports dropped the franchise, leaving PlayStation exclusive The Show to dominate the virtual baseball market. In 2014, RBI Baseball brought back their franchise, aiming to create a more arcade-based style instead of the realistic simulation that The Show offers. I think that is an unwise decision and that the RBI Baseball franchise won’t exist much longer in the future. The thing about baseball video games is that no one buys them except for hardcore baseball fans. Except for Mario Baseball or epic arcade-style games like The Bigs or Slugfest, baseball fans want a realistic sim. The casual baseball fan isn’t going to buy a copy of RBI Baseball like a casual fan would buy Madden or NBA 2K. If…

Take a moment out of your day to rewatch Pork and Beans. It’s such a good song to me because around 2009 / 2010 this was really rad and impressive. Today it’s sort of like, a time capsule of the era, where the Internet was still the wild west vs. what I feel is this dystopian future of toxicity across social media and memes popping up and dying within several claps of Pewdiepie’s hands. Just, wow, you’ve got Chocolate Rain, the Star Wars kid, numa numa and so much more. It was like the first YouTube Rewind before YouTube Rewind was a thing. It’s also a reminder that memes don’t age well. We’re always in our modern lives in a constant state of boredom and what solves that boredom today probably won’t in the future. Do you feel it has aged well? I feel both nostalgic because this was my…

So the other day I came across some frosted circus animal cookies, and instantly I was back in another time and place. I said out loud how they reminded me of Super Mario 64 since I would always eat them while playing that game. Funny enough, my brother agreed with me, saying he thought the same thing. Isn’t it crazy how that works? The human mind is truly incredible, and I started thinking of what other games I associatewith certain foods. Strangely enough, I associate these barbeque chips with Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes and know that the first time I cranked up Modern Warfare 2, I was eating pretzels. I’ll also hear certain songs that I would jam to during my MW2 online matches, and I instantly think of the game. Does anyone else feel like this, or is it just me? The thing that blows me away is that…

There was once a time when you had to truly defeat a video game. Rather it was Super Mario Brothers or Doom, these games offered such insurmountable challenges that it was as if the bits of software were maliciously sentient. Now, however, there is a stark contrast. But, don’t worry. Things have definitely changed over the years, but they have changed for the better. Within the ages of Atari, NES, SNES, PlayStation, and Xbox, games were simply different. Games were not as long. With only a few hours worth of content programmed into each piece of software, video game developers were met with a unified issue. Players were finishing their games far too quickly. This may not immediately seem like an issue. After all, time spent does not inherently equal money well spent. However, there is an underlying issue with players finishing their games too early. Since the earliest days…

Lawmakers have always been critical of video game culture. Now a Pennsylvania official is looking to implement a “sin tax” on certain video games. As reported by GameSpot, a bill has been proposed by Pennsylvania lawmakers to provide a 10% excise tax on certain games. Known as House Bill 109, the bill hopes to provide a “sin tax” on games rated M or Adults-Only by the ESRB. The taxed money would then be funneled into a “Digital Protection for School Safety Account.” The account is intended to enhance security measures at schools, following recent shootings. Republican state representative Chris Quinn proposed the bill back in 2018. However, the bill did not make it out of the committee during the 2018 legislation. Consequently, a similarly worded bill has since been proposed. Back in Sept., Quinn offered the following statement on the matter. “In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation…

The 22nd annual DICE Awards, held by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, just went down in Las Vegas. To perhaps few gamers’ surprise, Sony Santa Monica’s God of War completely stole the show. God of War won the highly praised Game of the Year award, while also managing to wrangle in a whopping nine awards from the total 23 categories. Speaking at the event, Meggan Scavio, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, offered a few words. “Tonight, at the 22nd Annual DICE Awards, the interactive entertainment industry gathered together from all over the world to celebrate their trailblazers – the very best in video games and the teams who – with their amazing talent and vision – have created boundary defying experiences that have captivated global audiences. On behalf of the Academy, I congratulate not only this year’s incredible nominees, but the esteemed winners chosen by…

A new Nintendo Direct is scheduled as of tomorrow, February 13th. Many upcoming games, both announced and unannounced, have the potential to be covered and revealed, including Animal Crossing, the mainline Pokemon game for the Switch, and the recently released hit Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The first of Ultimate’s DLC characters, Joker from Persona 5, has been announced already. Due to be included in the game this month, he will likely be featured in this month’s Direct. But a new, yet unannounced character may emerge as well. It’s always exciting to see who will be drafted next into the Smash roster, and with four more DLC characters coming after Joker, it could be a motley crew indeed. Although Smash Bros. characters are often incredibly difficult to predict beforehand due to their unpredictability, some make more sense than others. And while who knows which character will be revealed next, there are some that could be…

With the second Lego movie recently hitting theaters, I thought of another one of my favorite combos: Legos and Star Wars. I have no carpentry skills whatsoever, and if you told me to build a birdhouse, I would fail epically. However, even at a young age, I was a Lego connoisseur and could create anything that crossed my path. I was obsessed with Legos and Star Wars, and even built the Lego Millenium Falcon all by myself. You can envision my excitement when I found out there would be a Lego Star Wars video game. Game on bro. When I first found out about Lego Star Wars: The Video Game I was ecstatic. It would be the perfect blend of the loves of my life at the time. Now imagine the pain that came with that when I realized it was initially released on the Xbox and PS2, but not on the Gamecube. Oh,…

There are two things I love in life that when mixed are the perfect combination, and that is Mario and America’s greatest pastime. Sure, realistic games like MLB The Show are fun, but it’s way more entertaining to play against friends with a roster filled with Mario and his pals and enemies. I’m sorry, it just is. Mario Superstar Baseball is a game that I am always down to play. I still have my Gamecube (the Gamecube Mario ball is better than the Wii’s) and will take on anyone who is foolish enough to challenge me to a game of five innings. We’re turning off power-ups though; power-ups are a total scrub move. What makes the game so fun is the fact that you can pick a new team every time, and each player is unique and skilled in their particular area. You could go for a team filled with…

In the ’80s the future always featured cool new tech available in the home, conveniently and so inexpensive that everyone had it, but as we inch closer to the future they envisioned back then nothing is quite as they expected and VR is no different. I can’t deny that VR is a fantastic invention, revolutionary for our time and has changed the way we experience not only video games but media in general, but what it isn’t is affordable. The headsets themselves range from about $350 to $500 depending on which one, where from, so forth and so on. This price doesn’t even include what you have to run the headset on, the graphics card that most sites recommend is around $400, and even at best with PSVR you still have to buy a PS4 before you can use it, so you see the point I’m trying to say? The…