Author: Declan Taggart

Ludum Dare 32 winners – if games were jam, which would have the best graphics?

Do you like games? How about being given them for free? How about being given exactly 2821 free games crafted around a thought-provoking central theme? I’m going to go ahead and assume that you didn’t reply to any of those questions, because you’re probably reading this at work or sitting at your computer in your ...

Apple pulls the confederate flag from their store

In a move that has been greeted on forums and by twitter users across the breadth of the internet as “dumb” and “just stupid”, Apple has pulled all games from their store that display a Confederate flag. Whilst no doubt a gesture that is well meant, following the recent tragedy in Charleston, in effect this ...

Dota 2 International prize pool smashes its own record

$13 million? Pah. That’s barely even 86 million Danish Krone. Hardly even 438526954 Thai Baht. Just 8943682320 Rwandan Francs. Nothing! At least, those are the words ringing around the Valve’s vast cathedral-like HQ this morning at the news that this year’s Dota 2 International prize pool has again destroyed its own record by climbing past ...

E3 2015: The Ratchet & Clank re-imagining trailer looks awesome

Why bother with E3? The much anticipated PS4 re-imagining-boot of Ratchet & Clank has just released its first trailer, and it looks pretty darn good. All of E3’s goodies are splurging onto the internet already and the show is still days away. It must feel like a guest at house party who arrives on time ...

More Interplay fallout: Van Buren still refuses to die

This week, I came across two pieces of evidence showing that the argument over the best game in the Fallout series has somehow become relevant again. The first: I almost got in a fight with a spotty cashier at a budget Icelandic supermarket on Thursday. I say almost. The guy had a rabid look in ...

E3 2015 Top 10: the most E3citing games

As I type this, the press conferences of E3 2015 start in 5 days. That’s just  5 days before the world is smacked in its bushy face by another bunch of stilted game execs and designers, shoved onstage to speak in a language they don’t really know, and children faking excitement at awkward family game ...

Revealed: The Most Watched Games in Youtube History

Who would have thought that watching people crafting mines was so telegenic? If only all those soot encrusted frontiersmen – exploited by the Man, coughing their lives away in a cloud of tuberculosis and coal-dust – had had access to a second-hand $50 DV camera off eBay. They could have been internet superstars. Google have ...

World of Warcraft Bans: 100,000 Accounts Shut Down

Azeroth has became a desolate and forbidding place once again. Last night, a Blizzard community manager announced that 100,000 World of Warcraft accounts have been banned for using bots. The World of Warcraft bans will run for 6 months. Lore, the cannily named community manager in question, stated: “We’ve recently taken action against a large ...

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate Footage and Launch Date Revealed

My favorite thing about Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag was the ships. They were great. My second favorite thing was the pirate stereotypes. From the looks of the gameplay demo for Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, which can be found below, I’m only going to be half disappointed by the latest installment in the series. There’s disappointingly little ...

AAA vs Indie: Another Meaningless Assassin’s Creed Subtitle

News of the latest Assassin’s Creed makes me wonder. Do we need another one? Haven’t we had enough meaningless subtitles? Meaningless collectibles infesting the mini-map? Meaningless and tedious – so very, very tedious – framing stories? Of course, it doesn’t matter what I wonder. The yearly arrival of a new AssCreed is as inevitable as ...