mascot
Mobile Menu
 

Posts By Mat Growcott

blank

Wild Card: Ubisoft Enters Acti/Xbox Merger

In what will hopefully be the final surprise twist in the wild Activision/Microsoft Merger – Ubisoft will control the cloud rights to Activision Blizzard games for the next 15 years. Nobody saw it coming, but early this morning the companies involved made the announcement. Ubisoft will offer all classic and new Activision games for the next 15 years through Ubisoft+. They will also be able to license out the games to other streaming companies, including ...

Read More
 
 

blank

Broforce Forever (Xbox Series X)

When America needs to dole out some democracy, there’s only one gang of soldiers brave enough to answer the call: the Broforce. Made up of familiar (but not too familiar) faces from favourite action films and TV series of the 80s and 90s, you get to chew gum and kick ass through dozens of hilariously funny levels. And while the original game came out in 2015, Broforce Forever – the final update – was released earlier this month. And ...

Read More
 
 

blank

I’m Playing the Original Fallout (And It Hurts)

When the original Fallout came out in 1997, I was not even close to being able to play it. And multiple attempts in the years since have proven fruitless. Why? Various reasons. When I was a teenager, I guess it was down to the fact that it was just too damn dense to hold my attention. Things aren’t obvious, and that isn’t a good thing. Even today, hours into the experience, I’m still noticing buttons and finding new ways of…

Read More
 
 

blank

This Isn’t the Red Dead We Wanted

The original Red Dead Redemption is making its return – and I kind of wish it wasn’t. That’s not entirely fair. It’s fantastic that the barebones remaster of the original game is coming to PlayStation 4 and Switch. The fantastic Xbox backwards compatible version is good enough that it makes sense to re-release the game where it isn’t available. PC could use some love, but there we go. Still, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. ...

Read More
 
 

blank

Remasters We Really Need

I’ve written a lot about remakes and remasters lately, but by and large they have been for games that are already easily available. Where’s access to the titles we really need? Like, sure, it’s fantastic I can play Grand Theft Auto 3 on my Xbox Series X. But Liberty City Stories is forever trapped on PSP (or PS2 if you want the inferior version). Same goes for Vice City Stories. There are two entries in one of the most major…

Read More
 
 

blank

Final Fantasy IX Remake Could Be Good

Final Fantasy IX was a timeless celebration of everything the franchise had been up to that point. It celebrated the best of the SNES classics, while improving on what we had loved about VII and VIII. With X, a new era began, and things have never quite been the same. And that’s why fans are rightfully worried about the upcoming Final Fantasy IX remake. It hasn’t been officially announced yet. But it was on the Geforce leak and insiders have…

Read More
 
 

blank

Venba Review

Video games tend not to be simple stories of home life. Guys with guns sell so much better. But unlike film and television, where there’s a healthy market for things that escue the blockbuster, in gaming not so much. Even without the giant budgets, indie games usually follow the same rules of killing, competition, sex and violence as their bigger, more expensive brothers. That’s what makes titles like Venba so special. Sweet, fascinating and best ...

Read More
 
 

blank

Final Fantasy on Xbox? I’ll Believe It When I See It

Final Fantasy XIV is coming to Xbox – and all it took was a decade. I don’t believe in looking a gift horse in the mouth. This is amazing news. But it was the secondary part of this announcement that was more interesting to me. As part of the announcement, it was said this was the beginning of a bigger presence from the publisher on Xbox, and in particular Final Fantasy was mentioned. This comes after years of confusion around…

Read More
 
 

blank

Xbox Is Killing Time Til Acti is Bought

There’s been some doom and gloom this week and, as usual, it’s around Xbox. Revenue from Microsoft hardware sales plummeted by 13 per cent. And we should apparently be very, very worried. I’m kidding – it doesn’t matter at all to customers. So long as the product is out there and Microsoft is backing it, why should we worry about the specifics of whether sales on hardware is up or down? It’s console warring for the modern ...

Read More
 
 

blank

Let’s Talk Project Q (And PS5 Pro)

PlayStation have a bunch of new hardware on the horizon and it’s a mixed bag. From the confusing Project Q to console behemoths, it’s going to be an expensive 18 months for fans of the brand. The main focus of this article is on the ugly thing in the picture above. I was pretty vocal about the poor design of the PlayStation 5. It’s been hidden away from view in our house since the day it launched. The Project Q…

Read More