We have been playing the heck out of Tomodachi Life on the 3DS, and it is an absolute weird hoot. I will admit, that had I known that this game was more than it led on to be, I would've played it everyday. This notion has brought me to a new conclusion. I will be playing it, whether we get it for review or not.

I explained in the last article that it just might be my kind of weird "cozy game", and that alone is enough for me. Today's announcement shows that while you cannot transfer Miis online (thank the Gods), you and a friend can share your characters with each other via local wireless. You can have up to 8 Miis live together. They also showed how you can customize your island, and if your characters find themselves in love and wanting to start a family, they can! 

There's so much more here, and I don't want to spoil anything, but if you play the demo now, your progress will carry over, and you'll get a free hamster costume when the game launches in April. There is no Nintendo Switch 2 edition yet, which is fine. Why do I want this so bad? 

Earlier today, Nintendo announced that Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will be the first time you will see a difference in price. In a social media post, they announced that pre-orders are now available, however, there was another line that has thrown the gaming world off it's axis. 

The digital version of Yoshi and the Mysterious Book will be $59.99 USD, while the physical version will retail for $69.99. This is how the pricing structure will be going forward for all Switch 2 first party games. This is something people have been asking for, but I also realized, albeit late, that this is the "Switch Tax" people used to complain about. 

If this goes the way I think it'll go, then we will NOT see something like Donkey Kong Bananza increase $10 for the physical version, and rather the digital version decrease $10. I don't really know, but you read it, and decide for yourself. 

"Beginning in May 2026, and starting with preorders for Yoshi™ and the Mysterious Book, new Nintendo published digital titles exclusive to Nintendo Switch™ 2 will have an MSRP that is different from physical versions.

I already know. I've watched countless videos of him slowly but surely tearing people up. I've watched one of his moves catch Cammy's Level 3 out the sky, and completely cancel it out. I've loathed this character ever since his Street Fighter 3 iteration, and the ONLY reason I want to play him, is because he was motion captured by Kenny Omega, and they got the One Winged Angel in Street Fighter 6?

If you want to see some remarkable footage, by all means. Alex is available as part of the Season 3 pass, and of course, if you don't want to get him, I'm sure you have some rental tickets available via the World Tour mode. What's that? You STILL haven't played the World Tour mode? Why not? How else are you going to find out he got someone pregnant? 

I'm on my second run through Crimson Desert. I played maybe 60 hours of the game on PC, and when the PlayStation version came out, I pivoted and started playing on console. It's going well (aside from the fact that everybody's hair looks like creamed dog poop on PlayStation). Having experienced so much of the Crimson Desert before starting over taught me a lot about how to best enjoy the game. Especially when it comes to ignoring the skill tree.

For the duration of my new playthrough, I've only spent two Abyss Artifacts on skills. I bought double jump and dodge roll (even though I knew I could learn it for free when I got to the Reed boss guy). But I've completely disregarded all of the other skills. It turns out, you don't need any of that crap to enjoy the game. I have instead used all of my Artifacts to building my health, stamina, and spirit. These are the big outlying circles at the edge of the skill tree. Devoting all of my attention to those has made the game so much more enjoyable for me. 

You see, I couldn't really get any of the skills to work. The first time around, I had charging arrows, and the thingie that was supposed to let you swing around like Spider-Man. I had a wide array of combat skills, and too many Spirit skills to remember. And I used absolutely none of them. The button combinations are too intense, and I could never get them to fire off the way I wanted. A lot of the skills just felt like a waste of resources. So this time around, I gave the skill tree the middle finger and I'm having a swell time.

Of course, I'll probably start filling in some of those blanks when I get further into the game. But for now, I'm pretty happy having so much health that I barely ever need to use food to recover during combat. My guy can fly really far with his weird bird glider, and I have enough spirit to hand-palm baddies until I get bored. It's great! The controls are completely manageable, and because I already tried everything (and found that it mostly sucked) I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

So, if you are struggling with Crimson Desert's controls and can't seem to get a handle on how to pull off some of the more complex moves, join me. Just ignore them. The game gives you everything you need. 

Playing games for review is a lot of fun. You get games early (sometimes), and you get to experience them before the general public. However, there is a downside to that dynamic. Because you are playing games before the community gets their hands on them, there are no Reddit boards to help you through the hard times. All the clunkiness and jank of a game that has been behind the curtain is yours to wade through. You get the unadulterated version of the game that the devs intended to make, for better or for worse. 

In the case of Crimson Desert, being one of the first to play meant banging through some of the more difficult boss fights, scouring the landscape for hours for fast travel points, and hunting hundreds of deer to have enough food to survive whatever random events the game was going to throw your way next. And now, less than a week after the game's release, Pearl Abyss has come swooping in to nerf the game because the whining baby community couldn't handle the real deal. You kids probably never had to walk to school in the snow, either.

I'm kidding, of course, because Crimson Desert in its original form was one of the toughest games I've ever played. So when I logged in yesterday and noticed that I was able to hack trees down with a mere two swipes of my axe, there was great rejoicing. And when I found the fast travel point that had magically appeared right in the middle of my Howling Hill camp, I briefly thought that I was losing my mind. How had I missed it before? I hadn't - it was just patched in. 

Reading through the Patch Notes on the Crimson Desert site is like reading a menu of items I would have loved to have during my first time through Crimson Desert. And now that I'm taking a second run on PlayStation, I will luxuriate in the easier bosses, the enhanced food effects, and the private storage chest (!!!!). There are all sorts of great enhancements to gameplay and controls, and the fact that Pearl Abyss knocked some of this stuff out so quickly really shows the company's commitment to resolving some of the issues called out by reviewers and early players.

My pet will now actually pick up the stuff it's supposed to! The daggone Skybridge thing will actually work now! You can light arrows in fire at the Lioncrest Watchtower without destroying the brazier you are supposed to be using as a source of flame!

You kids. You have it so easy.

As the years go on, the sad reality is that a lot of older multiplayer online games slowly get delisted and have their servers shutdown. Today we learned that another will be shutdown in a few months, at least on consoles.

In a statement released today, EA has announced that Battlefield Hardline will be removed from Xbox One and PS4 digital storefronts on May 22nd 2026 including all DLC available for the game. In addition the servers will be shutdown for the game on Monday June 22nd 2026. All online functionality will cease however if you own a copy of the game you will still be able to play the single player portion of the game. 

The good news is that if you are playing on PC this news doesn't apply to you as that version will not be impacted by this news. 

Developer KT Racing and publisher NACON are not giving up on Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, and rightfully so. The multiplayer online racing game is getting a sixth season of content beginning March 25th, and to celebrate the occasion the development team will host a livestream on March 24th on the NACON Racing YouTube channel to dive deep on all things Season 6. The team will also begin to look ahead to Seasons 7 and 8 by hosting a Q&A session towards the end of the stream.

Season 6 includes the addition of a new Detective game mode, a topographical overhaul of Hong Kong Island, the addition of clothing stores in Ibiza, new cars, quality of life improvements, and more. Looking a bit to the future, Season 8 is perhaps the most highly-anticipated of the three announced seasons, as it will add fully customizable player housing.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is available now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5, as well as PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium tiers.

Ya know what? I love a good mashup, and combining fishing with horror sounds right up my creek.

In this newly release first-person demo on Steam, Out Fishing, players will fish during the day and face the horrors that lay within the wooded area and lake at night. Like your standard fishing game, you'll work to upgrade your gear, and catch the best fish, as you earn income to build up your camp.

However, and this is a big however, you stick around too late after dusk, the woods come alive with the horrors that surround the camp - and will show you exactly why these lands were abandonded in the first place.

So if fishing and horror are in your wheelhouse, check out this trailer and see if you want to reel in the first 2 chapters with this demo.

I've been playing Crimson Desert for a couple of weeks now. I'm pushing 55 hours at this point, which is an extraordinary amount of time for me to put into a game that I'm not technically reviewing. It seems that for some people - those who are willing to meet it where it is instead of trying to put it in a box by comparing it to other games - Crimson Desert hits extraordinarily hard. I'm one of those. However, I do have one issue with the game that is keeping me from enjoying it fully - the lack of difficulty settings.

I'm a bit conflicted about this issue overall. On the one hand, I fully understand and appreciate a developer's right to create their own vision and stick to it. And if Pearl Abyss' vision includes incredibly difficult and protracted multi-phase boss fights, it is well within their rights to create a game that delivers those fights. But on the other hand, I am borderline disabled when it comes to my hand functionality, and I keep having to quit fights that go on too long because it becomes too painful to continue. So playing through these long, difficult fights over and over sucks for me.

Thanks to IGN for the video

As I've gotten older, my hands have developed an extraordinary array of issues. I've got problems in my hands that I had never even heard of before they showed up in my own body. Rheumatoid arthritis. Trigger finger. Carpel Tunnel. Ulnar Tunnel. All the tunnels! Not to mention, I had an injury about a decade ago that severed several tendons in my left hand that left my fingers a bit...crumpled. I've had multiple surgeries to keep beating this stuff back, but as soon as I squash one problem, another just shows up. It's stupid. I've gotten to the point where I've semi-retired from playing video games altogether, because I have a hard time holding controllers for any amount of time. (This should be taken as proof-positive of my love for Crimson Desert, because as I said - 55 hours.) 

Do I get a feeling of triumph and accomplishment when I finally beat one of Crimson Desert's bosses? Yes, of course I do, which is what the developers intended. But for me and other players like me, that triumph comes with a physical cost. I end up with my hands in a sink full of ice-water. Having to fight a bad guy 20 times in a row is just painful, and I don't mean emotionally painful, or overly frustrating. I mean that it freaking hurts.

So yeah, I have zero shame about cranking a game down to easy mode so I can get through some of the tougher moments without ending up on the sofa watching TV with my wife pushing the buttons on the remote for me. And I would love a mode that would allow me to just shave off 30% of those bad guys' hit points so I could maybe fight them five or six times to learn the patterns and then just move on with the game. 

Of course, this is a total first world problem. I get that. "Oh no, I can't play the spectacular video game because my hand hurt. Wah!". But when all you want to do is continue your spectacular adventure and you have to stop because your fingers are swollen, that first world problem feels pretty real in the moment.

Crimson Desert arrives today on PC and console, and if you have been waiting for this game, I think you are in for a treat. I have been playing the game for a couple of weeks, not for review (Gaming Nexus has decided to review Crimson Desert on PlayStation Pro), but rather to get a feel for the title and to create other content, like the guide that will be going live tonight.

With that goal in mind, I never intended to play as much of Crimson Desert as I have. I figured I would drop in, get a feel for the game, and drop back out. Instead, my save file is pushing 50 hours and I've barely left the opening area. I can see the titular Crimson Desert on my map, but it seems very far away indeed. I don't think I'm going to be getting there this month. Indeed, I might aim towards arriving in the desert sometime this summer. Suffice it to say that Crimson Desert's beautiful and ornate world has pulled me in, big time. I'm in no hurry to leave.

If I were reviewing Crimson Desert right now, I would give it it a 9.5. The only thing keeping the game from a solid 10 in my mind are the janky control system and weird UI choices. You have probably read some reviews by now, and have seen various complaints about the main character being bland, and the story being obtuse and non-propulsive. These are legitimate complaints. I just don't care. 

Yes, the boss fights are way too hard. Yes, the inventory system kinda sucks. Yes, you need to constantly hunt for food and gather ore to upgrade your gear. Don't care. Don't care. Don't care. If players make enough ruckus, a lot of that weirdness can be patched out (if Pearl Abyss even wants to do so). But none of that stuff changes the fact that Crimson Desert is possibly the best single player open world game I've ever played. Or, if you prefer that I not use terms like "the best", we can just call it my favorite open world game. 

For an example of why I love this game so much, let me tell you a quick story about about a goose. A few days ago, I was walking through a little village, just minding my own business. A couple of geese were crossing in front of me. I ignored the geese and kept walking. This led to my character getting his feet tangled up with a goose. My guy actually kinda stumbled, and the goose honked at me angrily. It happened so fast that I was a bit dumbfounded, like "Did that actually just happen?". Because what that means is that whoever created this game actually sat around and thought "What if the player stumbles over a goose?" and then Pearl Abyss accounted for that interaction with a goose-stumbling animation. 

That goose interaction is why this game might be my favorite open world game. The level of detail and interaction with the gorgeous open world is just insane, and it seeps into every corner of the world. You can literally pluck insects out of the air and put them into your inventory. You can grab a nearby racoon and chuck it over a cliff. If you bump into somebody carrying a basket of oranges, the dump the oranges on the ground and then kneel down and start picking them up one by one. And you can steal the dang oranges if you are feeling rude. 

Yes, a lot of the game design is obtuse, but that is purposeful. In a brief chat with Pearl Abyss before the review period, their representative mentioned that the company isn't overly "into tutorials". They are proud of it. It's an ethic. It's a guiding principal. And for whatever reason, that lack of guidance has clicked with me in a way I never expected it to. I hate games that leave you to figure things out on your own, but for whatever reason I want to figure things out in Crimson Desert, much in the way that I wanted to figure things out in the modern Legend of Zelda titles.

Because that's what this game feels like. It feels like an enormous Legend of Zelda game, if all of the Nintendo friendliness was stripped out, and the world builders let George R.R. Martin take a crack at the world building. Your character can do a lot of the same things that Link can do in Zelda, from levitating items to swooping across the sky on a glider. There is a lot of shared DNA with a lot of titles, frankly, but there is a maturity and complexity here that feels missing from other similar games. And no, I'm not saying that Zelda is a kids game (I love Zelda). I'm just saying that it's the closest comparison I can make to Crimson Desert, and the more adult nature of this game is one of the differentiating factors. The same sense of discovery and wonder is present, it just feels like it is projected through a more mature lens.

The depth of the setting is frankly stunning in a way that makes the actual story taking place secondary to the experience of just being there. The world of Crimson Desert feels mature and fleshed out in a way that dwarfs most other games on the market. I have found exploring the cities and wilderness to be endlessly fascinating and enormously entertaining. The visuals are beautiful and detailed in a way that few games are, and the map is full of secrets that feel impenetrable and deeply mysterious. 

In most games, it feels like the world has been set up specifically for the player character to interact and explore. In Crimson Desert, it feels like the world doesn't care if you are there or not. If you don't show up at the market, the market will still be busily going about it's business. Those nerds up in the tower will still be doing their research into the Abyss. Farmers will farm. Blacksmiths will blacksmith. This "living world" dynamic is a feeling that a lot of games try to emulate, but few really achieve. Crimson Desert pulls it off.

After fifty hours with the game, I'm delighted that I'm not actually reviewing the game; I find that I don't much care about advancing the story, and I don't want to rush through it. I'm taking my time and relishing the experience. I just like tromping around in this world. Sometimes the story moves forward if I wander into the appropriate area to trigger the next quest, and sometimes I go for hours dorking around with my pickaxe. And sometimes I just run around all day doing favors for people, or doing quests to increase my standing with a particular faction so I can get some sweet new boots. In many ways this meandering pace I've set for myself feels like playing an MMO, except the world feels far richer and more alive than in any MMO I've ever played. 

Crimson Desert feels "next gen" in a way that very few games do, and it is utterly unique. Those that want the game to be similar to every other game are completely missing the point. This is a game that refuses to play by the rule book. It knows what it wants to do, and it does it with style and intrigue. Pearl Abyss is operating an a peculiar frequency here, but if you are able to tune into that vibe, you will groove with it deeply. If you've wondered if this game is for you, I would encourage you to give it a shot.