Blake Hester
As seen in:
Something Rotten,
IGN,
IGN Brasil,
Variety,
GameSpot,
Motherboard,
Rolling Stone,
VICE,
Polygon,
The Star (Malaysia),
Game Informer
and
Writing a book about guitar hero: vol.co/collections/guitar-hero and Suda51: www.lostincult.co.uk/killthepast.
Co-host: Something Rotten.
Articles by Blake Hester
Lost In Cult
Explore the unique and wild worlds of SUDA51 in KILL THE PAST: 25 YEARS OF GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE. Featuring never-before-seen art and exclusive interviews, Lost In Cult is proud to present the ultimate and definitive celebration of Grasshopper Manufacture. Across more than 400 premium-quality pages, we’re revealing the behind-the-scenes stories of landmark games such as The Silver Case, Killer7, No More Heroes, Shadows of the Damned, and more, as told by the people who were there.
The Tragically Hip Documentary "No Dress Rehearsal" Is Out Now
Prime Video today released the official key art and trailer for the upcoming four-part docuseries The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal, an intimate and unvarnished look at the extraordinary 40-year journey of Canada’s most beloved rock band. Directed by Mike Downie, the four-part series chronicles the triumphs, trials and deep bonds of brotherhood that defined The Tragically Hip‘s rise from basement shows to arena rock legends.
U.S. Postal Service Commemorates 50th Anniversary Of Dungeons & Dragons With Set Of 10 Stamps
At the Gen Con Indy 2024 gaming convention, the Postal Service celebrated 50 years of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS by releasing a sheet of 20 new stamps now available nationwide.
Don’t Look Up | Unwinnable
This column is a reprint from Unwinnable Monthly #177. If you like what you see, grab the magazine for less than ten dollars, or subscribe and get all future magazines for half price. ——— Looking at the world and finding it confusing. ——— There is a rule anyone moving to New York will hear as soon as their feet hit the pavement. When you walk around the city, do not look up at the buildings. It’ll make you look like a tourist. Everyone tells you this.
The Everlasting Allure of the Shitty City
This column is a reprint from Unwinnable Monthly #174. If you like what you see, grab the magazine for less than ten dollars, or subscribe and get all future magazines for half price. ——— Looking at the world and finding it confusing. ——— Relocating to a new city at 30 years old is, in some ways, the worst possible time you could ever pack up your life and start over. If only for the simple fact that by then you’re entirely set in your ways. You have your routines, your places, your people.
Kojima Productions Is Working On A New 'Action Espionage' Game With Sony
Hot on the heels of the latest Death Stranding 2 trailer during Sony's most recent State of Play livestream, Hideo Kojima, the head of Kojima Productions, announced that alongside Sony, his company is making a brand new IP. Not only that, but it is, as Kojima put it, an "action espionage" game.
Konami Reveals Another New Silent Hill Game, Out Today
Today during Sony's most recent State of Play, Konami unveiled a brand new Silent Hill project. Silent Hill: The Short Message is a new free-to-play experience that'll be available later today. Check out the trailer below to see it for yourself. Though as a quick heads-up, there are brief scenes of self-harm. The Short Message trailer looks conspicuously like the alleged leaked images for a new Silent Hill game we saw back in February 2022 that Konami DMCA'd.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Review
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Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Review
Reviewed on PlayStation 5 Also on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC Publisher Sega Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios Release Rating Mature By the time I saw the credits on Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, I felt like I had been through the emotional ringer. I was mentally exhausted. I think that's by design.
Ara: History Untold Is a New Strategy Game From Former Firaxis Developers
Today, during the most recent Xbox Developer Direct, Ara: History Untold, a new strategy game from Oxide Games was announced. Oxide talked up its "living world," a procedurally generated map for players to create the society they want in Ara. It will, as the developers say, change over time based on the decisions players make.
Two Decades Later, Silent Hill 2 Is Still The Scariest Game Of All Time
Two LAPD Helicopters Are Flying Around For 20 Hours Almost Every Single Day of The Year, According to New Audit
Two Decades Later, Silent Hill 2 Is Still The Scariest Game Of All Time
James Sunderland is not going to survive this. By the end of his journey through Silent Hill, everything will be chaos – his mind and even the world around him, a violent cacophony of anguish. But in the beginning, it’s silent. The kind of quiet that’s deafening, where you hear your pulse in your ears, and every tiny sound becomes the worst thing you can imagine. Includes spoilers for Silent Hill 2 The opening hour of Silent Hill 2 is – without question – the scariest thing I have ever played.
The Head Of Harmonix Talks About The Future Of Fortnite, The Metaverse, And Music
A few weeks ago, I went to a Fortnite event where developer-publisher Epic Games unveiled its plan for the near future of its game: a Lego survival game, a racing game, and a music game à la Rock Band and Fuser. This is on top of the toolset allowing anyone to make and publish their own games within Fortnite. The whole thing was kind of weird.
Monster Hunter: Wilds Revealed At The Game Awards
Tonight during The Game Awards, Capcom revealed Monster Hunter: Wilds – the next tentpole title in the Monster Hunter series. The game is expected to be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC sometime in 2025. The trailer shows off a slew of gameplay, including traversal and combat, as well as plenty of looks at its vast, vast world. Check it out below: VIDEO Wilds is the follow-up to 2018's Monster Hunter: World, Capcom's best-selling game.
Hideo Kojima Is Making A New Game Called OD With Jordan Peele
Hideo Kojima, the director behind Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding, and Jordan Peele, the director of movies such as Get Out and Nope, are making a new cloud-based project for Xbox Game Studios called OD Announced tonight during The Game Awards, the project also stars Sophia Lillis (It) and Hunter Schafer (Euphoria). In typical Kojima fashion, the trailer doesn't illuminate much.
Exodus Is A New Game Starring Matthew McConaughey
Announced tonight during The Game Awards, Exodus is an upcoming sci-fi game about time dilation. Most notably, it features actor Matthew McConaughey, famous for his roles in True Detective and Dazed & Confused. And while he announced the game on-stage at the show, interestingly, the trailer didn't even feature McConaughey. Judging by quick looks in the reveal, Exodus is a third-person action adventure.
Pony Island 2 Is The Next Game From The Creator Of Inscryption
The next game from acclaimed indie developer Daniel Mullins is Pony Island 2: Panda Circus. Announced during The Game Awards, as you might expect from the creator of Pony Island and Inscryption, we have far more questions than answers. Here's what we saw: a 3D adventure game that turns into a classic-looking 2D point-and-click adventure game. Voice actor and popular internet guy SungWon "ProZD" Cho is in the game during live-action segments. And a whole host of genre-hopping gameplay. It's a lot.
Mafia 3 no PC vai rodar a 30 FPS no lançamento
No entanto, o estúdio Hangar 13 está trabalhando para melhorar essa performance + Atualizado 11 de Outubro de 2016 às 14:44 Publicado 7 de Dezembro de 2023 às 15:17 Mafia 3 vai rodar a 30 frames por segundo no PC quando for lançado nesta sexta-feira (7), segundo anúncio da Hangar 13. No entanto, o estúdio planeja aumentar isso no futuro próximo.
Last Sentinel Is A New Triple-A Game From Former Rockstar Devs
Last Sentinel is a new triple-A open-world game announced at The Game Awards from Lightspeed LA, a Tencent-owned US-based developer. Lightspeed is led by Steve Martin, who previously worked on Rockstar Games and Electronic Arts. The game was shown off via a cinematic trailer where a young girl and her ostensible cyborg mother are under attack before being saved by a motorcycle-riding hero. The trailer ends by panning up to show a massive cyberpunk city. No release information was given.
Sega Is Remaking Some Of Its Best Games
Tonight, during The Game Awards, Sega announced it had numerous remakes in development – including of some of its coolest and most unique games. Announced via a sizzle reel showing off in-development footage, Sega revealed it was working on remakes of Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, Crazy Taxi, "and more." No announcement info was given. Check it out below: VIDEO Sega announced it was planning numerous remakes last year (via IGN).
How RGG Made Like A Dragon Gaiden's New Secret Agent Combat
Earlier this month, developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio released its second – and not to mention best – game of 2023, the hilariously longly titled Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. One of the most notable features is how RGG rethought its classic brawler combat.
Play Game Informer's Custom Level In Humanity
Earlier this month, we launched a documentary called "Violence Is Inevitable: The Making of Humanity." And then, in a bit of a meta twist, we hung out with Humanity co-developer and publisher Enhance and discussed how we made our making-of documentary. Even cooler, we made a Game Informer level within Humanity – and you can play it now.
Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name Review
Reviewed on PC Also on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Publisher Sega Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios Release Rating Mature As far as pitches go, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, the next game in what used to be called the Yakuza series, is hard to beat: Find out what happened to series protagonist Kiryu Kazuma between Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
The Making Of Humanity, 2023's Best Puzzle Game
Earlier this year, we spent time with tha ltd. and Enhance Experience, the creative teams behind Humanity, for a documentary on the game's development. While, on its surface, Humanity is a puzzle game about leading groups of people to a goal, as its name implies, its story wrestles with ideas of what it means to be human, the nature of groups, and why we always seem to resort to violence. Humanity's story reflects real-world events, showing us the paths we're currently on.
Check Out The Dinosaurs In Ark: Survival Ascended
Today during Xbox's most recent Partner Preview livestream, developer Studio Wildcard showed off its remake of Ark: Survival Evolved, titled Ark: Survival Ascended. And fittingly, it did so by showing off a whole host of dinosaurs. We got flying dinos, stalking dinos, and swimming dinos. You're hunting dinos, riding dinos, and hanging with dinos. And most notably, it looks great, having been rebuilt from the ground up with Unreal Engine 5.
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth Will Have Animal Crossing-Style Minigames
The upcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will have its own in-game resort island getaway that plays not too dissimilar from the Animal Crossing games. Happy Resort DonDoko Island was shown off today during Xbox's most recent Partner Preview live stream. Players will be able to build the island to their liking – including customizing their homes, building infrastructure, and interacting with the island's inhabitants.
How Insomniac Updated New York City In Spider-Man 2 Original
Sony's PlayStation's Insmoniac's Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is officially out, and apparently, it's pretty good. Read our review if you want to know about all of that. Notably, Spider-Man 2 takes place on the same open-world map as the first game and its quasi-sequel, Miles Morales. That being New York City.
Spider-Man 2 Is Missing This Major New York City Landmark
UPDATE 10/20/2023: The recently released Spider-Man 2 is also missing the Chrysler Building. In its place is the same building that replaced it in Spider-Man Miles Morales, though this time with a new coat of paint. See below for comparison shots of the Chrysler Building in Spider-Man 1, captured on a base PlayStation 4, and the new building in Spider-Man 2.
Here’s A Look At The Super Mario RPG Remake Gameplay [Game Informer]
Today, during Nintendo’s most recent Direct livestream, we got a first look at “new and returning gameplay features” from the upcoming Super Mario RPG remake. First, Action Commands will increase the damage dealt or reduce how much damage you take. If you time your attacks just right, you’re able to damage all enemies at the same time.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD Is Coming Next Summer [Game Informer]
Luigi’s Mansion 2 will be released on the Nintendo Switch as the aptly titled Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD sometime next summer, Nintendo announced today during its most recent Direct Livestream. For the most part, it seems to be largely the same game you played back on the Nintendo 3DS – albeit with much better graphics. We got a first look at gameplay today, too, which you can see in the full trailer below.
Resident Evil 4 Remake VR And Story DLC Detailed [Game Informer]
Today, during Sony’s recent State of Play livestream, we got a look at both the upcoming PSVR2 update and story DLC for the Resident Evil 4 Remake. The VR trailer is brief but does show the game in action. Much like the other VR port of RE4, the move brings the whole game into virtual reality. The big news is that the update is coming this winter. More immediately, we finally got confirmation that “Separate Ways” is coming to RE4.
Resident Evil 4 Remake VR And Story DLC Detailed
Today, during Sony's recent State of Play livestream, we got a look at both the upcoming PSVR2 update and story DLC for the Resident Evil 4 Remake. The VR trailer is brief but does show the game in action. Much like the other VR port of RE4, the move brings the whole game into virtual reality. The big news is that the update is coming this winter. More immediately, we finally got confirmation that "Assignment Ada" is coming to RE4.
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Is Coming Next Summer
Luigi's Mansion 2 will be released on the Nintendo Switch as the aptly titled Luigi's Mansion 2 HD sometime next summer, Nintendo announced today during its most recent Direct Livestream. For the most part, it seems to be largely the same game you played back on the Nintendo 3DS – albeit with much better graphics. We got a first look at gameplay today, too, which you can see in the full trailer below.
Here's A Look At The Super Mario RPG Remake Gameplay Original
Today, during Nintendo's most recent Direct livestream, we got a first look at "new and returning gameplay features" from the upcoming Super Mario RPG remake. First, Action Commands will increase the damage dealt or reduce how much damage you take. If you time your attacks just right, you're able to damage all enemies at the same time.
Nour: Play With Your Food | New Gameplay Today
In this episode of New Gameplay Today, Blake Hester and I show you a glimpse of a different kind of cooking game, Nour: Play With Your Food. Rather than tasking players with cooking a proper dish, developer Terrifying Jellyfish presents a playspace of ingredients, tools like blowtorches and meat tenderizers, and a suite of odd abilities that change gravity, freeze food, and make your culinary ingredients dance — all in the name of playfulness.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Review
At its core, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk wants to remind you how cool other games were. Specifically, Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future, and a tiny bit of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The problem is, by choosing nostalgia as its sole focus, Bomb Rush lacks an identity of its own – it only reminds me of why I'd rather play those other games instead. Bomb Rush attempts to right one of Sega's great crimes: the 21 years we've gone without a new Jet Set Radio game.
New Alan Wake 2 Trailer Shines The Spotlight On The Eponymous Author [Game Informer]
Today during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live, we got a new look at the gameplay and live-action scenes in the upcoming Alan Wake 2. The trailer begins with a slew of live-action footage – including Wake on a talk show. The footage is then followed by gameplay showing combat with dual protagonists Saga Anderson and, of course, Alan Wake. It’s all very spooky.
New Alan Wake 2 Trailer Shines The Spotlight On The Eponymous Author
Today during Gamescom's Opening Night Live, we got a new look at the gameplay and live-action scenes in the upcoming Alan Wake 2. The trailer begins with a slew of live-action footage – including Wake on a talk show. The footage is then followed by gameplay showing combat with dual protagonists Saga Anderson and, of course, Alan Wake. It's all very spooky.
Tekken 8 Gets January Release Date
Get ready for the next battle.
Tekken 8 Finally Gets A Release Date
Tekken 8 will be released on January 26, 2024, as announced today during Gamescom's Opening Night Live. The game was originally unveiled back in 2022. Alongside the release date, a new single-player mode was announced called Arcade Quest. Players can design their own avatars (which look suspiciously like Miis) and take place in tournaments. Check it out for yourself in the trailer below: For more on Tekken 8, check out our hands-on preview and interview with executive producer Katsuhiro Harada.
The Life And Career Of Hi-Fi Rush Creator John Johanas
The hardest part of being a director is getting out of the car in the morning, John Johanas says. Not literally. He takes the train to work every day. But being a director requires turning a switch in his brain. He's an introvert. But when he goes to work, he has to be an extrovert. He has to lead teams, micromanage, make tough decisions, and accept making mistakes – all skills he says he learned without clear guidance.
Penny's Big Breakaway Is The Next Game From The People That Made Sonic Mania
Some of the team behind the well-liked Sonic Mania have a new game on the way. Penny's Big Breakaway was announced today during the most recent Nintendo Direct live stream and is expected to be released early next year. As you might expect, Penny's Big Breakaway is a colorful platformer with a focus on movement and traversal.
Nintendo Is Remaking Super Mario RPG
Super Mario RPG is the next game to get the remake treatment. Announced today during Nintendo's most recent Direct live stream, the game will be released on November 17, 2023. The new Super Mario RPG trailer shows a variety of cutscenes and gameplay, including looks at turn-based combat and traversing the world. Take a look below: The original Super Mario RPG was released for the Super Nintendo in 1996.
Cover Reveal - Armored Core VI Fires Of Rubicon
By most measures, From Software's success is a surprise. Not because it makes bad games; time has proven it makes some of the greatest games of all time. But because it makes incredibly difficult, obtuse games, such as the Soulsborne titles, defined by their challenge and willingness to go against common game design philosophies. From Software reached a critical and commercial apex in 2022 when it released Elden Ring, its most popular game to date by a large margin.
Inside Yager Development's Failed Attempt To Make Dead Island 2 Original
From announcement to release, Dead Island 2 was supposed to take less than a year. Instead, it took nine. Initially revealed on stage during Sony's 2014 E3 press conference, Dead Island 2 had an infamously rocky road to release.
Check Out Gameplay From Assassin's Creed Mirage
Today during Ubisoft's Foward event, we got a new look at gameplay from Assassin's Creed Mirage – a throwback of sorts to the long-running series' roots. In the footage, we see a few assassinations, a chase, and our protagonist Basim taking on missions. There's also a look at some of Basim's special powers. Check out the gameplay footage below. Notably, the Assassin's Creed series shifting away from this style of game was, in fact, due to franchise fatigue.
Here's Your First Look At The Far Cry: Blood Dragon Anime
Today during the Ubisoft Forward event, Adi Shankar (showrunner, Castlevania) presented the first trailer for Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, an adaptation of Far Cry: Blood Dragon, an expansion for Far Cry 3. Check out the trailer here: Captain Laserhawk will be coming to Netflix in fall 2023. On On Off Off
Still Wakes The Deep Is The Next Game From The Chinese Room
Today during the most recent Xbox Games Showcase, we got a first look at Still Wakes The Deep, the new game from The Chinese Room, developers of Everybody's Gone To The Rapture and Dear Esther.
Payday 3 Is Coming Out In September
At long last, Payday 3 has a release date. Today during the Xbox Games Showcase, it was announced that the multiplayer bank-robber simulator will be coming out on September 21. Aside from a date, a flashy new trailer showed plenty of the robbery and action mechanics off. As you might've guessed, it sure does look like another Payday. Check it out below: Payday 3 was announced all the way back in 2016 and has been stuck in development hell ever since.
Here’s Your First Look At Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name [Game Informer]
Today during Summer Games Fest, we got our first extended look at gameplay for Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. As previously revealed, Gaiden takes place between the events of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Yakuza: Like a Dragon, filling in the gaps of what longtime series protagonist Kiryu Kazuma was up to after faking his own death in the former before reappearing in the latter.
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