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Art On The Box: What Digital Took From Us

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When selecting a game you can easily look up whatever you want, whenever you want, thanks to that little phone in your pocket: reviews, trailers, online plot summaries. But in the past that wasn't an option. In the store it was the art on the box that would catch your eye, lure you over, and expose you to something you probably didn't know existed. The art, the back of the box, and the manual inside may be the only information you got about the game before deciding to play it. Those boxes could contain imagery so eye-catching that it was an art piece in its own right and something you would be proud to have in your home. But that all changed with the switch to digital. Online marketplaces and streaming services use small thumbnails with a simple portrait; almost background imagery - an afterthought. The logo often takes up half the space. Sometimes the thumbnail is only the logo. Their purpose is to make scrolling more convenient and clean looking, but we lost something along...
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Don't Kill The Disc Sony

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What This Is About: On July 1, 2026, Sony announced they will be ending production of new physical discs for all PlayStation 5 games starting January 2028. All new game releases after this date will be digital only, either as a direct download from their storefront or as a download code sold inside of a plastic box. At the same time Sony announced the closure of their digital storefronts for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, as well as the deletion of over five hundred purchased movies from their customer's libraries (for a second time). No one was offered refunds or store credit of any kind. Had these movies been physical DVDs and Blu-rays it would have been illegal for Sony to take them, but because they were digital goods, as far as the law is concerned, it wasn't a crime. A disc is something you own - at least until it degrades (which I have yet to happen). You can lend it to a friend, trade it for other games, resell it on the second-hand market, gift it to someo...
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The Forgotten City Review: Worth Its Weight In Gold

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Review based on patch 1.3.0 Story: After being saved from drowning by a mysterious woman named Karen ( Charon or Kherty ), the player character is asked to search for her friend who went missing in the nearby ruins. While exploring the ruins, the player stumbles into a restored version of the city during the time of the Roman Empire. The handful of residents living there - which include ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans - all follow a "Golden Rule", where if any of them were to commit a sin, everyone would be turned to gold as punishment by the gods. No one is sure what counts as a punishable sin, but the magistrate asks the player to use their status as the 'newcomer' to discover who is most likley to sin. Gameplay: The player has the ability to loop time - repeating the same day while retaining both physical objects and information obtained from the previous loop. The narrative is one that discourages violence, brute force and combat, and instead a...
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Music to Level Up Your Day: Xenoblade Chronicles X, Part 1

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I don't know much about musical theory, nor am I a musically inclined person. However, I do love to listen to video game soundtracks. They can be a powerful listening experiences in their own right, or be as evocative as the scores composed for film. Each of these posts will feature a sampling of music tracks from a single game title, or series/franchise in some rare cases. A complete list of these can be found on the Video Game Music page. Composer: Hiroyuki Sawano Singers: Aimee Blackschleger, Cyua, Mika Kobayashi, mpi, Sayulee, North American Release Date: December 4, 2015 In the year 2054, a galactic war forces humanity to flee Earth aboard spaceships dubbed "arks". After being pursued by extraterrestrials for two years, the "White Whale" ark makes a crash landing on the uncharted planet Mira. Several stasis pods are ejected during the crash, of which the protagonist Cross is one of the only survivors. Rescued by Elma, the leader of BLADE (Bu...
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The Procession to Calvary Review: A Bonafide Classic

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Story: The female warrior Bellona (painted by Rembrandt) is bummed-out because the holy war has come to an end and the new leader, Immortal John, has ruled that there should be no more killing - Bellona's favorite thing to do. However, the previous tyrant, Heavenly Peter, has escaped, giving Bellona one last chance to commit (legal) murder by claiming his head. Every character, object, and background has been taken from real-life Renaissance paintings and given simple animations to create a very unique 'cut-out' visual presentation. These paintings often feature absurd imagery, such as lap-dog sized pet lions, two fully nude men 'wrestling' by the beach, or people holding freakishly oversized keys. The imagery is not only interesting, but blends well with the story's dry humor written in the comedy style of Monty Python . The music is all classical stuff as well, played on screen by musicians hidden in every background. Bellona can even sing along or ap...
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Ark: The Animated Series - Vestigialization Of A Series

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Ark: The Animated Series is a 2024 animated series based on the video game, Ark: Survival Evolved. The story is taken directly from collectable pages that could be found scattered throughout the video game. These pages recount the same story from the perspective of multiple characters, each writing in their native language. Hand drawn animation was chosen for the series because it "ages better" than 3D and is not easily mistaken for a video game cut-scene. Snail Games (publisher) chose the American based studio, Lex + Otis, to animate the series and paid for a massive, star-studded ensemble to voice the characters. The series was announced in 2020 but went without a confirmed release date or streaming platform until 2024, when the first six episodes were released unexpectedly in a surprise drop. For unexplained reasons, 'part two' was delayed to sometime in 2026. Given the developer/publisher's history of abandoning projects and announcing vaporware, I hav...
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Music to Level Up Your Day: Asura's Wrath

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I don't know much about musical theory, nor am I a musically inclined person. However, I do love to listen to video game soundtracks. They can be a powerful listening experiences in their own right, or be as evocative as the scores composed for film. Each of these posts will feature a sampling of music tracks from a single game title, or series/franchise in some rare cases. A complete list of these can be found on the Video Game Music page. Composer: Chikayo Fukuda Singer: Tomoyo Mitani North American Release Date: February 21, 2012 Asura is one of eight Guardian Generals who derive their power from human worship, which they use in an eternal war against hostile beings called Gohma. Seeking greater power and true immortality, the other seven Guardian Generals abduct Asura's daughter, murder his wife, and frame Asura for the death of their emperor. After 12,000 years have past, Asura is reborn into the living world to seek vengeance on the Seven Deities. The ...
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