video games

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Spoiler Space - don’t worry, I won’t say anything in the subject line

This is probably the first thing you want to know, right? I just want to get it out of the way...

David Cabrera

Apr 22, 2024 — 9 min read

As I’ve been doing on this newsletter, I am again making a “spoiler space” post for subscribers. I will talk it out a little and put a screenshot in there just to make some space on the screen, but please don’t read any further if you don’t want to hear the ending of Infinite Wealth. One thing you could do instead is play Spikeout.

Alright, that should do it. If you keep reading past this point, don’t blame me.

The fighting game based on a mobile game has a reasonable battle pass, while Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 expect you to take up a part-time job

Nobody likes battle passes, but they’re tremendously psychologically effective. Players in a battle pass game are dished out a cookie-crumb trail of little tiny in-game prizes the more they play the game. The “premium”, as in paid, battle pass hits players with FOMO over some attractive grand prize; if

How the alternate universe Genshiken spinoff Spotted Flower caused fans to disown a beloved millennial otaku icon

(Just as a heads-up: I’ve kept things relatively non-graphic, but very late in this piece I describe a sexual assault in the manga in question. I'll also be talking about a comic that only exists in English in fan scans, and which for reasons we will get

In Tekken 8, I have to shift my brain between “smart” and “stupid” gears over and over again

In its nearly decade-long run, Tekken 7 left behind a complete package that left nowhere to go next. The gameplay is that unique Tekken blend; it works because it works, and you don’t mess with it. The graphics are already pretty high-end ten years later. The cast– adding enough

Metallic Rouge took me back to the 2000s, including the profound final-episode disappointment

(There are spoilers in this piece for only the last five minutes or so of Metallic Rouge’s final episode, which are so important to to the series overall that we have to discuss them in full.) I’d been excited about Metallic Rouge since I first heard about it,

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The fighting game based on a mobile game has a reasonable battle pass, while Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 expect you to take up a part-time job

How the alternate universe Genshiken spinoff Spotted Flower caused fans to disown a beloved millennial otaku icon

In Tekken 8, I have to shift my brain between “smart” and “stupid” gears over and over again

Metallic Rouge took me back to the 2000s, including the profound final-episode disappointment