Pac-Man, but it's illegal

What do you get when you cross a bear with a huge bag of cocaine? Well, the answer's yet to be revealed, as the upcoming film Cocaine Bear isn't released until February 27. However, in the promotional run-up to its release the movie's official Twitter account has unveiled a surprise new game in the form of Cocaine Bear: The Rise of Pablo Escobear.

You play as the bear, in search of red bags of cocaine to help you run faster. The end goal? Catch up to the humans and tear them apart. Delightful, right? This browser-based game requires gamers to be at least 18 to play, which is a much stricter age requirement than Namco's original Pac-Man. Using simple directional inputs to navigate the maze seeking out your prey, there are ambulances s??cattered occasionally throughout for additional bonus points and a regular supply of cocaine. Of course.

'It's addictive'

[caption id="attachment_363779" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

The 8-bit style game was announced by the Cocaine Bear himself who Tweeted, "Here's something to entertain you," before divulging, "Play as me and share your high scores." Fans on Twitter have expressed a mixture of emotions in response to the surprise release. "It's addictive," said one, whilst another quipped, "Bear of the year. Game of the year."

Somewhat surprisingly, the movie tells a semi-true story of a bear who consumed too much cocaine after it was dropped by smugglers in 1985. The coked-up mammal went on to terrorize residents of Blue Ridge, Georgia. A huge stash of cocaine was later found by police, estimated to be worth around $20 million at the time. The black bear appeared to have eaten "several million dollars worth" of the stash, says the Associated Press. Sadly, the beast itself had overdosed and died.

Cocaine Bear will be released on February 27, but excited fans can get their paws on the free-to-play Cocaine Bear: The Rise of Pablo Escobear right now at the official website.

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A victim of its own success

It doesn't get much more classic than chess. I mean, it was invented back in the 15th century, best we can tell, and it's still one of the most popular games played around the world today. Nothing highlights this sentiment more than the fact that Chess.com, the foremost online chess platform that you can play right in your browser, is crashing simply because it has gotten so popular, the servers can't handle all of the traffic anymore. Originally spotted by PC Gamer, Chess.com posted an official statement to their ??blog yesterday lettin?g us on in why these issues are occurring, and why the game has gotten so popular in the first place.

On December 31, 2022, the site had seven million active members for the first time, which was eclipsed by a record of 10 million active members on January 20, 2023. The Chess.com app has reach?ed the #2 spot in the free games category on the iOS store, and more than 250,000 new accounts are created on the site every day. 31,700,000 games were played on January 20, which set a new site record for games played in a single day, and Chess.com says that they "are now regularly seeing more than one million games an hour."

So where's all this buzz coming from? In 2020 and 2021, the uptick in users could easily be credited to lockdowns, streamers who were playing the game, and the release of Netflix's popular series about chess, The Queen's Gambit. Now, Chess.com says most of the buzz is coming from more widespread news coverage, from celebrities voicing their newfound chess obsessions to the rise of chessboxing, a game that combines alternating rounds of chess and boxing, which ends in eith??er a checkmat??e or a knockout.

[caption id="attachment_359516" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Screenshot by Destructoid[/caption]

As for the server issues, it seems that when the site was originally created, it simply wasn't built to withstand such huge numbers. Chess.com says they're looking to get "more/better hardware both on-site and in the cloud," and that "some major changes will be in place in 2-3 weeks that we hope will allow us to properly handle the next wave of chess enthusiasm." Check out the full blog if?? you're interested in divi?ng into some more of the details.

Of course it sucks to have the si?te crashing on us, but I think it's really cool that chess is getting so much love in the era of modern gaming. It feels like with every passing year, titles become more and more complex with so many different gameplay nuances and mo?ving pieces �chess' ongoing popularity for centuries after it was created only speaks to the strength and staying power of simple, elegant game design.

The post Chess.com’s servers can’t handle its booming popularity appeared first on Destructoid.

A whole new way to play an old favorite

Ah, Scrabble. How many boards have been overturned, how many friendships and game nights have been ruined in your name? Plenty, but it's still one of the most well-loved board games of all time, with countless different editions, tournaments, and even a few game shows over the years. Turns out there's even a holiday themed around the word game, aptly named Scrabble Day, which is today, April 13. As part of the festivities, Scopely, Hasbro, and Mattel announced the newest Scrabble project �a new version of the game that you can play right in your web browser, simply called Scrabble.com.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9H-koKOdCM

Scrabble.com launches with PvP (either with a friend or online) and PvE modes, as well as other features like Word Tools, which includes access to the official Scrabble Dictionary and an anagram solver (having a built-in way to cheat feels a bit weird, but hey, it's their website, they can do what they want). An official Scrabble Blog and Scrabble Forum will also be available on the website. Additional modes and features will be added in the future, such as a competitive "Tournament" mode. Scrabble.com is free-to-play in your browser, and players can keep up with the latest news on Scrabble's official social media @ScrabbleGO on most platforms, and they're even on Twitch.

With Wordle being as successful as it is, I am honestly not surprised in the slightest that Scrabble is coming for the browser game space. It was a smart move to lean into Scrabble's unique brand, though, rather than going for another Wordle copy.

While browser games used to be where a huge portion of gamers played online, most of that went away after Flash was shut down at the end of 2020. It's cool to see a resurgence of this kind of online play, especially because it makes games so much more accessible. Scrabble has had massive success as a mobile game, as after?? launch it became the #1 mobile word game in the world, which honestly isn'?t surprising to me at all considering how well-loved the brand is.

Here's?? to hopi??ng that this new website version is a step in a similar direction, because this has the potential to help usher in a whole new era of browser gaming.

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It was only a matter of time

At this point, I would wager to say that Wordle's clones are just as well-known as the game itself. Just about every variation you can think of exists, from guessing swear words to songs to geography �it's all there, but probably not for long. The New York Times' acquisition of Wordle rocked the internet back at the end of January, and fans of the game have been apprehensive at best since then, after bemoaning supposed changes that the New York Times made to the game that have yet to be confirmed. Either way, everyone is kind of on edge, and understandably so. We've been seeing changes slowly rolling in from the journalistic juggernaut, the most recent being that they demanded the shutdown of a popular Wordle offshoot, Wordle Archive, as reported by Ars Technica.

The website was popular among fans of?? the modern classic of a word game, as it archived previous days' puzzles and allowed players to return to them as much as ?they wanted. Wordle Archive had been up since the start of January, but it was officially taken down last week. When players logged on to play through some old puzzles, they were instead met with a message that read, "Sadly, the New York Times has requested that the Wordle Archive be taken down."

A representative from the New York Times also put out a statement, as they told Ars Technica, "Th??e usage was unaut?horized, and we were in touch with them. We don't plan to comment beyond that."

As much of a bummer as this is, it's entirely within New York Times' rights to do so as the legal owners of Wordle. Copyright law can get a bit fuzzy when it comes down to copycats, but the fact that World Archive used the exact same name as the original game?? meant th??at there was no room for ambiguity.

The future of other clones, like any using the "-dle" suffix, is unclear, although part of me has to wonder if the New York Times is looking for a way to take those down, too.
_{[Featured Image Source: PC Gamer]}

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A few close calls almost broke the chain

When I first heard about Wordle, the free and pure daily word-guessing game from Josh Wardle, I enjoyed it enough to write an article about it on this site. But I thought that would probably be the end of it. I figured it'd come and go for a lot of us �that our at??tention would shift to the next collective time-waster as new players stepped up to see what the fuss was about. The self-sustaining cycle would continue... for a while at least.

While I'm sure that's true for plen??ty of people, I'm not one ??of them. I'm ~hooked~.

• Friends, family, loved ones? Still obsessed.
• Tweeters? Still tweeting.
• Villains? Still trying to spoil the fun.

A month after discovering Wordle, I am still very much invested in this nifty little browser-based puzzle game. Part of that is on the aforementioned support system, whose members c??an't help but co??mpare and contrast our different word-deducing habits, and part of that is on the scorecard. Every day, the stakes feel a little higher. It's like how your Report Card in elementary school felt like this mystical, earth-shatteringly serious file.

Who's going to be the last one standing in my Wordle group with a streak? Almost certainly not me. But I'm fighting for it.

I can't keep getting away with this

_{This is what happens when intuition and ill-advised wild-card guesses collide.}

I've had three trul??y close calls so far with last-ditch, exasperated guesses, including a recent ne?ar-botch with "KNOLL." For now, though, I'm somehow hanging in there.

Admittedly, I don't play Wordle on Hard mode �the laxer default rules are fine, thanks �and I also don't try and?? min-max it to death. Nothing against the folks who have whittled down a shortlist of the most effective first guesses, of course. It's just not me!

In this laid-back approach, I end up guessing whatever feels right at the moment, often put myself into an avoidable jam, then struggle for an embarrassingly long time to work my way back out. It's not everyone's playstyle, but it suits me; it keeps Wordle fresh.

Where are you at? Is your streak stable, or did you miss a day? What word did you in?

If you've held off until now, or you're just hearing about it, give Wordle a try since it's good, it's free, and it's playable directly in your desktop or mobile browser without needing to download an app or create an account or even suffer through ad??s. I know it's probably getting old to some, but I cherish it. And I hope to keep cherishing it all ?year long.

The post Is your Wordle streak still going? appeared first on Destructoid.

After spreading on Twitter, this browser-based game is quickly becoming a daily distraction

I have a 100 percent win rate in Wordle, a popular word-deducing game that's been making the rounds. Granted, I've o??nly played it twice so f??ar �and I really took my sweet time weighing possible answers before committing to any guesses �but my track record is, so far at least, flawless. I'll cherish this streak, because it's sure to fizzle out soon.

The best part of Wordle is its simplicity �and also its spoiler-free "Hey, try this!" factor. You don't need to download a standalone app to play �it's right in your browser.

Fresh off my holiday break, I saw Destructoid's own puzzle master Darren Nakamura tweet out an odd grid of gray, yellow, and green blocks with a score and the name "Wordle" attached. I couldn't resist looking into whatever this was, and after a few timid attempts of trying to suss out the day's mystery word, I had to admit that, yep, I was invested. I imagine that's how things have snowballed for plenty of you, too. There are a lot of mildly annoying yet intriguing Wordle tweets floating around. Resistance is futile.

Why is Wordle so popular?

The game does a fine job of laying out its brainteaser setup the first time you play, so I'll keep this brief: the idea is to guess a specific word, and you've got six t??ries. If all of your letters are off, they'll turn gray; if they're in the word but you've got their positioning wrong, they'll become yellow; if any letters are spot-on in the right box, they'll go green.

My instinct was to guess jibberish in order to brute-force a fast solution, but that doesn't fly �it has to be a real word. And I feel like, so far anyway (again, I'm a newbie), the difficulty of the words has been well-balanced with the number of c?hances you get to crack the code. I als??o like the idea of always making the same first guess each day.

The fact that everyone on the internet is trying to deduce the same word adds an extra bit of excitement, whether you're competing with folks on Twitter or watching your friends or family members try to work through Wordle in the same room with a puzzled look.

As a coward, I refuse to play on Hard Mode, in which "Any revealed hints must be used in subsequent guesses." After hollering at too many well-meaning Game Show Network contestants last week (nice white noise for the holidays), it's time to r??eap what I sow.

Wordle was graciously created by Josh Wardle, and it's very good.

What to do while waiting for the daily Wordle reset

If you're hooked on Wordle like the rest of us and you'd like to solve more than one puzzle a day (or if you're finding them to be too easy), then check out @chordbug's "remake," hello wordl �it's also playable for free, in your brow??ser. In this version, you aren't limited to just one daily puzzle (which I personally feel is exciting as is, and adds stakes), and you can also crank up the difficulty with much longer words to try and guess. More options!

The wider world of Wordle is heating up

• Wordle creator pl?ans to keep the viral hit ad-free.
• Clones are missing what m??akes the original Wordle great: its unifying power.
• Devel?oper of an earlier ‘Wordleâ€?app sees thousands of mistaken down??loads.
• My Wordle streak is still going, somehow.

The post Wordle is a free word game that’s just tough enough to be fun appeared first on Destructoid.

For the architect on the go

Townscaper is one ?of those projects I've casually followed on social media since it was in early development, and man has it come a long way. It looks relatively simple at first glance, but from what I know of game development, it's an incredibly impressive undertaking to get procedural generation running so smoothly and looking so good, especially for only one guy.

The creator in question, Oskar Stålberg, took to Twitter today to announce that his project would now be available to play right in your browser, as Townscaper had previously become available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS earlier this year. Even better, it's completely free! When trying to new version of the game, som?e were surprised to find that the browser version is almost identical to the full one, the only difference being the grid on ??which you can build your town is smaller.

//twitter.com/OskSta/status/1466059785703460870

Apart from his work on Townscaper, Stålberg also developed Bad North, along with programmer Richard ??Meredith and sound designer Martin Kvale. The game is a real-time ta?ctics roguelite where players are tasked with defending their kingdom from invading hordes of Vikings, and it's pretty easy to see Stålberg's signature art style in its visuals.

Townscaper is certainly a smaller project, but its success is evidence of the rise in procedural generation in games, whether it's the art, like in Error City Tourist, the world, as seen in No Man's Sky, or even the game's narrative, like in Road 96.

In addition to being incorporated into games as features to be enjoyed by the player, procedural generation can also make a world of difference when it comes to game development itself. Tools like those in Townscaper will only continue to?? make development easier and more accessible, so I can't help but think that Stålberg is making the future of games even brighter.

The post Chill building sim Townscaper is now playable in brow?sers appeared first on Destructoid.

I'd call it a time-waster, but it's not!

Growing up, I never had guppies or goldfish. Weirdly, I never even bothered to ask my parents for permission even though, in retrospect, they probably would've said yes. (I once had a pet turtle.) But I did get super into freshwater aquariums on a whim ?as an adult. What a fascinating few years that was.

I'm sure I'll want to return to the hobby one day, but for now, I'm obsessed with Orb Farm – a virtual aquarium food-chain simulator that lets players?? fill a glass orb with sand, water, and yes, life.

_{Water fleas are cute in a totally-horrifying-up-close sorta way.}

As an almighty pixel-laying overseer, you can make your own little ?slow-moving ecosystem with algae, daphnia, bacteria, grass, and fish. The sun will rise and fall each day, setting the miniature world in motion. Every element plays a part. It's beautiful to watch th?e cycle unfold, especially in fast motion.

What's the deal with this browser game? If you've ever accidentally watched way too much of one of those "A Year Ago I Put Saltwat?er in a Jar, This Happened" videos or "planted just to plant," you'll understand the appeal. You can try to create a balanced ecosystem if you care to, or aquascape with stone and wood, but there aren't any real stakes.? Try not ? to spring a leak with the Clear button, though.

Orb Farm creator Max Bittker, who also made the falling sand game SandSpiel, says he was inspired by Life in Jars?, the aforementioned rabbit-hole I'm tumbl?ing down again. Here's his mo?od board:

orb game mood board pic.twitter.com/yz6doxXPx4

— max (@maxbittker) September 13, 2019

I feel like everyone needs a mood board. Mine may or may not also have a guy wi?th a big ol' jar.

Orb Farm is playable straight from your desktop browser or phone, for free, and I'm enamored. Bittker doesn't "plan to keep updating it," but he's thinking about making an ant farm next. Please do!

@maxbittker [Twitter via The Verge]

The post Orb Farm, an ??algae-gro?wing aquarium game, is so relaxing appeared first on Destructoid.

Four times the fun!

Tetris has had a resurgence of late with the enchantingly beautiful Tetris Effect and the battle royale Tetris 99. Although they have wildly divergent approaches, their goal is the same: An enhancement of Tetris by building on its existing foundation.

Schwerkraftprojektionsgerät follows that same model, but amplifies it by four. This German-named game from the creator of Stephen's Sausage Roll (which is an absolutely excellent puzzle game) has you playing four simultaneous Tetris boards. The catch is that the?y're all rotated 90 degrees from one another, and each piece you drop is played in the same position on all boards.

It's probably ??easier to wrap your head around it by just se??eing it in action:

new game: Schwerkraftprojektionsgerät - //t.co/lbVytYVioz (HTML) pic.twitter.com/1pnmzHujMR

— increpare (@increpare) January 29, 2020

Here's the problem: In Schwerkraftprojektionsgerät there is no perfect move. Every move feels like a concession of sorts -- possibly ideal for one or two boards, but at the cost of creating more problems on the other boards. It's perplexing and cruel. At least Schwerkraftprojektionsgerät shows a little mercy in that the blocks don't fall? and there's no timer; you can mull over the next move for as long as you w?ant.

It won't do a ton of good. Clearing out more than a couple lines is a monumental task. It's just too hard to make the right sacrifices to keep a game going. Schwerkraftprojektionsgerät trades in frustration and dissatisfaction. It wants you to hate your ??decisions, knowing you??'re inching ever-closer to doom rather than any sort of victory.

Take a crack at it if you want to temporarily ruin your day. Schwerkraftprojektionsgerät is free to play on your browser. Post your high score in the comments. Mine is zero because I quickly learned that the only way to break Schwerkraftprojektionsgerät's sp??ell is to never fall into its trap in the first place.

Schwerkraftprojektionsgerät [Increpare]

The post Try to wrap your head around the most diabol?ical Tetris ever conceived appeared first on Destructoid.

Releasing on Steam in 'mid to late 2020'

In 2012, all was not what it seemed with the bug-eating edutainment web game Frog Fractions, and depending on which pocket of the internet you lived in, word spread far and wide. It was such a novelty. In 2020, we aren't caught off guard quite so easily – but the game is still very much worth prese??rving.

Yesterday, Frog Fractions: Game of the Decade Edition popped up on Steam with a mid-to-late-2020 release in mind. The listing is understandably sparse – the less players know going in, the better – but the Steam page does describe this as a remastered native executable of t?he "classic web game."

Will it be Frog Fractions exactly like we remember? W??ill it hide any obscure new surprises?

Either way, this is fantastic news given that Adobe Flash's days are exceedingly numbered. Twinbeard, the designer of Frog Fractions, cited that ongoing concern as "part of the impetus for this project."

So many browser-based games have vanished out of sight and mind. I'm glad this isn't one of them.

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There's a simple joy to time-wasters

I'm not above spending a sleepy lunch break on browser games, even when I could be out for a relaxing stroll, reading a book, meditating, or accomplishing something else – literally anything at all – instead.

And so I bring you this silly little game, Nugget Royale, in the hope that I'm not alone.

🔪 BUTCHER UPDATE 🔪 Play now! pic.twitter.com/7i4jIiVFKd

— Nugget Royale (@NuggetRoyale) November 6, 2019

Nugget Royale is fleeting but enjoyable while it lasts, playing more like a chaotic Fuzion Frenzy minigame than the "Royale" in its name implies. Flap around, dodge meat cleavers, and don't fall into the grinder pit – that's about it, really. Someone will do better than you, and you'll try again until you'??re bore??d.

Next time you're looking for a mindless time-waster, consider givin?g it a chanc??e.

The post Nugget Royale is? my new lunchtime browser? distraction appeared first on Destructoid.

Playable for free in your browser

The next time you're looking for a semi-mindless distraction on your computer, consider checking out the Internet Archive's now-even-more-massive ??collection of cool, weird, and sometime??s gross MS-DOS games. Th?e preser?vation website recently added 2,500 games to its already impressive roster.

This batch of titles was made possible in large part by eXoDOS, according to archivist Jason Scott.

"What makes the collection more than just a pile of old, now-playable games, is how it has to take head-on the problems of software preservation and history," he explained. "Having an old executable and a scanned copy of the manual represents only the first few steps. DOS has remained consistent in some ways over the last (nearly) 40 years, but a lot has changed under the hood and programs were sometimes only written to work on very specific hardware and a very specific setup. They were released, sold some amount of copies, and then disappeared off the shelves, if not everyone's memories. It is all these extra steps, under the h??ood, of acquisition and configuration, that represents the hardest work by the eXoDOS project, ??and I recognize that long-time and Herculean effort."

Scott is careful to note that "not all games are enjoyable to play," but really, that's part of the fun. Once the novelty wears off, you can return to classics like The Oregon Trail, Prince of Persia, and SimCity.

As before, you can play this stuff for free right inside your web browser via the Internet Arch?ive.

My first order of business is Super Munchers: The Challenge Continues, a game I forgot existed until right this second??. Its predecessors were classic computer-lab fodder way back when. I love me some MECC.

2,500 More MS-DOS Games Playable at the Archive [Internet Archive Blogs]

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Float, quack, and be cute

With the release of Untitled Goose Game and the reveal of Sirfetch'd, it seems that waterfowl are having their video game moment in the sun. But geese are arrogant dicks who will attack you and Pokemon Sword isn't out for almost two months. We need duck representation right now! Thankfully ducklings.io is here, free, and lets you live out all of your? deepest fantasies of being a du??ck in a small pond.

ducklings.io is another game in the .io legacy of free games, each of which sees you navigate around a map collecting things to increase your score. This time you are a duck colle??cting ducklings ??for your nest so that it can grow in size and Momma duck will show you some hearts.

I've been playing it as a browser game, but there's also an Android and Apple app for those who want to float on the go. Some might see this as a mindless time-waster, but they are only suppressing their base desire to quack at a world that has forsa??ken them.

Quack.

The post Wh??y be an untitled goose when you can be a lovely duck??? appeared first on Destructoid.

JIBUN WTF

Granblue Fantasy Versus might be grabbing the headlines as the hot new anime fighter, but the game it's based on isn't about to give up all the attention??, and its newest targets?? are otaku with nostalgia for the halycon days of 2008 and thereabouts.

Cygames' mobile moneymaker has just kicked off a crossover event between none other than Code Geass, the landmark Sunrise anime series, which recently staged a comeback via a series of feature adaptations and a quasi-sequel Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;ssurection. The event, which started today, features an original story stemming off the 20th episode of the original series, and starring principal characters Lelouch, C.C., Kallen, and Suzaku, piloting their respective "Knightmare Frame" mecha through the fantasy sky-world of Granblue Fantasy. 

Weird crossovers are, of course, the order of the day for many gacha games, but Granblue is particularly prolific, featuring crossovers with practically anything: Other games (Persona 5), kid-oriented shows like Detective Conan and Precure. Heck, Granblue's skybound universe is one of the few places where warring tribes of idol anime fandom can sit down for peace talks as they grind.

The event runs from today through June 26th. If you're not up to joining, you can watch a conv??enient showcase of most of the game's playable crossover characters (as of late 2018) below.

The post Granblue Fantasy recruits the Black Knights ??in Code Geass crossover appeared first on Destructoid.

What a nice anniversary gift

It's possible to (officially) play Minecraft Classic for free in your browser like it's 2009 all over again. You won't need to bust out a separate launcher or catch up on in-depth wikis – it's a cinch.

In celebration of the game's fast-approaching tenth anniversary on May 17, the developers are hoping to pull on fans' nostalgic heartstrings. It's kind of working! While I've only ever played Minecraft from the comfort of my own home, I can definitely relate to the trials and tribulations of trying to sneakily discover unblocked browser games in ??school as a bored kid. They never seemed to last long.

"With just 32 blocks to build with, all the original bugs, and an (inter)face only a mother could love, Minecraft 2009 is even more glorious than we remembered," notes the official site. I for one appreciate the simplicity of Classic. Minecraft has blo??ssomed into so much more than a block-laying sandbox gam?e over the past near-decade, and it's worth remembering precisely how far Mojang has come.

Go on, build something for old times' sake. You can even generate a code to invite your buddies into your Minecraft Classic world if you're feeling lon?ely. I settled ??on punching out holes in a pond for a bit.

Here's hoping this particular developer-sanctioned browser version sticks around once the 10-year anniversary bash wraps up. Running Minecraft in a web browser is hardly a new concept? at this point, but this is a chance to keep a good thing going long-term. Don't let its compatibility slip aw??ay.

Mojang is highlighting the past this week, but come May 17, the studio will turn to the future. There are two big announcements planned, one of which is a Minecraft AR game for mobile devices.

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Something to play while you give out candy

Just in time for Halloween 2018, Google has released The Great Ghoul Duel, a team-based multiplayer Google Doodle game in which players race to collect spirits and bank them back at their base. You can play it in your browser with mouse or keyboard controls, and it also works fi??ne on mobile d?evices.

The Great Ghoul Duel is a great little time-w?aster, and I mean th?at as a sincere compliment.

The game is fast, approachable, and allows for just enough strategy to ?keep things fresh. You can scour the map for far-off spirits and keep a low profile, or you can strike at the last moment to steal the other team's spirits when they try to deposit them. I've enjoyed bouncing back and forth between those two extremes as matches progress. The mad dash in the final few seconds is where the magic happens.

If you enjoy Snake, Pac-Man Championship Edition, and Agar.io, give this a shot.

The post ?Google whip?ped up a cute competitive ghost game for Halloween appeared first on Destructoid.

Mr. Cygames, tear down this wall

Characterizing the relationship between the fanbases of the Love Live! and Idolm@ster tends to veer between "beautiful friendship" and "vicious rivalry", depending whose social media feeds you follow, but mobile megagame Granblue Fantasy is casting its ballot for unity, thanks to its latest event. Fresh off the back of its summer specials and Persona 5 crossover, Love Love Sunshine!! Aquors Sky-High! kicks off today. It'll feature a new stoyline that will see the school idols of Aquors (the idol unit featured in Love Live Sunshine) debut in Granblue Fantasy's skybound setting. Aquors' music will feature in the game during the event, as well, and new pieces of gear themed after the Love Live franchise and idol fandom in gener?al will be available.

All nine members of Aquors - Yoshiko Tsushima, Hanamaru Kunikida, Ruby Kurosawa, Chika Takami, Riko Sakurauchi, You Watanabe, Dia Kurosawa, Kanan Matsuura, and Mari Ohara - will be playable in-game, but in a twist, appear on the battlefield in trios based on their "year", making for three distinct units. A tweet from the official Granblue account previewed the mechanic, which looks like? it will make for a crowded front line once you catch 'em all:  

【グランブルーファンタジー】8/9から開催の「ラブライブ！サンシャイン!!」コラボで加入するAqoursメンバーのバトル演出を一足早くご紹介！バトルには学年ごとに3人1組で参加！さらに、図鑑やマイページでは3人の掛け合いボイスも聞けます！
開催まであと少し！お楽しみに！#グラブル #lovelive pic.twitter.com/mVgfSoysmf

— グランブルーファンタジー (@granbluefantasy) August 7, 2018

Where, you might ask, does the element of Idolm@ster rivalry come in? It's simple: Over the last few years Granblue has run no less than five different collaboration events with the Idolm@ster franchise. And while the Idolm@ster has the numbers on its side with twenty playable Idolm@ster characters between the Cinderella Girls and SideM banners, all of them are merely silver "SR" characters, while the nine (technically three) new Love Live additions start at gold "SSR" rank. Whichever side of this collaboration comes out on time, one can at least be sure that Granblue is at least trying? to have something for everyone.

As an aside, if you're thinking about starting with Granblue Fantasy, idol events like this (and their reruns) are a good time to do so, as the various idol characters are all easily obtainable without spendi??ng a cent on gacha rolls, and in many cases are good enough to carry an early and mid-game roster. Some are even competitive as the best characters in their rarities and elements. 

The post Wor?lds collide as Granblue Fantasy ??unites Love Live and Idolmaster fans appeared first on Destructoid.

Constellation

Show, don't tell is the easiest way to convey what Constellation is about. Found at the perfectly appropriate JustTypeStuff.com, this free ?browser-based game-like thing has you typin?g words to make objects appear.

It's a neat little experiment -- a series of items and locations ?and filters that swap in and out as you find new additions. There's a startling weirdness in being transported from the quaint rural countryside to hell. All while hearts are floating up the screen.

If there is a traditional video game component to Constellation, I haven't found it. You can type "video game" and that brings up a score, but it doesn't seem to be rooted in anything more than patting you on the back for finding another thing Constellation can summon.

But, even if there is something deeper hiding, Constellation doesn't necessarily need it. It's interesting enough to just type some stuff and see what the game comes up with. Take a few minutes and go type some stuff.

Constellation [JustTypeStuff]

The post Type stuff, see stuff in Terry Cavanagh’s new game appeared first on Destructoid.

Exhibit A: This synchronized 'Mountain King' video

A few days ago, YouTube recommended me some video for Line Rider, a monstrously effective time-waster I haven't thought about in close to a decade. Like most of these automated suggestions, I only gave the video's title a glance before moving on to somethi??ng else. I just assumed it was super old!

Flash forward to today, and Darren asks Destructoid staff "Is it still cool to post Line Rider v?ideos? Because this one [the same exact one I originally skipped] is amazing."

To answer his question, in this case, yes. Yes it is cool. YouTube user DoodleChaos t??ook a month to painstakingly fine-tune a level so that it would sync up with "In the Hall of the Mountain King."

The rest of my day will now be spent fighting the urge to screw around in Line Rider. Well done.

The post Yep, Line Rider is still good as hell appeared first on Destructoid.

Because that sand gets everywhere

It's been a long, slow, ecstasy-inducing tease for Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation, the upcoming browser game from DMM and Koei Tecmo. After getting a ??naughty little peek at the game more than a year ago, the developers used the Tokyo Game Show to finally bare all on its free-to-play project with a new trailer that shows off the girls, the games, and everything players will be gawking at when it launches in Japan later this year.

Venus Vacation will have players pick a waifu who will be there to greet them when they log on. It looks like the only two activities will be volleyball and photography, which is good because those were honestly the only good parts of Xtreme 3: Fortune. Players will be able to dress the girls up or down in the many bikinis and accessories they unlock through the paid Gacha system, which may also give access to one of those sho?wer scenes seen at the end of the trailer. 

Pre-registration has begun and it looks like the more people who pre-register, the more goodie??s everyone will get when the game launches.

Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation debut trailer, more details [Gematsu]

The post The first tr?ailer for DoA Xtreme: Venus Vacation promises surf, sand, and steamy? showers appeared first on Destructoid.

The only winning move...

I escaped the clutches of Clicker Heroes once, and I'll do it again. It was my favorite of the time-wasting, dopamine-relea?sing idle games. It got me r?eal good. Now, a sequel is underway for next year.

It's a substantial step up, visually speaking, and based on the Steam description, Clicker Heroes 2 will follow a similar loop: "Kill monsters. Get gold. Choose your gear. Upgrade your? gear. Learn talents. Defeat horrifying bosses. Progress to?? new worlds. Gain XP. Level up with a massive skill tree."

I'm curious what kinds of tweaks and additions Playsaurus will work in since the developer will obviously need to do something but also can't risk alienating its hardcore players too ??much.

Clicker Heroes 2 [Steam]

The post There’s going to be a Clicker Heroes 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Using math

Nicky Case makes games that might just teach you something. There are topics ranging from voting to coming out to two-dimensional matrices. This most recent game hits pretty hard right now??, when the world seems bad and people in it seem? bad. But it explains how we got where we are using game theory.

Now, the prisoner's dilemma is a pretty well-known concept, but The Evolution of Trust applies it past a simple one-time decision between two individuals to an extended interaction among a population. Not only that, but it also provides an explanation for the famous World War I Christmas truce.

It's disheartening at first; in general the liars, cheaters, or at the very least petty revenge-seekers generally come out ahead in many early scenarios. But it ends on a hopeful note, providing the elements that need to be in play for trust to prevail. It's something we could really use in the world today. Play it.

The post This fr?ee,?? thoughtful browser game explains why people suck so much appeared first on Destructoid.

Down for some good old spirit worship?

Dang it all, there's a new Cooke Clicker update and I couldn't resist reading up on it.

If "reading up on it" sounds like cod??e for "running? the game in a tab and letting it sabotage my productivity every eight seconds," you know the score. Consider moonlighting as a detective.

Cookie Clicker update is now live, featuring sugar lumps, spirit worship and spellcasting! //t.co/eCI2g0Ungk pic.twitter.com/QXQBCplDxN

— Orteil (@Orteil42) July 15, 2017

Sugar lumps, spirit worship, and spellcasting, you say? I'm intrigued and also afraid of the t??ime commitment that's surely required to dig into this stuff proper. I'??m still amassing banks!

"This is the first of a series of updates that should eventually add new features or minigames to every building," wrote designer Julien Thiennot. "Stay tune??d for more fun stuff, eventually!"

Another recent post from the developer mentions scouts??. They'll "return in the factory dungeons minigame, to be released at some point later (but not before some other simpler, lower-scope minigames) (farms come to mind)," according to Thiennot. "I know I've been hinting at dungeons since the game first released 4 years ago and by golly I'm going to do them and I'm going to do them right."

I need to get the heck outta here before history repeats itself.

The post Cookie Clicker is still being updated and it’s as weird as ever appeared first on Destructoid.

Modern technology, old-school experience

RuneScape's been around forever. Since first releasing in 2001, Jagex's browser-based MMORPG has quietly built a huge player base. To many, months (or years) spent adventuring across RuneScape are a defining e?xperience; an introduction to the breadth and scope of online gaming that players could grow up alongside. 

And now, a new generation of players will have a chance to experience RuneScape in an entirely different way. By next year, RuneScape will launch on mobile devices on tablets, effectively usher?ing the unabashedly old-school MMO into the modern era.

According to Jagex, the mobile version of RuneScape will be the same game "you know and love," optimized for phones and tablets. Players can switch between the desktop version and RuneScape Mobile seamlessly, allowing dedicated?? players to keep all their hard-earned progress.

The portable version of RuneScape's "Old School" mode -- a continually updated version of the game's first form -- will be available before the end of the year. RuneScape Mobile will launch in 2018.

Anyone interested in the upcoming versions of RuneScape Mobile can register for a chance to join a Closed Beta here.

RuneScape on Mobile [RuneScape]

The post Runescape headed to mobile devices next year appeared first on Destructoid.

Clock in, never leave

Over here in the United States, most of us have off from work on Independence Day. It's a National Holiday, after all, where people gather to grill meat, drink beer, and remember Bill Pullman's iconic speech about kicking alien ass. It's a lazy, relaxing day; a few hours where most people can escape the dol??drums of a working life.

It's ironic then that I spent a notable percentage of my morning playing Pippin Barr's It Is As If You Were Doing Work. The browser-based game is a low?-fi sen??d up to the often soul-crushing nature of inter-office memos and the tedious nature of endless typing.

You'll spend most of your time in It Is As If You Were Doing Work grinding out emails with specific character limits, adjusting calendars, and toiling away in hopes of earning a promotion. Every once in a while, all that hard work nets you a short break, where players can goof off on the outdated Windows desktop and play some Brickbreaker. The work never ends though, because there's always another assignment to be completed or a promotion just out of reach.

The post This browser game simulat??es workplace?? tedium and soul-crushing, endless memos appeared first on Destructoid.

Triangle tits

The original Tomb Raider may not have aged all too well, but it definitely remains an important title in the fifth console generation. Not only was it one of the first mainstream titles to feature a female lead, it also introduced gamers to the concept of massive scale puzzle solving that was never seen before. It did Indiana Jones better than any of the previous licensed Jones titles.

While there are plenty of ways to relive the misery glory of the classic game, you can now do so without actually downloading the title. A modder by the name of XProger has spent the past few months working on an open source port of Tomb Raider that can now be played from within your browser of choice ??(?although probably not Edge since Edge really sucks).

This version is called OpenLara (hehe) and it features third and first-person viewpoints for you to tinker ar??ound with. While it currently only features the second level of the game, if you happen to own the original on PC you can load in the map files and try those. This port also has native support for modern gamepads and introduces actual camera control, although it doesn't remove the tank controls. At least you can have a more comfortable time while cursing at Lara for running straight into a damn wall, which is honestly all I've ever needed.

You can play this version over on XProger's website. Its fun for a nostalgic trip, if nothing else.

Play the original Tomb Raider in your browser with unlocked FPS [PC Gamer]

The post Re?live the blocky, pixelated glory of the original Tomb Raider in your ??browser appeared first on Destructoid.

Stealth-based rogue-like thief game

Terry Cavanagh is the man behind VVVVVV and Super Hexagon. Even if you've never played those games, you've probably heard about their extreme difficulty. While I love VVVVVV and have since surmounted most of its challenges, I'm still perplexed by Super Hexagon and how anyone can beat the various other difficulties. Doing 60 seconds on the standard version is hard enough; why w?ould I want it faster?

Anyway,  Cavanagh has just released his newest title, a browser-based, roguelike stealth title about stealing gems. Called Tiny Heist, the goal is simply to beat 15 ??levels and escape with a bunch of treasure. I can't manage to get past level four, but since this is a browser game, I have a feeling that my productivity at work is going to plummet as I try to see the finale.

I'd make a comment about Terry Cavanagh not being able to finish his own games, but he proved himself worthy in front of a live audience. Now I feel inadequate. Anyway, why not give Tiny Heist a go?

Terry Cavanagh's stealthy roguelike Tiny Heist released for free [PC Gamer]

The post Terry Cavanagh releases his next game, Tiny Heist appeared first on Destructoid.

Browser? I barely know her!

DMM Games, ever heard of them? Before this morning, neither did I. Apparently it's a Japanese game publishe?r that focuses on browser games. Some of its titles are published in English at Nutaku.com, another website I'd never heard of until today.

So why am I bringing up this company Destructoid will probably never talk about again? Because at the Tokyo Game Show, it announced Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation for PC browsers.

Wow??, what a detail-packed trailer that is. I mean you got a volleyball, Marie Rose in a bikini, sand, some palm trees, clouds, a couple of birds – ugh, information overload amirite?

According to 4gamer, the title is being developed by Koei Tecmo. No word on a release date, how many character?s will be in the game or literally anything else about it.

TGS 2016 DMM Games Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation [4gamer]

The post Dead or Alive Xtreme is coming to PC appeared first on Destructoid.

But the box art is great

Bless 'em for trying, but the retro inspired mini-games 20th Century Fox cooked up to promote X-Men: Apocalypse are pretty damn terrible. Tenuously tied to the film as a throwback to the '80s when the movie is set, Retro X: Arcade is a set of three classic titles with a vaguely mutant spin. Pac-Man, Robotron, and Track & Field, have been morphed into Mutant Conquest, Revenge of Hero X, and Mutant All-Star Track & Field respectively.

Nice idea, terrible execution. These are some of the worst performing remakes of those classics I've ever played. Just truly, tragically terrible. But what do you expect from some free promotional games? You can play them for free yourself ?if you w??ant to rubber-neck the misfortune.

On the bright side, the Commodore-era box art they made for them is killer. I would have definitely fished Mutant Conquest out of a late '80s?? bargain bin with a cover like that.

The post These retro X-Men games are truly terrible appeared first on Destructoid.

How to treat nasal infection naturally

In principle, wikiHow is a great resource. Everyday people can use it to learn new skills. We can educate ourselves on basic ideas without the embarrassment of pu?blicly admittin??g we don't already know them.

In practice, it makes for some weird articles. There are those aimed at sociopaths like How to Express Love. There are those aimed at people with a loose grip on reality like How to Cast a Love Spell. There are even some tailor-made for Destructoid employees who have to interact with Steven Hansen like How to Be Okay with Having a Communist Friend. But the one thing all wikiHow articles seem to ha??ve in common is the often-bizarre cartoon images that come as accompaniment.

Now there's a game to test users on whether those images make any sense out of context. (Spoiler: they usually don't.) damn.dog presents a wikiHow image?? along with four real wikiHow article titles to choose from. Matching image to article isn't exactly a ?cakewalk; I'm averaging about 75% correct after a couple dozen tries.

The post It’s surprisingly difficult to guess wikiHow articles based on header images appeared first on Destructoid.