I’ll have to admit that when I first saw screenshots of Stardew Valley last year and heard tales of how it’s a game all about farming, I had a few questions. They were; how the heck is that fun? What’s the appeal? How did this get so popular? So it was with some trepidation that I got my hands on the PS4 version of the game and set about trying to make the most of my time in the Valley. The game opens with you creating a character and witnessing your grandfather pass away. Cut to you in a dead-end…

You may have read my article about what it’s like to be a female gamer. Well, some guys still want to know how they are expected to approach a girl for optimum results. So, here’s a little bit of advice for those of you who want some tips on how to treat, approach, and win-over girls in-game. Treat Others Well Too She notices how you treat other players. I say this because when you treat other players, newbies, and friends poorly while you are nice to her, chances are she will not want to talk to you. Sure, a little…

Of course, most gamers are in their late teens or early twenties. But, there are a few jewels out there that step out of the box and get a head start on the rest of us, never stop playing past retirement, or pick up the lifestyle afterward. Here are a few of those special people. Oldest Gamers Here’s to all the people that refuse to let aging get in the way of their lives. The ones who refuse to live by stereotypes and standards. Chris Bond Not much is known about this player, aside for the fact that the fifty-two…

Considering most party games are part of a series, let’s list these as a franchise, as opposed to single games or we’ll be here all day. Mario Party Surprise, surprise…one of the most renowned party games of all time.  As of January 2017 there are fifteen Mario Party games for N64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, GBA, DS and 3DS. Each game has a party mode where player navigate through a game board, collecting coins to reach the end and claim victory. There are about seventy different mini-games involved in each game. If you don’t want to commit to an entire…

With the release of Steep, we have seen some funny internet videos of people failing miserably, or achieving really amazing and impossible stunts. This is the life of a professional snow extremist, I would say snowboarder, but this game goes beyond snowboarding and skiing. With this game, you ski, snowboard, “squirrel fly” with a wing suit, and paraglide – you could say that it is adrenaline-junkie paradise. At the start of the game you are placed in the tutorial and cannot skip through it. This is an important factor to the game, not only does it teach you how to…

Ahhh yes, Back to the Future. It’s hard to believe that we are already two years past the year Marty went to the future. Remember, the year was 1985 and be blasted on to 2015 in the DeLorean Time Machine. At the time, we thought that the events and inventions that were present in this 2015 were outrageous and impossible. Yet, somehow, the producers weren’t that far off. Perhaps someone actually did pay a visit to 2015 sometime in the past. But, let’s take a look at the exact predictions we saw back in the eighties. Cubs Win World Series…

I was looking forward to the third of season of ITV’s Mr. Selfridge since the ending of the second series. While the third season did not exactly disappoint me, I do think that there was a bit of room for improvement. When the season begins, World War I has ended. Harry Selfridge’s daughter, Rosalie, is getting married, and a spectacular wedding and reception are being prepared. While Harry is still mourning the loss of his beloved wife, who died recently, his store and financial circumstances are in a very good state, and things are going well. However, Harry’s grief is…

This 2013 film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 20th-century novel, The Great Gatsby, was directed by Baz Luhrmann.  It stars Toby Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Joel Edgerton. As in the novel, in the film Nick Carraway (played by Toby Maguire) is the narrator of the story, which is told from his perspective.  Nick Carraway is telling the story at the distance of several years after the end of the events he describes, and is putting it all in writing.  In the story he tells, Nick is a young and rather naïve man from the Midwest, who has…

This movie was a disappointment.  With all the publicity this movie received when released, I was very curious about it.  Unfortunately, however, I found that this film has a lot of faults that far outweigh its few (very few) positive points. The movie’s unnecessarily crude opening scene made my hope for the film’s quality quickly sink, and foreshadowed the many poor quality components to come.  After the opening scene, we are introduced to a ridiculous, fictional celebrity news show called “Skylark Tonight”.  The show and its production constitutes an admittedly rather amusing (and frighteningly accurate) parody of Western celebrity culture. …

This 2011 docudrama is both fascinating and illuminating.  It is about Alan Turing, a man who has not received anywhere near the amount of praise, acknowledgement, and fame that he deserves.  As a result, you might not know who he was.  In fact, you probably don’t.  Born in 1912, he was the man who, in 1936, came up with the fundamentals of the computer.  In other words, without his work, we would not have computers, or for that matter any other of our well-used and popular digital devices.  He also was the person who introduced the whole idea of artificial…

The One I Love, directed by Charlie McDowell, is about a married couple, Ethan and Sophie, who are trying to rekindle their relationship. Their marriage counselor suggests to them a weekend away together at a house that many of his clients have been to. What is great about this movie is that if you think you know where it’s going already by those first two sentences, you’re probably wrong. The place that Sophie and Ethan stay immediately seems whimsical; an adorable house with a beautiful and spacious garden. Greenery, flowers, a pool, the works. Making it seem more like a…

As I saw each successive episode of Wolf Hall, I was increasingly mesmerised by the realism and beauty of the production. Wolf Hall is based on the award-winning novels Bring Up the Bodies and Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, and is directed by Peter Kosminsky. It stars Mark Rylance, Damien Lewis, and Claire Foy. Wolf Hall depicts the events surrounding Thomas Cromwell’s connections with Cardinal Wolsey and with King Henry VIII of England. Thomas Cromwell’s perspective is the main one from which the story is told. The production begins in the period of Thomas Cromwell’s service to Cardinal Wolsey, who…

The Pyramid was released in December 2014, and ‘stars’ Ashley Hinshaw, Denis O’Hare, James Buckley and Christa Nicola; it was directed by Gregory Levasseur. The movie was Levasseur’s first venture into directing, having previously been better known for writing the screenplays for movies such as The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors and Maniac.   It was written by Daniel Meersand and Nick Simon, a writing duo who had previously collaborated on Removal (2010) and The 7th Claus. In a found footage format, The Pyramid follows father and daughter archaeologists, Miles and Nora Holden, in their quest to discover a pyramid (ah, now…

So, you have visited Twitch, Hitbox, and many of the other video game streaming websites. You’ve watched what others do, from the big-name streamers, to the small, and you think you can do it too. Here is what I say: you can do it, with the right equipment and the correct attitude, but most importantly, your attitude is the key ingredient. Let’s start with the basics which you should use and will make you stand out from the others. First, choose your equipment. Now you don’t need state of the art, top of the line PCs that can handle every…

Have you ever imagined what it is like to be a gamer girl? This article takes the perspective from a female gamer herself. Let’s begin. Lightning has her problems, but thanks to Square Enix, sometimes genders are not discriminated.  Remember when it was just you and your N64 (or whatever console that launched your fantastical trek into gaming) and then the world got involved, bringing much conflict? Let’s go back to the peace and contentment you felt way back then. For the Love of Video Games This beautiful gem is available on etsy. Congrats…you have achieved victory over the…

It seems fair to say that exciting times are just around the corner for Nintendo fans, this is because the Switch will be arriving early next year. This could only mean one thing for the Wii U, and Nintendo recently confirmed that the console would be discontinued as the focus has now moved towards their new endeavour. Unlike the Nintendo Wii and Wii U, maybe the Switch will have a built-in Lan adapter. Let’s continue. Wii and Wii U: No LAN Port It is a surprising fact, but one missing element from the Wii U is the LAN and Ethernet port, just…

Looking back at 2016, a lot of hits and misses happened in the Gaming Industry. Many games were released, many memorable others were forgotten. The beginning of the first quarter didn’t have too many new and exciting games except for Uncharted 4 for the PS4. E3 was a smashing success, and Twitch exploded throughout the summer and made some great changes toward the end of the year. Starting with the games that came out this year, we’ve had many, including: Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, FIFA 17, Battlefield 1, No Man’s Sky, and Overwatch. Uncharted 4 extended the series once…

Have you ever dreamt of working in a sushi restaurant? Neither have I. Yet still, I’m downright addicted to playing Papa’s Sushiria. It’s the latest release from Flipline Studios, and it includes their previous games’ best features and much, much more. The Setup In Papa’s Sushiria, you can play on Poki as Matt, Clover, or a completely custom character. After breaking Papa Louie’s favorite cat statue, you’re forced to work at his newest restaurant. There, you will take orders, cook rice, and build Cordon Bleu-worthy sushi rolls. Satisfied customers will pay extra cash, and you can spend that money on…

Through the years, Hollywood has been trying to reach out to gaming community. Although in the past they have not succeeded too well when converting video games into movies, most of the time they had been flops. Recently this past summer Warcraft was released and came out with mixed reviews from the gaming community and with the release of Assassin’s Creed we are potentially entering into the year of video game movies. Depending on the success of these two movies we may see more video game movies in the near future. Looking back at Warcraft the story was loosely adapted…

As the anime comes to a close, we take a look back at moments that had even the toughest of nerds caught with moisture in their eyes.  I’m guessing you are familiar with this series, but if you aren’t, then you’ll find Naruto games at Poki, which allow you to get a taste of what these games are like. Warning! The following contains severe spoilers. Read at your own risk!  Asuma’s death Asuma’s death was sad for many reasons. As leader of team 10, spawn of the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho, he was a mentor for many. But it wasn’t necessarily our attachment…

If you are a fan of the Batman franchise like I am, then last year when Batman: Arkham Knight came out, you were excited to see what it was all about. There have been those that have been burned in the past. They have been afraid to venture out and try playing this game on their own. The good news is that unlike other games that have come out this outing is actually pretty good. Yes there are some areas where the game does seem to be a little disjointed especially when we are looking at the long history that is…

Now that you have bought WWE 2K17 and are looking to begin your career, you may be wondering how you can have a career that will allow you to main event Wrestlemania. There are some things that you will need to make sure that you know in order to work your way up the ranks and position yourself to take on the Undertaker and see if you can defeat the DeadMan. In this simple guide, we will look at what you need to know in order to have a career that is along the same lines as that of John…

A game designer is the glue that holds the game industry together. This is a big statement but a very true statement. Within the game industry there are many branches, those that develop the games, those that finance the games, those that artistically design the game, and then there are those that speak to all departments and keep the projects moving at a good pace (the game designers). Let’s look at the business as a whole and those who work together to make the projects move in sync. The game industry works like a clock if one piece is not…

It’s always great to see people enjoying a game, especially when the game is an entry in a series that’s been on something of a down curve. So, with the launch of FFXV, it’s safe to say that a lot of gamers are washing the taste of FFXIII out of their mouths. Good for them. On top of this there’s plans to provide some serious support too. A season pass is on sale and there’s talk of all sorts of new content coming out. So, what’s the problem? Sadly, the very first post-launch patch for the game looks to not…

With the December update in Overwatch comes a verity of new features, special skins, and special sprays. The noticeable things are those such as Symmetra getting a slight overhaul and the new skins that come with holiday season. The minor fixes were a great addition, however there are some ideas and character, one in particular, that still needs to be patched in the game. Several of the characters have received new skins from holiday overload to simplistic mediocre-ness. Winston looks like a yeti, I don’t play much of Winston but this skin looks incredible. Mei received a Santa suit, as…

With the bumps, hills, and even successes of 2016 coming to an end, we look to next year to see what the gaming community has to offer. From what we can see, 2017 entails two new systems and a plethora of new games. Three of the most anticipated games are coming out in the first quarter, an Xbox exclusive still has no release date at the time of writing this article, which hopefully will soon, and lastly the two consoles will be released in the final quarter (Xbox Scorpio and the Nintendo Switch). In 2017, we see that The Legend of…

Gaming, as a medium, has a tendency to look exclusively forward. Now this is, undoubtedly, a good thing. It means that the industry is always striving for something new both graphically and artistically. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have it’s downsides too. We all know the old saying “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Well, by constantly looking forward, gaming is running the risk of forgetting its own history. After all, it’s not like books and films, where old ones are constantly being re-released. If you don’t have the consoles to play them,…

November 29th marked a very special anniversary for a game that has been more than just hours of fun and enjoyment, it has become a part of our very culture. We are talking of course about Final Fantasy, on November 29th we saw Final Fantasy XV be released. This is a game franchise that started all the way back in 1987, for some people they were not even born. For the developer of the game Square Enix, it has been one of the best-selling game franchises for the company. The other sign that it has been a huge part of…

This article is not meant to scare you from ever streaming or making “Let’s Plays” on YouTube. If you are strong and will hearted, then take this article as a precaution to what your life will entail when stepping onto the field of streaming and gaming content creations. Of course, being on the Internet is always a dangerous situation and you need to be prepared at all costs to protect yourself from any form of slander or fraud. The first risks are minor risks when you stream and create content for sites like YouTube and Twitch. Such as the frequent trolls…

You’ve spent hours upon hours on Skyrim itself, let alone the rest of the Elder Scrolls franchise. You’ve deleted saved so you didn’t have to face the harsh reality that you’ve perhaps spent more time playing this single game than you have with your own family these last five years and unbeknownst to your mother, most likely the main reason you haven’t rose from the basement to see her since it’s 2011 release (ha!). Warning! Spoilers for anyone who still hasn’t played through everything Skyrim has to offer. Skyrim is undeniably one of the best games of the decade. Few…

Many will argue as to what is the best game of all time. But there are some games that will forever hold a place in all of our hearts. These are games that will cause us to break out the old 64, or demand a remake for 3DS. These…are our childhood. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Ocarina of Time has to make the list. It was rated best game of all time on more than one occasion and with good reason. Perhaps it’s the deep connection we have with the story, the enhanced graphics for the 1990s or the…