The realm of the otome game is a weird and wonderful place. Sometimes, you’ll pursue a variety of pretty, non-threatening suitors after exchanging a series of group texts. Other times, you’ll look to seduce a lovable single father, or a responsible pet owner.

As for Hatoful Boyfriend? You date pigeons. That’s right: YOU. DATE. PIGEONS.

With all signs pointing to Sledgehammer Games developing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (III? A backwards E? Who know what crazy symbol variation of three they’ll use this time) for fall 2023, we thought it’d be enjoyable to take a trip down memory lane and revisit every CoD title they’ve made in the past. Here’s every SHG Call of Duty, ranked. 

It’s worth noting that Sledgehammer Games have contributed to a lot of Call of Duty titles over the years, including Modern Warfare 2019 and its sequel, Modern Warfare 2 (2022). For this list, though, we’re only taking into account the games in which they were the lead development studio (or one of them). Games in which they’ve been an assisting studio won’t feature. That means there’s four titles to deal with. They’re all ranked below, from our least favorite to the best they’ve made yet. 

A certain clever clogs once said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, and in the grand scheme of things that logic may indeed ring true. However, if you were to apply the same philosophy to gaming, you’d be surprised at how comforting doing the same thing over and over again can be.

Personally, I often like grinding, even in the toughest and most brutal of video games. There’s just something satisfying about consistently improving and upgrading your character in an area you know like the back of your hand. In other words, when it’s done right, grinding can be a good way for players to relax and unwind.

With Bethesda Game Studios’ next big game on the horizon, anticipation for the company’s first new IP in 25 years is reaching a fever pitch. To help shed some light on the many worlds fans will be exploring when Starfield launches on Sept. 6, the studio has released a trio of new animated shorts.

These animated teasers stand in stark contrast with some folks’ concerns leading up to the interstellar space RPG’s launch. Namely: Starfield is going to be an empty, lifeless No Man’s Sky-esque experience.

2023 has marked the arrival of some of the most entertaining, emotional, and intense anime seasons. From slashing Demons in grueling, bloody fights or actively avoiding being hunted for a six-million dollar bounty to adapting to living in a world inhabited by the undead, we’ve rounded up the best contenders to create a list of the best must-binge series of the year so far.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Season 3

Watch on: Crunchyroll

Demon Slayer’s third season takes place during the Swordsmith Village arc, where viewers will get to see Tanjiro and the Hashira duo of Muichiro Tokito and Mitsuri Kanroji step into the limelight and go head-to-head against two of Muzan’s fiercest Upper Moon henchmen.

Few consoles possess the sheer resonance and overwhelming mindshare of the Xbox 360. Not only did it help usher in the huge industry shift to online multiplayer culture we see today, but it was also a fertile hotbed for independently-developed classics like Limbo, Braid, Castle Crashers, Super Meat Boy, and many more.

From 2005 to 2016, Microsoft’s sophomore console was home to a ton of acclaimed games, and even though it’s a reasonably young system in the grand scheme of things, there are still some rare titles that’ll yield some surprisingly decent results money-wise.

While we’re still waiting for the next great new MMORPG to take the world by storm like World of Warcraft did years ago, there are still plenty of great active ones to choose from. These are the 10 most popular MMORPGs on PC in 2023, ranked specifically by their peak concurrent players.

Editor’s Note: Hard data for concurrent player counts do not exist for MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft. Therefore, it has been excluded from this list. We are aware that they would undoubtedly be right at the very top of this most popular MMORPGs in 2023 list if we had access to reliable data from which to source.

It may be hard to believe, but 2023 will mark 25 years since the Pokemon anime first premiered in the west. That’s a quarter century of battles, exploration, and boneheaded decisions by Ash Ketchum.

To commemorate this momentous landmark, we’re taking a look back by rewatching the earliest days of Pallet Town and beyond. Join us on this most marvellous trip down memory lane, and remember to stock up on Super Potions for the journey ahead!

When it comes to Metroid, there’s almost no need for an introduction. It’s the franchise that helped to kick-start the Metroidvania genre, and stands among most any of Nintendo’s other properties as one of the best series in gaming. Of the many titles the series has put out though, some are definitely better than others, which is why we’ve compiled our ranking of the best Metroid games of all time.

14. Metroid Prime: Federation Force

Federation Force certainly isn’t a bad game, but it doesn’t feel as “Metroid” as other games in the series; due in no small part to the absence of a playable Samus.

With Call of Duty’s DMZ extraction mode well established within Warzone and incorporating aspects of The Boys in the form of the Temp V Field Upgrade, I wanted to don my developer hat and conceive of five truly ludicrous things Activision could do with the mode in the future.

The inclusion of the aforementioned Temp V has been controversial, with some loving it and treating it as an excellent anti-camper device and others adamant that superpowers do no belong in the mode at all.

Like its predecessor, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a lot of secrets hidden in the skies, the surface, and the very Depths below. Run in any direction and you’ll always bump into something interesting to see, but let’s step away from the big picture and observe a few aspects of the game. If you focus on the small, you’ll find tiny details that get easily overlooked in Tears of the Kingdom.

10. Lightroots Lead to Zonai Shrines

Tears of the Kingdom had just as much to do with the sky as it does the deep, dark depths beneath the surface. Aptly named ‘the Depths,’ the underground caverns are equally as vast as the lands above, but it’s dangerous down there. It’s a good idea to make regular trips into the Depths for Poes, items, and Zonaite.

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. In a time where you struggle to hear the word “free” commercially, Microsoft’s Games with Gold being a part of their Xbox Live Gold service served as a light in the dark for players interested in trying their hand at something different without a financial commitment. Alas, the time for that light to shift colors and go dim has finally come.

On July 17, Microsoft announced that they will be introducing Xbox Game Pass Core as a replacement for Xbox Live Gold. Along with the 18 year old service, Microsoft said that they will be discontinuing the Games With Gold feature starting September 1, which means that the constant influx of free games that Xbox Live Gold members had access to will be coming to a halt.

Recently I’ve been skimming over many of the various game makers and ‘maker’ video games I’ve tried out over the years, looking back into titles from the classic Super Mario Maker games to the more refined RPG Maker and Pixel Game maker studios. However, in doing so, I’ve stumbled across a thought I’m sure many other Pokemaniacs have encountered at some point in time — between all of the Rom Hacks and game maker mods, why doesn’t the Pokemon Company invest in the creation of a ‘Pokemon Maker’ video game, letting us all bring custom Pokemon adventures to life?

First, I’ll start by answering the obvious red flags you’re all undoubtedly waving in my face. Don’t worry; I’m no Tauros. I won’t get mad at this gesture. I’m well aware that the simple answer to this question is that a concept such as this will likely never happen due to the sheer scale of the proposed project and how time-consuming and tedious it would be to complete.

As the generations of gaming systems continue to evolve and improve, the eyes of players continue to scrutinize and analyze the games that accompany them. While the graphical bar in the gaming industry continues to increase, there still remain to be a few aspects of gaming graphics that are the first to be picked out. Graphics are constantly improving to the point where some of the items on this list are certainly nitpicks, but there is always more to be desired when thinking in retrospect. Here are 10 things that video game graphics need to improve to reach the next level.

Smooth Out the Characters’ Hair

When it comes down to the things that video game graphics consistently miss the mark on, it’s a character’s hair. That’s not to say that hair always looks bad, but it can be that one aspect of a scene that pulls the player’s focus away from the story. During cutscenes, the hair is often a part of a full computer generated model, and it’s being placed into a scene under natural and controlled circumstances, but during gameplay is where you can more easily see the visuals break down.

As we head toward the end of July, it is time to consider what next month offers. That’s right; we’re talking about the PlayStation Plus Essential games! We have a decent idea of what might be available next month, and we’d love to share our thoughts and predictions with you. We will find out together around July 27 because PlayStation usually reveals the PS Plus games on the last Thursday of the month.

Shadow Warrior 3

This third adventure of Lo Wang takes players on yet another adventure where he has to save the world with crude jokes, a katana, and tons of bullets. While it ditches the looter shooter aspects from Shadow Warrior 2, there is still no lack of weaponry to try out in defeating the hordes of enemies in style. If you’re worried about neglecting your backlog, sources say the game’s story only takes five to seven hours to beat.

Those who have tuned into the first few episodes of Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead were likely blown away by its quality, but also by the fact that its namesake monster isn’t the main source of dread for its characters.

Despite the snarling, oozing undead creatures seen shambling around the post-apocalyptic world, another force hangs heavy over the head of the show’s protagonists. It’s an insidious thing, and it slowly but surely latched onto him and refused to let go for years on end as his life slowly drained away along with any joy or happiness he once felt. In many ways, it made him no better than the reanimated husks that are currently tearing his world apart.

Like a deep sea diver plunging into the depths to seek a sparkling piece of treasure, we thought that a monthly column dedicated to those overlooked or underappreciated gems that may’ve passed you by would be handy. Yes, as the tide of July sweeps over us, and as August fast approaches, we’ve whittled down the releases of the month into a handful of recommendations. These are titles that we’re either really excited about, or have played ourselves and, as a result, want to sing its praises. So, for your reading pleasure, here are seven fun video games you should try this month. Let’s begin dive in, shall we?

Dave the Diver

• Platforms: PC
• Release Date: Out Now

Here’s Dave the Diver in a nutshell: scuba-dive around a procedurally-generated ocean, catch some fish, swim back up to the surface, head to your sushi restaurant and prepare that delicious sashimi for your hungry patrons in exchange for lots and lots of moolah. And, Bob’s your uncle — you’re now a devotee of one of gaming’s biggest mashups since 2015’s acclaimed Rocket League.

With Season of the Malignant on the horizon, Blizzard has rolled out a new patch for Diablo 4, bringing with it some pretty significant gameplay changes. There a few class balances, new Unique items and Legendary Aspects, and some season rollover progress that you’re gonna wanna know about before Season of the Malignant starts, so let’s get into it.

All Classes Get Nerfed

Really, there aren’t any winners in this latest Diablo 4 patch. In fact, all the classes have taken a hit in some way or another, but we’d be remiss not to give a special shoutout to the Sorcerer, who’s certainly been hit the hardest.

Booting up the pre-release version of EA Sports FC 24, I was strangely excited and curious to find out what was waiting. I’ve played every FIFA since about 2010 so, despite being more taken with some and less with others, there’s always been a degree of certainty about what you’re going to get from a new one. Sure, there’ll be upgrades and tweaks, but seasoned players know what to expect. With EA FC 24, there was little of that.

I was immediately reassured by the menus (bear with me). The FC 24 logo comes up first, clean and minimalist. The more I’ve thought about this branding and name change, the more I’ve liked it. Especially as the largest portion of the player base (myself too) spends most of their time with Ultimate Team, recent FIFA iterations have felt more and more like building your own football club. What better name than FC, then?

Fortnite and Overwatch 2 are two of the most significant free-to-play multiplayer games across various platforms, with many fans of the titles holding out hopes for a collaboration or crossover event between the two. While the lack of such an event remains a sad tale for the hopeful, there are more similarities between the games than one may anticipate, especially between a handful of characters from each title, with their designs striking an uncanny resemblance.

Undoubtedly, this will happen occasionally in the video games industry – that’s the joys of character design, especially in live service games that release such frequent cosmetics. However, there are a few matchups where these two characters could appear to be related! Without further ado, here are 10 Fortnite skins we spotted with a strong visual similarity to Overwatch 2 characters.