The final days before Halloween have begun! With only three days until the night of spooky festivities begins, we’ve devised a list of games that you must play, unless you’re a Halloweeny.

Crafted by the brilliant Shinji Mikami, famous for his work on the Resident Evil (RE) series, The Evil Within is about as close as you can get to RE without incurring a copyright infringement. The game absolutely nails horrifying monsters, delivering some seriously grotesque…things like a walking spider lady. We can’t say much for the overall scare-factor of the game, but it’s certainly thrilling!

9. Dead Space

Although the series may be dead for the time being, Dead Space is still a franchise that’s perfect for a Halloween playthrough. Not only doing it have increasingly ugly creatures, but the novelty of using Isaac’s Plasma Cutter to dismember oncoming enemies never gets old. And if you’re into gore, then Dead Space has it aplenty.

8. Silent Hill

The Silent Hill series is practically the king of the horror genre. It wouldn’t surprise us if most GameFans readers were introduced to the genre with a Silent Hill game. It doesn’t really matter which entry in the series you choose (so long as it’s not the HD Collection) you’re in for a frightful treat.

7. Five Nights At Freddy’s

What’s a horror list without the current poster child of the genre? Five Nights At Freddy’s has practically become a household name as internet-goers watch their favorite streamers scream their head off at the various things lurking in this game. With the latest entry in the series released just a few weeks ago, there’s plenty of Freddy fun to get you through the last few days of October.

6. Amnesia: The Dark Descent

When you think horror, Amnesia: The Dark Descent should be one of the first games that come to mind. This is a game that oozes atmosphere as you make your way through a creepy castle and pray that you don’t run into one of the creatures walking the halls. If you do, make sure you run fast, or else!

5. Resident Evil 4

So, this one isn’t exactly as scary in this day and age, but it’s a classic and certainly one that everyone needs to go through once. Resident Evil 4 is the game that revolutionized the franchise and has been re-released on a ridiculous amount of platforms since 2005. It shouldn’t be hard to find this game on your platform of choice.

4. Until Dawn

Here’s one we never expected to actually enjoy. Until Dawn is a PS4 exclusive that prides itself on taking hold of all those campy, horror tropes you know and love (or have come to hate), breathing new life into them as you take control of numerous characters fighting for survival. If you like scenarios where your choices matter, then Until Dawn is for you. This is also great as a party game.

3. Dying Light

If you want something that lets you take out your frustration on the walking dead (or frustration brought upon BY The Walking Dead), Dying Light is the game you’re looking for. Not only does it have hordes of zombies to kill, but beyond that, the game itself is actually pretty good. There’s parkour to help you get from destination to destination and a real sense of urgency once nightfall comes. Tip: DO NOT STAY OUT AFTER DARK!

2. Alien: Isolation

Fans of the Alien series of movies have never really gotten a video game that quite captured the wonder and chill brought upon by the original movie. That’s where Alien: Isolation comes into play. This game does that and more. As Amanda Ripley, you must outsmart the Xenomorph while completing various objectives around a space station to survive. If you’re a fan of the Alien series, you owe it to yourself to get this.

1. The Last of Us

Possibly Naughty Dog’s greatest game, The Last of Us centers around Ellie and Joel as they travel together to salvage what remains of society after a virus outbreak. That virus gave birth to some of the creepiest creatures on this list: Clickers. These fungus-headed beings are attracted to sound, making playthroughs on the game’s hardest difficulties especially thrilling as you balance a lack of supplies with avoiding Clickers as much as possible. If you haven’t already played The Last of Us, you should fix that this Halloween.

What’s a game that you always play on Halloween? Let us know the comments below.

One of the most important aspects of having fun with Civilization is choosing a leader that matches your playstyle and offers you bonuses that will help advance your civilization faster than your opponents. Some leader bonuses are better than others, so we’ve ranked the leaders according to how easy it is to win with them through the five victory types.

Some leaders also have hidden characteristics that you may find out through gossip in the game. A good example of this is the American leader Teddy Roosevelt hates warmongers and loves pacifists, while Cleopatra is the exact opposite. She hates leaders with weak military and loves those who have a strong military force.

Where you place your city really matters.

Because your main city is your most important asset in the game, it’s important to pick a good starting location. While it can be tempting to move your settler to bonus resource icons you can spot, you should consider settling your city near a river or a coast. You’ll be able to support more citizens and have a stronger foundation on which to build out your city, which is new to Civilization VI.

Because you’ll be expanding the core of your city outwards as you explore, you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of space for your population to grow.

Builders are not just re-named workers

Builders are an entirely new unit introduced in Civilization 6 and if you’re familiar with the game, they may seem like workers from previous entries in the series. While both workers and builders are used to improve the tiles found within your borders, the important difference is that builders can complete improvements instantly, but only with a limited number of uses.

Because of this, you’ll want to ration your early builders and save them for turns when you expand your borders and find a new resource source within your control. By using a builder on it, you’ll be able to claim the resource that turn instead of waiting however many turns for workers to complete the relevant building.

Grow your civilization faster by hitting those research boosts

Research boosts are a new part of Civilization 6 that can boost all of your research found in the technology tree. Sometimes you’ll stumble upon ‘Eureka moments’ in goody huts as you scout through the map, but there are more reliable ways to generate research boosts.

Exploring the technology tree in the game will show you what you need to do in the game in order to gain the boost. Sometimes that’s as simple as farming a nearby resource or defeating a handful of barbarians. Other times, the boosts will require you to found a new city in a specific location, or build a certain wonder. These research boosts are valuable throughout the whole game, so you should strive to hit them as often as possible.

Carefully plan the districts in your cities for maximum gains

One of the new features of Civilization 6 is districts. Instead of your city being an entirely self-contained entity on a single tile, your cities will now spread out as you advance across the map. This presents some new challenges to the game, too. There are twelve different districts in the base game and they all confer a different bonus to your city. Because there are so many, you’ll need to plan which districts you build around your play type.

If you prefer to go for a military victory, you probably won’t want to build up your city center and get those culture bonuses. Certain buildings are tied to certain districts, so if you want to unlock buildings for their bonuses to your cities, you’ll need to focus on specific districts in order to get there.

Here’s a great guide on how to plan your districts.

Yesterday, Nintendo finally took the lid off of the Nintendo NX and revealed a new console called the Nintendo Switch. It’s a tablet with detachable controllers that appears to be everything the Wii U should have been, instead of the stopgap between the Wii and the modern, more mobile-focused generation we live in now.

Nintendo has refused to comment on any of the internal specs, price, or what games will actually be appearing on the system, but that hasn’t stopped the internet from going crazy the new device. One redditor took one of the promotional images Nintendo tweeted from its new @NintendoSwitch Twitter account and had a little fun with some of the colors.

Which one is your favorite?

Nintendo has just revealed their much anticipated console, the Nintendo Switch, a mobile/home console hybrid with a tablet screen and detachable controllers. While we wait for more information on the Nintendo Switch specs, details, launch games, release date, and more, here is a gallery of Nintendo Switch photos to keep you entertained.

After teasing the gaming community for the better part of a week on Facebook with images drenched in that famous red, Rockstar Games has finally announced Red Dead Redemption 2 will be coming next year. That’s all we know about it, aside from the reveal image that is splashed across the main page of Rockstar’s teaser site.

As we wrote last week, celebrities are no strangers to video games. While some of them may be millionaire actors or singers who seem to live a completely different life than you, this form of entertainment is one that can bring us together. Some celebrities seem to more strongly about this than others as they’ve appeared in video games either as guests or the protagonist! Below, we’ve listed the top five favorite celebrity appearances in video games.

5. Gary Coleman in Postal 2

In case you haven’t already played Postal 2, here’s a good reason: Gary Coleman. The late Diff’rent Strokes star appeared in this game, signing a fictional book called “What I’m Talkin’ Bout: The Gary Coleman Story.” In case you don’t want a copy of his book, you have the option to fight him, but don’t think it’ll be an easy fight. Coleman comes strapped with an assault rifle and grenades for those pesky fans.

4. Snoop Dogg in True Crime: Streets of LA

What’s a celebrity article without Snoop Dogg? Nothing, that’s what it is! Fortunately, we found a way to weasel the OG into this article with his appearance as a playable character in True Crime: Streets of LA. By collecting Dogg Bones (or just entering a cheat code. Remember those?) you could unlock Snoop. The character had a slew of catchphrases (that were more than appropriate for the early 2000’s) and looked good in a low rider.

3. Michael Jackson in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker

While the King of Pop was busy moonwalking in the movie Moonwalker, developers at Emerald Software and Keypunch Software were turning that iconic movie into a movie. Enter Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker a game that sees players take control of the King as he attempts to save kids from the evil Mr. Big. As expected, the game featured some of Jackson’s hottest tracks at the time, such as Beat It and Smooth Criminal.

2. Mike Tyson in Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!

In Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, a boxing game for the NES, Mike Tyson himself made an appearance as the final boss. True to form, defeating Tyson proved to be a difficult task, ensuring anyone who managed to knock out the World Heavyweight Champion a satisfactory pat on the back. Unfortunately, after Nintendo’s license to use Tyson expired, Tyson was replaced by “Mr. Dream,” a fictional character cooked up for this exact occasion.

1. Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais in Grand Theft Auto IV

If you’re in the mood for some jokes, head on over to the Split Sides comedy club in Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) to get a laugh out of Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais. Yep, the two comedians appear in GTA IV as themselves, cracking jokes during moderately long sets.

What are your favorite celebrity cameos in video games? Let us know in the comments below!

Disregarding that, a fellow game developer has done some reverse engineering and created a model viewer so he could explore exactly how the code behind procedural generation in the game works and how models end up in the game.

A handful of unique assets

The way No Man’s Sky works is by creating the illusion of diversity using procedural generation with a handful of pre-created assets that can’t be left up to chance, like animations and textures. The image above is the “triceratops” model for the game, which uses the same animation combined with randomized textures and parts to create a totally new creature. This sets the stage for the wide but shallow world of No Man’s Sky.

Each animations model comes with a descriptor that describes a certain part of the body, from the head to the body to the tail. Each of these descriptors can be generated independently of the other, so what you see in the picture above is all the possible combinations of body parts generated on the triceratops skeleton. The only human-made part is the skeleton itself.

Each unique part comes with a chance probability, which likely refers to how much of a chance that part has in appearing somewhere in the world. The interesting thing here is that most of these are set to 0 in the code explored. Thus, models that are pre-rigged can generate tons of animals that look different on the surface, but use the same skeleton and animations on a code level.

Where’s all the big monsters?

Perhaps the biggest criticism of No Man’s Sky is that many gamers feel as though it was falsely advertised. The E3 trailer that showcased the world for the first time features pre-rendered assets that have been discovered in the game but are set to inactive. In fact, most of the pre-rendered rigs and animations surrounding the “big” fauna are set to inactive.

I can’t speak about general game functionality or gameplay features etc, but from examining quite all the creature models in the game files I can say that there is TONS of content, which due to the engine decisions(?) doesn’t appear very often (or at all) in the game.

This is interesting because the game developer notes that while these models are in the files, they’re not used and they don’t appear anywhere that anyone can identify them without mods for the game. This leads credence to the theory that Hello Games has purposefully disabled certain aspects of the game even after launch.

In case you missed yesterday’s news, good ol’ Valve is working on a new prototype controller for the HTC Vive. This controller aims to further bridge the gap between the real world and virtual reality by allowing you to hold on to the controller without actually holding it. The controller doesn’t exactly look comfortable, and it’s kinda weird looking. So, that got us thinking about the weirdest, least ergonomic controllers we’ve ever seen and of course, we couldn’t come up with a list without sharing it with you.

his controller actually never saw the light of day (outside of a convention center, that is). Sony cooked up this odd successor to the DualShock line of PlayStation controllers prior to the launch of the PS3. According to designer Teiyu Goto, then Chairman and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Ken Kutaragi “wanted something different for the controller.” Admittedly, this doesn’t look all that uncomfortable. Wackiness aside, our only real problems are that it wasn’t a DualShock and we didn’t get to try it out!

7. Resident Evil 4’s chainsaw controller

There were actually two versions of this unique Resident Evil 4 controller: one for the PS2 and another for the Nintendo GameCube. Today, we’re talking about the GameCube controller because of the abysmal button placement. As you can see from the video above (by YouTuber AlphaOmegaSin), the GameCube’s comfy control scheme isn’t faithfully replicated on this controller. Yeah, you have everything there, but the various triggers and bumpers are in odd nooks and crannies on the controller, making it less than comfortable for long periods of time.

6. Bra gaming controller

What happens when two artists team up to design a Dead or Alive controller? Bras happen, that’s what. Daniele Hopkins and Kyle Duffield came up with a working, PlayStation controller that doubled as a bra. They had participants play the controller (which was being worn by Hopkins and Duffield themselves) in order to show people what it feels like to control real bodies. We’re not sure if the bras were comfortable, but we give them props for demonstrating their product.

5. Dance Dance Revolution’s finger pads

This one is pretty self-explanatory. The Dance Dance Revolution finger pads were designed to make playing the game on the Game Boy Color easier. Since the system is so small and the buttons are immediately accessible, such an accessory isn’t really necessary. But it’s also kinda cute, so we’re pretty conflicted on this one.

4. iGrip Ergonomic Keyboard

Are you a PC gamer who would love to sit back and use a controller for your gaming? If you answered yes, this isn’t the solution to your problems. Get a DualShock 4 or an Xbox One controller. But, if you’re feeling adventurous, you could try out the iGrip Ergonomic Keypad, a controller that looks anything but ergonomic. The buttons wrap around to the back of the controller where they sit on two-button rockers, kind of like the volume rocker on your phone. While a lot of thought seems to have gone into key placement, there are certainly easier-to-use controllers available for your couch-gaming needs.

3. Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style controller

It’s a W! the Wu-Tang Shaolin Style controller was included with special-edition copies of Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style. We admit that the controller looks pretty badass, but the lack of vibration, analog sticks, and any consideration for the ergonomics of the controller make this a hard sell.

2. Wii bowling ball

Ah, the wonders of the Nintendo Wii. This console had a lot of unnecessary attachments due to its popularity and motion controls. One of the more wacky peripherals was the Wii Bowling Ball. Essentially, the controller’s only real use was for Wii Sports‘ bowling game or any other bowling game available on the system. Otherwise, you just bought a $25 paperweight.

1. Death Crimson controller

And so we finish off the list with the absolutely craziest, wackiest controller we’ve ever seen: the Death Crimson controller. No, that’s not a real creature, but we forgive you for thinking it is. If you go to the back, you’ll find a stool to stand on so you can put your hands on the controls, located a few feet off the ground. If that’s not frustrating enough, the game is supposed to be hard, and we can’t imagine playing with that thing made it any easier.

Have you tried out any of these controllers? Let us know in the comments below.

Bullshot is a term first coined by Penny Arcade back in 2005 for screenshots of pre-release games that end up looking better than the final product ever has. That term has only grown on the internet as time has marched on, with recent examples like No Man’s Sky, Watch Dogs, and Aliens: Colonial Marines servings as some of the best examples of this phenomenon.

The PS4 Pro launches next month and it will be the most powerful games console on the market, with twice the graphical horsepower of the original PS4. But that comes with a steep price in energy consumption: the PS4 Pro consumes almost twice as much electricity as the updated PS4 “Slim”, despite having the same CPU, RAM, hard drive and other components.

Think celebrities are incredibly different from you? Think again, because you might have played online with one! Here are seven celebrities who are also big-time gamers!

The funny man himself, Terry Crews! While most may know him for his role in the classic Old Spice ads or the movie White Chicks, Crews is also a recent gamer. Earlier this year, Crews reached out to the gaming community to help build himself a gaming computer that was just as beefy as himself. Why the interest in gaming? So, he could bond with his son! Brings to a tear to our eyes, to be honest.

6. Austin Creed (Xavier Woods)

Famous for his stage name, Xavier Woods, this WWE Superstar (and 1/3 of The New Day trio) is no stranger to the world of gaming. Having showcased his love for retro and current gaming in various WWE intros, Austin Creed decided to take his second love to YouTube with the UpUpDownDown gaming channel. Here, Creed plays games from various genres, showing that he’s versatile both in the ring and on the sticks.

5. Mila Kunis

Remember Mila Kunis? One of the many female stars of That 70s Show? In addition to being a popular actress, she’s also a gamer. Kunis thought she might have an addiction to World of Warcraft (something we know all too well), but in 2012 she managed to quit cold turkey…and turned to Call of Duty. According to an interview Kunis did at San Diego Comic-Con 2012, she loves herself some Nazi Zombies.

4. Snoop Dogg

In addition to a thing for baking, Snoop Dogg (or Snoop Lion? We’re not sure anymore) is also a gamer! Snoop was one of the numerous celebrities DICE and EA brought to their showcase for Battlefield 1 earlier this year.

3. Robin Williams

The late Robin Williams (may he rest in piece) was also gamer. Although, seeing as how his daughter’s name is Zelda, named after The Legend of Zelda’s princess Zelda, this really shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. But, aside from loving Legend of Zelda, Williams also enjoyed World of Warcraft. Before his untimely death in 2014, Williams had been an avid gamer for 30 years.

2. Samuel L. Jackson

Say what again, we dare you! No, but seriously, the Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, and many more movies star has been a gamer since the beginning. Having played Pong and Atari games, Jackson’s affinity for gaming has developed, currently settling in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre. Jackson has stated that if you sit him down with an FPS, he’ll be “in front of the TV all day long!”

1. Megan Fox

The actress who’s starred in more movies than we can count and was hated by more people than we have fingers, for some odd reason: Megan Fox. Fox isn’t just an actress, she’s also: a comic book lover, graphic novel reader, and most importantly a gamer. In an interview at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival, Fox stated that whatever her husband, Brian Austin Green, is playing, she’s playing as well. At the time, of the interview, Fox was killing dudes in Halo Reach.

Think of some celebrities we missed? Let us know in the comments below!

Your mom may have yelled at you a lot for playing World of Warcraft instead of coming to the dinner table to eat, but what she didn’t know is that while you were busy murdering bears for their pelts you were also absorbing some other valuable information you can apply to your every day life. And you didn’t even realize you were being educated, did you?

Looking for a handful of great games to play while you’re on the go? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Check out this list of 20+ games that released on both Android and iOS in September. From mind-bending puzzlers to fast-paced action, there’s something here for everyone.

Available for Android & iOS

9. Bulb Boy

Looking for something a little light-hearted and fun? Check out Bulb Boy, a point and click horror adventure with a boy with a giant glowing head. There’s unique monsters to fight and an interesting story to unravel as you progress in this uncanny world.

Available on Android & iOS

8. Dog Sled Saga

Train a team of sled dogs to compete in competitions and win in this new simulation game. Each dog’s hunger level determines how well it performs for you and each sled can only hold so much food, so you have to be strategic about when to lob food at your pups in order to make them go faster.

Available on Android & iOS

7. Heist

Heist is a board game meant to be played with multiple people and streamed to a TV through a Chromecast or similar set up. The premise is you and your friends team up to reveal cards and the goal is to uncover your team’s cards before the other teams do the same.

Available for Android

6. LEGO Harry Potter

Warner Bros. has made the second LEGO Harry Potter game available on Android for the first time. You take control of Harry Potter and guide him through the later hears at Hogwarts, battling Voldemort in the end.

Available on Android

5. Looty Dungeon

Looty Dungeon is brought to you by the same folks who brought you Crossy Road. The same whimsical graphics are present, only instead of playing Frogger on a 3D plane, you’re exploring dungeons, gathering loot, and slaying monsters.

Available on Android & iOS

4. Monolithic

Monolithic is like playing a 3D tower of Jenga without removing the pieces on the bottom. You’re given several different pieces and you have to stack them, rotate them, and make sure you keep a sturdy base as you try to build your tower higher and higher.

Available on Android

3. One More Jump

One More Jump is an arcade platformer with one-touch controls. All you have to do is touch to jump to different platforms while your character moves, not giving you much time to react to each situation as your character gains speed. There are over 70 levels for you to beat.

Available on Android & iOS

2. Orbt

Orbt is another one touch game where the object is to keep your planet from being sucked into a black hole. While that sounds easy, there are a few other objects that randomly assault you, making your task a lot harder than it seems.

Available on Android

1. Sorcery! 4

The fourth installment of the graphic novel Sorcery is now available on both Android and iOS platforms. The journey continues as you fight weird creatures, cast spells, and shape your own story that allows you to cheat death and enjoy emergent gameplay along the way.

Available for Android & iOS

I’m colorblind. No, that doesn’t mean I see in black and white, nor, in my case, does it mean that I only see certain colors. For me, being colorblind means that a red for me might be a burgundy, or even an orange, for you. Colors that are similar in shade are difficult for me to tell apart. That’s why when I saw the PS4 announcement trailer for developer Fiddlesticks’ Hue, I was both excited and somewhat dismayed.

Hue is a side-scrolling, 2D, puzzle-platformer with a lot of focus on colors. When you boot up the game, you immediately get the feeling that something’s not quite right: there’s no color. Everything is a monochrome gray and black. It’s very dreary and depressing, even more so once the somber soundtrack by composer Alkis Livathinos starts to kick in. His contribution to Hue excellently sets the tone for this adventure.

A world of color

The narration provided by actress Anna Acton paints the setting.You play as Hue, a boy whose mother suddenly goes missing one day. Now, it’s up to you to find her in this black and gray world. In order to do so, you’ll need to manipulate various colors you acquire along your journey. Every time you pick up one of Hue’s mother’s letters between puzzles, Acton’s warm and, well, motherly voice provides an update on the story, carving a clear path from beginning to end without much interpretation needed on the player’s part. Hue might not have a deep story like some other games, but it still manages to really tug at your heart strings as things start to become clearer.

One by one, you’ll find new colors. Moving the right thumbstick in any direction brings up a color wheel as time slows to a crawl and the world is plunged into darkness, revealing various color blocks in the surrounding area. In mid-jump, this affords the player just enough time to make a split-second decision: what color do you choose to bring the block back to the physical world? Choosing any color but the block’s color (or shape) will bring it back, allowing you to interact with it and proceed with any given puzzle.

The first color you acquire is blue, meanwhile, the second is purple. This is where I started to have problems. The similarities between the two colors immediately made figuring out how to get from my starting destination in a puzzle room, to the key, and finally the door more difficult.

Because the game starts so suddenly, it’s not immediately obvious that a colorblind option exists in the game. Exploring the options menu brings this up, so it’s not exactly hard to find. Enabling the colorblind mode turns Hue into a different kind of game. Where before it was about matching or mismatching colors, now it becomes a game of shapes as foreign symbols take their place on top of the existing colors both in your color wheel and in the physical world. Because of the colorblind mode, solving puzzles doesn’t necessitate mastery of our color system, but rather quick reflexes to switch to the appropriate color before something squishes you.

It’s actually quite interesting how much Hue changes with the colorblind setting turned on. The shapes add another layer you simply don’t get without them. They transform the various blocks of wood and angry, spiky, death traps into mystical items with a history just waiting to be unearthed. Without the shapes accompanying their respective colors, it feels like Hue is missing something.

Difficulty spike

That said, the game becomes more manageable. Don’t confuse manageable with easy, though. If there’s something Hue isn’t, it’s easy. In fact, Hue is the most hardest, most frustrating game I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. There were moments where I would try fruitlessly to figure out how to get one block from the top of the room to another location to get to the key I needed while literally pulling at my hair. Luckily, my hair has escaped this review intact, but Hue is a mentally-exhausting game.

Just as you think it’s over, Hue throws more mechanics in your face, dragging out the length of this six-hour game and making it far more difficult. This gives you a chance to really appreciate that stellar soundtrack since you’ll be familiarizing yourself with quite a bit of it as you sit for ages trying to figure out a puzzle. It started to become normal for me to spend upwards of 20 minutes on most of the puzzles.

And that’s probably the most puzzling thing about Hue. Initially, this game feels so easy. The hard puzzles were never really too hard, in retrospect, and the easy ones weren’t insultingly easy. The balance between story, difficulty, and gameplay was very good. But the last half of the game sees less story and more puzzles as things begin to draw to a close. The short, story breaks between puzzles die out. There isn’t much of a chance to recharge yourself before you walk straight into another puzzle. As annoying as that was, finally completing a puzzle always made me feel good about myself. Knowing that I was able to accomplish this seemingly impossible task without referring to a guide brought a brief smile to my face before I gritted my teeth at the next puzzle.

Hue may have a sudden difficulty spike, and that’s sure to dissuade some players from completing that last half, but the feeling of satisfaction that comes after completing these puzzles is second to none.

Bringing everything together is a musical score of somber, slow music that mercilessly pulls you into the world of Hue and doesn’t let you go until the credits roll. A lot of the time, I ended up just standing by, listening to the gentle tap of the piano while the ethereal sounds took me away. The soundtrack is so good, in fact, that I’ve been listening to it while doing this review.

Conclusion

Hue is a game that most likely won’t inspire any profound conversations for tackling new story elements in gaming, but it doesn’t need to. The game provides enough story to build up the monochrome world, provide motivation for your actions, and gradually introduce you to the game before letting you discover that you haven’t really experienced much yet. The presence of a colorblind option is an appreciated necessity that’s often overlooked in such color-focused games. Alkis Livathinos’ soundtrack does well to keep you relatively calm when all you want to do is throw your controller across the room. Meanwhile, the gameplay itself is frustrating and difficult, yet offers the most genuine, earned moments of “eureka!”  I’ve experienced in a video game to date.

Pros:

+ Excellent voiceover by Anna Actor
+ Phenomenal soundtrack by Alkis Livathinos
+ Effective use of a colorblind mode
+ Satisfyingly difficult puzzles
+ Satisfying conclusion

Cons:

– Shorter breaks can be very exhausting
– Game starts to drag on near the end
– Difficulty spike can be a deterrent near the end.

Final Score

Score: 9.5/10

With the release of the PlayStation VR literally days away, we couldn’t help but come up with some of the games we’re most excited for. Below, you’ll find a small smattering of worthwhile games that we’re sure will define the VR experience on PS4.

This is a game that people have been hyping up since it was revealed last year. Rez itself is pretty old. The original game was released for the PS2 and Dreamcast in 2001. Since then, it’s been remade once for the Xbox 360. However, what makes this particular iteration different is that this time, the creator, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, finally has the technology to achieve what he was originally trying to accomplish. As stated in an interview Kotaku, virtual reality is what brought Mizuguchi out of his video game development hiatus.

As for what Rez Infinite is, essentially it’s a psychedelic rail shooter with a focus on rhythmic music. What makes this game so interesting for us is the fact that despite this being a remaster, the extra dimension you get from playing in VR provides the added UMPH needed to bridge the gap between the gorgeous visuals and our reality. It’s safe to say that this will be the way to play Rez.

SuperHyperCube

Here’s a more simplistic title from Polytron and Phil Fish. SuperHyperCube is essentially Tetris that follows a Z-axis rather than the X and Y axis. That is to say that the 3D of PlayStation VR changes the game from one about fitting shapes in a vertical orientation to one about pushing them away from you. We’ve played a bit of SuperHyperCube but our short demo wasn’t enough to satiate our newly-discovered appetite.

This is a game that’s meant for VR. Peeking around your shapes to see what way you need to rotate them for the next hole is fun. The anxious feeling you get as the hole creeps closer and closer to your face before you have the correct orientation is hair-raising. If there’s one VR title we need, it’s this one.

Battlezone

Here’s another one that really sunk its hooks into us when we got a chance to play it earlier this year. Battlezone is a first-person shooter, wherein you play from the inside of a tank. Your objective is to destroy the enemies on the field. Those can be other tanks, flying creatures, or even towers. Basically, kill anything that moves. The objective is simple, but actually accomplishing it is rather difficult. It took us some time to get used to moving our head around the cockpit to see where enemy fire was coming from, but when we were used to it man did it feel good.

Battlezone is going to be one of those games that we’ll probably show our families when they ask what PlayStation VR is all about.

RIGS Mechanized Combat League

Here’s one that we’ve kinda been waiting on since we were kids. Remember the anime IGPX? It was a show where pilots raced around tracks in really agile mech suits. Well, take those suits and change racing to combat and you’ve got RIGS Mechanized Combat League.

What intrigues us most about this game is how frantic it looks. Just looking around in Battlezone made things hectic enough but trying to aim at other pilots who have the same arsenal you do looks like it’ll be a ridiculous amount of fun.

Resident Evil 7

Let’s face it, Resident Evil hasn’t been scary in a long time. The focus on action over horror turned the series from a teeth-chattering adventure into a muscle-filled action game. However, with Resident Evil 7, it looks like Capcom is taking the series back to its horror roots. The demo they put on the PlayStation Store is what really sold us, though. The tension that comes from being in a house where you don’t know what’s around the corner is enough to send shivers down our spine. Add to that the fact that we can play it in VR? There’s no way we’d miss out on something like that!

What PlayStation VR games are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments below!

Marketing can be a tricky task. Not only do you have to find a way to speak to your audience in a way that effectively sells your product, but you also have to do it without offending those same people. The five companies below didn’t quite pay attention to that last bit.

Last gen Sony did a lot of interesting things. Take, for instance, the way they advertised the then upcoming white PSP. You’d think that’s not something you could possibly mess up, right? Well, that’s just what Sony did when, in 2006, they OK’ed a racist billboard in Holland!

The billboard in question (which you can see above) shows a white-clad person overpowering another person decked out in black clothing. Understandably, people weren’t very happy about the racial implications behind the ad and so Sony apologized…but not at first. They tried to defend it:

“A variety of different treatments have been created as a campaign to either highlight the whiteness of the new model or contrast the black and the white models. Central to this campaign has been the creation of some stunningly photographed imagery…”

The GOAT

So you want to hype up the launch of your gore-filled game. You have a party planned, but you’re prepared to go all out to make this party truly unique. How do you do that? If you didn’t answer “do something with a headless goat,” you’re not metal enough.

And so we arrive at another Sony blunder. This time, the company was advertising the 2007 release of God of War II with a party. While that seems pretty tame, for some odd reason, they decided to have topless women popping grapes into peoples’ mouths, and a competition to see who could eat the most offal from the goat’s stomach.

Here’s an excerpt from the OFFICIAL PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE WHERE THEY SHOWED PICTURES OF THIS EVENT IN A TWO-PAGE SPREAD. UNCENSORED.

“How about eating still warm intestines uncoiled from the carcass of a freshly slaughtered goat? At the party to celebrate God Of War II’s European release, members of the Press were invited to do just that . . .”

Sony quickly apologized and launched an investigation.

To speed or not to speed

In 2002, Acclaim Entertainment (the publisher of Burnout) released Burnout 2: Point of Impact for the PS2. To commemorate this momentous occasion, they offered to pay the speeding tickets of any British driver who was caught by a speed camera on October 11th. Obviously, this didn’t go too well. The British Department of Transportation saw this move as Acclaim “encouraging people to speed and to break the law.” While Acclaim denied that was their intention, the damage was already done. Luckily, nobody got hurt.

Just marketing gone wrong

The year was 2010; location: Auckland, New Zealand. Horrible marketing stunt in question: Splinter Cell: Conviction. One Friday night around 8pm, around 24 people watched in horror as a man with bandages on his hands brandished a gun and began pointing it at them. As they all ducked for cover, the police came and quickly diffused the situation. The gun was fake.

Monaco Corporation, a marketing firm who partnered with Ubisoft in New Zealand, was to blame. They thought this would be a good way to advertise Splinter Cell: Conviction. In response to the misunderstanding, a Monaco representative said, “It was just marketing gone wrong.”

RIP Shadow Man

So, we end this list with the most tasteless marketing stunt we’ve seen. In 2002, Acclaim Entertainment (again) thought of a novel way to advertise the release of a game they were publishing. This time, it was Shadow Man: 2econd Coming. The stunt involved defacing the gravestones of the recently deceased (no, we’re not kidding). However, instead of just doing it, Acclaim reached out to the loved ones of the person buried, offering to pay them money so they could advertise the game on the headstone.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, when things started to get bad, Acclaim doubled down and tried to defend their actions. According to them, this offer might “particularly interest poorer families” and the money could seen as “a subsidy to burial costs to give their loved one a good send-off.”

Can you think of even worse marketing blunders? If so, let us know in the comments below!

Have you ever been playing a game and thought to yourself “Man, this is really good. I wish someone could make it even better!” Or maybe you just want to play your favorite mod without being tethered to an unnecessary game? Well, lucky for you, you’re far from the only one whose mind has wandered in such a direction. Today, we’re looking at five games that started off as simple mods, but after some TLC (tender love and care), blossomed into full-fledged games.

Originally designed as a side project to show to prospective employers, The Stanley Parable developer Davey Wreden started making this game as a Half-Life 2 mod in 2011. His secondary objective was to explore the ways stories could be told through video games.

After the mod was downloaded more than 90,000 times in its first two weeks, Wreden worked with award-winning environment artist William Pugh to create a remake for Steam. The remake went on to sell more than 100,000 copies in its first 72 hours on Steam.

League of Legends

League of Legends is essentially an anomaly on this list, because it wasn’t just a mod. No, League of Legends was a mod of a mod. League of Legends‘ origins can be traced back to a Warcraft III mod called Defense of the Ancients. Seeking to improve upon the gameplay seen in the original DOTA, Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill co-founded Riot Games in 2006, partnered with various DotA: Allstars developers and the rest is history.

Now, League of Legends has become the catalyst of the eSports craze, spawning multiple teams (some owned by NBA legends and teams), and even introducing certain people to the world of video games.

Garry’s Mod

Conceived in 2004 as a mod of Half-Life 2, Gary’s Mod saw development until 2006 when it was released on Steam as a standalone title. From there, support for Valve’s wider catalogue of games like Portal, Team Fortress 2, and Half-Life 2 was added, allowing people to mix elements found in those games together to do whatever the hell they wanted, like create comedic videos.

DayZ

So, this one isn’t technically out, but releasing an alpha of your game that consumers can purchase means you qualify for the list! That said, before leaving Bohemia Interactive (the developer of DayZ), Dean Hall was the mind who started it all. In 2012, DayZ was released as a mod for the game ARMA 2.

With one million downloads achieved in its first four months of availability, it’s hard not to call this a success. Did we mention you had to buy ARMA 2 to play DayZ? Yeah, people were buying this game specifically so they could join in on the fun that DayZ offered. In December 2013, Bohemia Interactive released a standalone, alpha version of DayZ. The game was announced for PS4 and Xbox One in 2014 and 2015 respectively, despite still being in alpha testing on PC.

Team Fortress

And finally, possibly the most popular title on this list: Team Fortress. For this one, we’re starting with the original Team Fortress. Team Fortress Software developed this game as a mod for Quake in 1996 (that also makes this game the oldest!). The team intended on following up on this title with Team Fortress 2, until they were approached by Valve to make Team Fortress Classic as a Half-Life mod. So, they joined Valve and got to work, releasing Team Fortress Classic on April 1, 1999.

Following numerous updates to the game, Valve released the standalone sequel, Team Fortress 2 in 2007 both as a standalone game on Steam and packaged in The Orange Box, a collection of Valve’s critically-acclaimed portfolio.

What are some of your favorite mods that saw a standalone release? Let us know in the comments below!

2016 is the year of VR, with the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR all three launching this year. Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are both products you can get your hands on now, while you’ll have to wait until October 13th to get your hands on PlayStation VR.