News:: Review: Destiny 2

Bungie kind of promised the world when it gave us the original Destiny. The hype was astronomical, and the first preview event didn't even have a playable build. What we actually ended up getting was a very strong shooter with a weak RPG backbone, a foundation that was slowly built up over the course of several years.

Destiny 2 still isn't the game that was described to us ages ago when the hype train began, but at this point, it's good enough if you're looking for an action shooter.

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News:: Plod across Depression-era United States searching for Where the Water Tastes Like Wine

I was scheduled to see Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, a game I knew nothing about (despite having written about its announcement two years ago -- my memory isn't what it used to be). When I finally put the controller down an hour later, designer Johnnemann Nordhagen said most appointments only lasted a fraction of that and I was the only person he's seen make it down to the South. 

It didn't feel like I was there for that long. I was almost entranced. Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is something really special.

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News:: Developer says 3DS eShop is dead for Nindies

Jools Watsham, known for his work on both Mutant Mudds and Xeodrifter, released his newest game, Chicken Wiggle, to what he refers to as "shockingly low" sales. He goes on to state that “Chicken Wiggle’s first day sales were so low, I thought there was an error in the sales report.” He points some of the blame towards the lack of visibility the game received on the North American eShop during its initial release of August 17.

Instead of calling it quits and moving onto a new project though, Watsham already seems to be working on a port for the Nintendo Switch where he hopes to find a larger audience. Considering the fact that the 3DS has a library of games spanning all the way back to the 2004 launch of the original DS, it’s hardly surprising to hear that a new game might not receive the attention that it deserves. Consumers aren’t exactly starved for options. How does one stand out?

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News:: Celeste is the next pure platformer to keep an eye on

Platforming has been around for so long, it's ingrained in us as a basic skill. It's like walking or breathing. We just do it.

It's such a basic skill, many games these days use it as the vehicle to get to where they really want to go. Puzzle platformers are about the puzzles. Rhythm platformers are about beat. Metroidvanias are about the exploration.

Celeste brings us back to pure action platforming. Run, jump, get to the end. Touch the strawberry if you're good enough. Jump on enough platforms, and you'll eventually summit the mountain. It's not the means to another end, it is the end. Judging from its PAX West showing, it is a very good end indeed.

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News:: Destructoid Community Interviews: Hypno Coffin

Hey brothers and sisters! Welcome back to Destructoid Community Interviews with your ever-jittery host Orochileona! (aka Chris Moyse). It's been a month or so since our last foray into the heads of one of our beloved community friends, but, y'know I did like, eight interviews in ten weeks. It was unrealistic to keep that speed up forever. There's still a lot of folk on the to-do list, so let's get things underway and chop a name off of it right now!

Turn that anime frown upside down, because, with an avatar more iconic than an Ubisoft protagonist's hat, it's Hypno Coffin!

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News:: Review: Pillars of Eternity - Complete Edition

Kickstarter may have lost a little of its luster since the campaigns of Double Fine Adventure and the Ouya, but one of the most successful game crowdfunding campaigns to date resulted in Pillars of Eternity, a modern throwback to isometric computer RPGs. Created by Obsidian Entertainment, the goal was to create a game which hearkened back to crunchy, story-heavy role playing games of the late '90s, and by most accounts the studio succeeded admirably. 

Pillars of Eternity became one of the most lauded western RPGs in recent memory, and the focus on providing multiple choices to players set it apart from most of its contemporaries. While Kickstarter backers and PC grognards have had access to Pillars since 2015, console players got their first crack at it recently when the title was ported to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. So just how does the console version stack up?

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News:: Gaming with my grandfather

[Join the navi is a lie as he takes you down a brief but personal trip down memory lane, to a highly-cherished gaming memory that's shaped the way he looks at games. There's nothing like the support of your loved ones in your pursuits! How did he get his work Front Paged, you ask? Well, he wrote a blog, and we were like, "Yup," and he was like, "Nice." Easy as that! And don't forget to share your favorite gaming memories in the comments below! - Wes]

Hey guys. So to start this I figured I should say, the subject this blog is centered around is still alive. In fact I'm writing this right after visiting him. I was just feeling nostalgic and sappy and also really wanted to write. So, here is the story of when I played the original Legend of Zelda with my grandfather.

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News:: Recommended Reading: Hollywood is really mad at Rotten Tomatoes

Attacked by Rotten Tomatoes
Brooks Barnes,
The New York Times

The film scores tallied by Rotten Tomatoes are what many moviegoers use to decide how to spend their money. As you might expect, this doesn't make some folks in Hollywood too happy. In fact, they're pretty darn upset. Some claim low scores on Rotten Tomatoes cost big name films like Baywatch and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword millions this summer. The New York Times takes a look at the rift the movie ratings site has created with its Tomatometer. I'd argue studios should stop blaming a website and just start making better movies, but what do I know.

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News:: What kind of game would you like to see with a Nintendo IP?

In a crossover no one expected, Nintendo joined forces with Ubisoft to bring us one of the year's most talked about games, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, which plays like a demented XCOM.

Aaron Linde of ArenaNet recently tweeted a question in light of its success.

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News:: Runner 3 trades Bit.Trip for a rocketship

Hard as it may be to believe, the Bit.Trip series has been around since 2009. The franchise got its start on the Wii, and developers Choice Provisions have had a close relationship with Nintendo since the studio's inception. Runner 3 is the studio's first game headed to the Switch, and I got a chance to try it out last weekend at PAX West.

Runner 3 is a direct sequel to Bit.Trip Presents Runner 2, and the developers teased that the truncated name was due to their reluctance to fill out forms with the full title. Joking aside, the shortened name is intended to convey a separation from Bit.Trip's universe, allowing protagonist Commander Video to break away from the Bit.Trip series and explore a larger world.

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News:: The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend. We're looking back at some of the week's big stories -- remember that time Equifax coughed up millions of social security numbers? -- plus the latest news, like word of a new Futurama episode.

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