Author - Branden Johnson

The gaming medium has grown a lot from its roots as a TV ping pong simulator. From 2D platformers to 3D role-playing games, from sports to fighter plane combat simulators, video games have encompassed almost every...

I am not a cell phone gamer. When a new, big game hits iOS, sure, I’ll download it and try it out, but rarely do I invest any significant time into the platform. Growing up with complex console games, I’ve found that...

I was fully ready to embrace the digital future. Despite nagging doubts that said digital purchases aren’t “owned” in the traditional sense, and any digital property can disappear forever at any time, I purchased a...

Nintendo surprised the world by dropping an addictive new game in last week’s Nintendo Direct presentation. And more surprising than its sudden launch was its price tag: free for subscribers to Nintendo’s online service...

Games like Fortnite and the new Apex Legends seem to foretell the direction of the games industry. Seriously, if a game can be free and still manage to make millions and millions of dollars, there must be something...

If you’re new to the Tales series, you might not understand why Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition is such a big deal. A remaster of a ten-year-old game? So what? I mentioned in my Tales of Remasters piece that the...

There have been a handful of handhelds in the past thirty years that have truly risen to prominence. The original Gameboy is perhaps the most famous, with hangers-on like the Sega Game Gear never able to match it. Then...

There’s no question that Kingdom Hearts 3 is a highly anticipated game. Years in the making, it’s been on gamers’ minds since Kingdom Hearts 2 released back in 2005. This isn’t some Duke Nukem Forever situation, either...

It would be easy to dismiss FutureGrind as a budget title without a lot to offer. After all, at first glance it appears to be a sort of rail-based platform racer without a ton of variety backing up the admittedly clean...

In 2008, Tales of Vesperia hit North American shelves, finally giving Tales fans a high-def entry into the long-running and much-beloved series. Unfortunately for many of those fans, Tales of Vesperia was an Xbox 360...

I jumped aboard the hype train when the PlayStation Classic was announced, preordering right away. $100 was a bit steep, and I knew there would only be about 20 games, but I’m a collector. At best, I’d have an SNES...

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the best version of Smash yet. It’s not even close competition. Everything about the game feels tighter, better, more refined. The number of options available for everything from character...

I’m a fan of puzzle games. I can lose myself for long periods of time in Dr. Mario, and playing competitive Tetris/Puyo Puyo with my wife on the Switch is a ton of fun. I was happy to tackle Energy Cycle Edge even...

I’m not a rage-quitter. Part of that is because I generally play games that fall a bit lower on the difficulty scale, but also, in a well-designed game, there’s really no one to blame a loss on but yourself. That’s what...

If you were a kid in the 90s, you no doubt have at least a passing familiarity with the console wars. Bloodless battles fought on school playgrounds, they saw kids of every background defend their video game console of...

Video game music remains an underappreciated art form. There are some out there doing the hard work of changing public perception about game music, with podcasts like The Legacy Music Hour and VGMpire producing content...

Despite being a giant video game fan, and a huge RPG nerd to boot, I somehow skipped the Pokemon craze when it hit the U.S. in the 90s. I was the right age, with the right mindset, but something kept me from ever...