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Shane Stone

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No doubt about it: “elitist” is an ugly world. Its connotation brings to mind concepts such as exclusion, snobbery, gatekeeping, and general nastiness… … okay, so maybe there’s a lot wrong with being elitist. It might be worth taking a look beyond the obvious negatives and examine what makes someone elitist in the first place, though. It can clearly be an ugly behavior, but there are two sides to every coin, so what could possibly make elitism sympathetic, and what can cause it in gaming? Across any form of media, but often games, there are people who will shut out others if they don’t feel like they are “true fans” of a franchise in question. We have probably all been guilty of this, to some level, but when it’s taken to an outspoken measure that aims to block a sizable audience from enjoying the product, that’s when the elitism issue…

Nintendo and their consoles have seen a rollercoaster of success over the years, but they are very pleased in recent times, throwing their plumber’s cap in the air at the surging success of their Switch console. They have seemed to have found a happy medium where they can sell a console with the popularity of the Wii, but with the focus being on traditional first-party games, in the spirit of the Wii U. As reported and translated by Nintendo Everything, there are no plans for a price cut or successor to the Nintendo Switch, as stated by Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa through The Sankei News. Furukawa references the Switch’s great sales numbers and their lofty target of selling 20 million units this fiscal year. In short, they have no plans on stopping the Switch train anytime soon. But if there is potentially a new Switch version on the horizon, that train…

Like the true heel Pokémon that it prides itself on, Incineroar took a spot in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that was almost given to the arrow-shooting owl Pokémon Decidueye, game showrunner Masahiro Sakurai has stated. Feeling the need to have a Pokémon series representative in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Sakurai and his team narrowed their selection down to these two characters. Ultimately, Sakurai wanted a wrestling-themed fighter, so the muscle-bound grappler Incineroar won out. This information was found in an interview with Sakurai by Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, as shared by Eurogamer. The interview goes on to mention other fun facts about fighter selection, including that the reasoning behind the unexpected Piranha Plant was to show that any character could appear. Incineroar’s own inclusion came as a surprise to some in the Smash community, as its addition to the roster was contrary to alleged leaks that came to surface before the…

In the beginning, if you wanted to play video games with someone, you had to do so sitting next to each other. As technology has evolved, so has multiplayer — not only can you now play with others online rather than in-person, playing online is now the multiplayer standard. PC games were the early adopters of online play due to the convenience of being on a system that inherently connects to the Internet by design. Consoles, however, had online play come at a slower pace. Many people were still playing splitscreen multiplayer on consoles when PC users were playing online. The turning point for online play on game consoles was Xbox Live on the original Xbox, most notably with Halo 2 becoming an online phenomenon. As times progressed, game consoles have caught up and are now fully online-enabled with streamlined services (including streaming), eliminating the need for in-person multiplayer. You don’t…

The rivalry of Mario and Wario has become a classic feud in gaming, dating back to Wario’s first official appearance in 1992’s Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins on the Game Boy. Wario’s name itself is brilliance as a corruption of Mario: it takes the Japanese word, “wa,” meaning “bad,” and corrupting Mario’s name with it. Further, “W” works as an upside down “M,” suggesting an inversion of Mario’s character. Lastly — oh yes, there are three layers here — putting “War” in the name hints at Wario’s more brash, abrasive nature compared to to Mario (this is more likely a coincidence, but still a pretty neat linguistic side effect).  Since his introduction, Wario has starred in several games of his own, including the successful WarioWare franchise. Though he may have become less of an antagonist and more a quirky, garlic-eating weirdo over the years, Wario has become a staple of…

Every once in a while when snooping around for a new game, you come across a title that looks a little… different. Donut County is such a game, where it seems a bit quirky, but something about it pulls you into investigating whether it’s worth play, or simply what in the world you are looking at. Time to Play the Donuts Taking place in the humble setting of… okay, probably don’t need to say it, do I? Donut County follows BK the raccoon, and his friend, Mira the human, as they have inadvertently let loose a series of holes in the ground that can move around and are swallowing up the citizens of Donut (well, it was mostly BK at fault, and it was only sort of an accident). This leaves everyone in a frenzy as they and everything they own are being swallowed up by holes. So, you know,…