VIRTUAL BASTION

Resonance: Snowy Mountain

For our next Resonance post, we shall be visiting one of the Duck’s favorite platformers, the original Jak and Daxter on the PS2. This game’s soundtrack is unique in that the music is almost…not there, in a sense. And that’s kind of what I like about it. There’s just something about this game that relaxes…

Resonance: Uphill Both Ways

So, anyone still remember Halo: Reach? Of course you do! I know I certainly do (…I’m not the only one, right?) I’ve often said that Halo 3 is my favorite of the entire series, and for the most part, that’s true. Halo 3 gave me some of my fondest gaming memories, and was my very…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #61

Ahhhh, it’s good to be back. And how nice that it just happens to be Friday, because that means it’s time for more YouTube Highlights! In fact, it’s time for an extra-large selection of highlights from our YouTube channel because we took off last week. (Hey, everyone deserves a vacation once in a while, right?)…

Resonance: Tartarus

In case anyone was wondering, I’m still playing Persona 3 Portable. crickets Well, I am. And let me tell you, it’s pretty darn enthralling. I understand that later games in the series do everything Persona-y better, which is fair. At times, P3P has felt repetitive. But even though you’re essentially playing “wash, rinse, repeat” with…

Bungie Partners with NetEase to the Tune of $100 Million

The gaming community has been a buzz for the last few days over Bungie’s new partnership with NetEase, a Chinese tech and gaming company. In a post on Bungie’s official forum, the developer stated that they’ve entered into the partnership in order to move towards self-publishing smaller-scale games in the future. Of course, this announcement…

Resonance: Waterfall

It is no secret that the Duck adores Undertale. One of the many things I love about the game is its amazing soundtrack, which is easily one of my favorites from any game. I have already written a resonance post about Here We Are, which plays when you explore the True Lab, and today we…

Resonance: Time To Relax

It’s Resonance month everybody! This is perhaps our longest running series of articles, and since it’s our five year anniversary, why not take the opportunity to really dive into it for once, right? To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what song I should talk about to kick things off. I have plenty personal favorites…

To Regale with Resonance!

With June marking the start of the fun and lighthearted summer months, what better way to kick things off than with a month of music! Nearly since the site’s inception, one of our most popular series is “Resonance,” in which we celebrate the highs (and occasional lows) of game music. It goes without saying that…

Hopefully Conquering Final Fantasy 8: Part 3

I’m still working diligently on Final Fantasy VIII, using guides as I go so as not to miss anything. (I was using a guide on a website called Jegged, but then I kept getting lots of weird popups, so I switched to IGN.) I have recently reached disc 3 and am currently all caught up…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #60

Greeting friends! As many of you reading know, not only is it Friday and therefore time for our YouTube Highlights, but it is also a three-day weekend! Which means that it’s perfect time for catching up on your watch lists, which must contain plenty from our own YouTube channel! ( 😉 ) We remain firmly…

An Interview with 2013

This month we’re celebrating Virtual Bastion’s 5-year anniversary by sharing our favorite memories of the site, blogging, gaming, and our online friendships. Join us as we take a trip down memory lane! Any year is a good year to start a gaming blog, but starting one in 2013 was especially good. Maybe it wasn’t obvious…

Resident Evil 7 Coming to Nintendo Switch…Via the Cloud?

On Sunday, Nintendo and Capcom announced that the much beloved latest entry in the Resident Evil series, Resident Evil 7, will soon be coming to Nintendo Switch. While most Switch-owning horror fans will certainly welcome this, the announcement is still surprising considering Resident Evil 7’s impressive visuals. It’s a game that shouldn’t be able to…

N-No Virtual Console for the Switch?!

Say it ain’t so, Nintendo! Say it ain’t so! Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just…a bit upset right now. It’s fine, really. But hey, did you hear, Nintendo is apparently not bringing the Virtual Console to the Switch! What is happening to my life! I am ill-prepared for this news; why, cruel world, why! (Oh,…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #59

“These are the days of our lives,” was once spouted by a famous television program, and today is no exception. Only that it’s Friday, and it is therefore time to celebrate life through games with some of our YouTube Highlights! 🙂 Hi everyone, and thanks for coming back for another selection of fun and games…

Games We Discussed in 2013

This month we’re celebrating Virtual Bastion’s 5-year anniversary by sharing our favorite memories of the site, blogging, gaming, and our online friendships. Join us as we take a trip down memory lane! Although Hatm0nster, The Duck, and I formed “United We Game” with a singular goal in mind — to help small game bloggers reach…

Octopath Traveler Introduces Final Two Characters, Reveals Features

Fans of the classic Final Fantasy games may have something to forward to this July. See, Square-Enix is releasing a new JRPG on the Switch that both calls back to the classic 2D JRPGs and advances the genre in significant, but somewhat subtle ways. This game is known as Octopath Traveler, an RPG that puts…

The Duck’s Favorite Moments with Virtual Bastion

In my last two posts, the Duck talked a bit about Virtual Bastion’s early days and a few notable firsts in celebration of our five-year anniversary. When you’re lucky enough to spend half a decade working on a blog and Youtube channel dedicated to your favorite hobby, there are bound to be a lot of…

So Here We Are, Five Years Later

It’s amazing how the passage of years can feel depending on how you look at it. In one sense, five years can feel like almost nothing. While I can’t say that it feels like only yesterday that Cary, The Duck of Indeed and I were getting this idea off the ground, I can say that…

YouTube Highlights, Weekly Edition #58

Good day, good people! Err, is it a good day? Well, it’s Friday, which is as good as it gets for the moment. It also means that it’s time for our YouTube Highlights, and that’s good…right? It’s gotta be, because now is the perfect time to share a handful of some of our videos from…

What We Wrote About in 2013

This month we’re celebrating Virtual Bastion’s 5-year anniversary by sharing our favorite memories of the site, blogging, gaming, and our online friendships. Join us as we take a trip down memory lane! When it comes to defining “[x year] in gaming,” you’d be hard pressed to find a more substantial one in recent memory than…

Nintendo Finally Gives Details About Switch Online Service

Nintendo has finally pulled back the curtain (somewhat) on the online service they’re bringing to the console this September. For starters, this isn’t going to be the same kind of robust online service PlayStation and Xbox users have grown used to over the years. It’s actually rather bare bones compared to PSN and Xbox Live,…

There’s a First Time for Everything at Virtual Bastion

Since this month is a time for reminiscing over the last five years of gaming and blogging goodness that has taken place here at Virtual Bastion, I can think of no better time to discuss a few notable “firsts”. Before we get started, I’d just like to say that, no, I will not be covering…

Resonance: Beneath the Mask

Persona 5 is an excellent game. This statement might as well be a cliche in regard to this game as it’s received nothing short of universal praise ever since it released in September 2016/April 2017. It’s not hard to see why when looking at it from the outside and even less difficult if you’ve had…

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion Gets Brief Gameplay Trailer

Splatoon fans have been geared up for the series’ first major expansion due out later this year. Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion splatted into Nintendo fan’s consciousness in a big way during the most recent Nintendo Direct. Its known features include a new, mission-based game mode which has players take on some sort of challenge mode….

Five Years with Virtual Bastion: A Duck’s Perspective

Wow, it’s hard to believe, but Virtual Bastion is now five years old! To celebrate our five-year anniversary, the three of us are going to reminisce and share some of our fondest memories of our time working together. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this trip down our respective memory lanes, won’t you?

The Paper Mario Prank That Changed Everything

As we’re talking about video game pranks and foolishness this month, I thought it would be a good time to talk about the most important gaming prank I ever came into contact with. It’s weird thinking of an obnoxious think like a prank as “important,” but that’s what this one wound up being. It’s something…

It’s our Fifth Anniversary! Ask Us Anything!

Hey everyone! May is almost here, and this year it’s going to be something of a special occasion here at the Virtual Bastion. You see, this May marks the fifth year of online life for our little corner of the internet, and we’re planning a little celebration of sorts. For the next month, we’ll be…

Pranked By The Plot: Prey (2017)

This article contains major spoilers for Prey (2017). If you don’t want some of the story spoiled, then it’s probably best not to read any further. One of the many qualities that makes gaming special is the player’s relationship with the game. Players are actively involved in what’s playing out on screen; we’re not just…

Octopath Traveler Details New Characters and ‘Path Actions’

Octopath Traveler is a new JRPG from Square-Enix set to release later this year. The game follows eight travelers, each on their own journeys in pursuit of their own goals. Square-Enix has been drip-feeding info to potential fans for a little while now, and today they introduced two new characters and explained how “path actions”…

Daxter: Gaming’s Best and Most Hapless Fool

If ever there was a character whose life was the embodiment of April Fool’s Day, it’s Daxter. Forming the crucial (but actually not-so-crucial) second half of the Jak & Daxter team, Daxter has had a rough go of it over the course of the Jak & Daxter games. His monumental run of bad luck actually…

‘Radical Heights’ Enters the Battle Royale Fray

From the team that brought you LawBreakers come “Radical Heights,” a very 80’s take on the battle royale shooter-style game that’s been growing ever-more popular as of late. Boss Key’s multiplayer shooter takes place in the not-so-distant future of 2023. In the game’s version of events, America went through some sort of “dissolution” conflict and…

Every Day is April Fool’s Day in Fable II

Fable II is, in many ways, a great and satisfying game to play. For those unspoiled by the likes of Zelda or Skyrim, and perhaps even for those who are, Fable II is a perfectly adequate adventure game. It’s not that it does anything particularly well, but neither does it do anything particularly poorly. Its…

God of War is Looking Both Good and Different

The newest entry in the God of War franchise is almost here, and I have to say that it’s got me feeling somewhat surprised. This continuation of Kratos’ story has him taking on a different pantheon, sure, but Kratos definitely doesn’t appear to be the same man who once destroyed Greek world in his quest…

Hopefully Conquering Final Fantasy 8: Part 2

I’ve been slowly and steadily making progress in Final Fantasy 8, and I must say, I feel like I’m finally starting to get the hang of things. As of writing this, I have just reached disc 2, and I have grown far fonder of the game and its characters than I did on my first…

Virtual Bastion Presents: April Fool’s Month!

Hey all, April is right around the corner! In fact, April Fool’s Day is exactly one week away! Commemorating the arrival of spring has become something of a tradition around here, but we haven’t really done all that much with this trickiest of holidays (if you can call it that). This April happens to mark…

On Being a “Good” Player of Video Games

When I sat down to write this post, I initially had in mind to cover some of the recent news concerning Far Cry 5, due out March 27th, concerning it’s length. The crux of the article was going to be something along the lines of “does game’s length matter anymore?” But then, as I was…

Epic Releases $12 Million Worth of Paragon Assets

Earlier today, Epic Games announced that about $12 million worth of assets from it’s defunct MOBA game, Paragon, are now available on the Unreal Marketplace for all Unreal Engine 4 developers to use. This by itself is pretty amazing, but here comes the real kicker: it’s all free!

Virtual Bastion T-Shirts are Here!

We’ve got a very special announcement today, folks! Virtual Bastion has recently opened a t-shirt shop on SpreadShirt! Right now, we’ve got several variations on the classic Virtual Bastion logo, and we’ll be sure to add more snazzy new designs in the future. Show off your love of gaming from retro to modern with some…

One Year Later and the Switch is Still Going Strong…How is this Happening?

Well, here we are. It’s been a full year since the Switch’s initial release, and Nintendo’s mini-tablet-sized hybrid console is doing just as well now as it was then. One could even argue that it’s doing even better. Aside from the Wii, it’s been a very long time since one of Nintendo’s home consoles has…

Fortnite is Going Mobile

If there’s one game that’s blown up massively, it’s Epic Games’ take on the 100-player free-for-all multiplayer game type: Fortnite Battle Royale. The game is everywhere. It’s all over consoles, it’s massive on PC, and it’s recently become the king of Twitch. And soon, it’ll be available on your smart phone too.

Turning Over Mario Party 2’s Bank

No matter how you look at it, Mario Party 2 is an old game. It’s been 18 years since the game saw release on the N64, and it has seen eight direct sequels in that time. By all rights, Mario Party 2 and its N64 brethren should have been left behind by gamers a long…

Sunday Video Round Up: June 3 – 9

It’s the calm before the storm everyone. E3 is technically in full swing today but before we get to all those bright and shiny trailers, we need to have a look back at this previous week. The Round-Up is back once again showcasing all of the latest trailers, so relax and crank that volume. Here’s…

Sunday Video Round Up: May 27 – June 2

We’re now only a couple weeks away from the official start of E3 2018, but as it does each and every year, the leaks and announcements have begun! Thankfully, the Round Up is here for you in your time of need, bringing all of the latest leaks, announcements, and gameplay trailers right to you. Ladies…

Sunday Video Round Up: May 20 – 26

Welcome to a brand new edition of the Video Round Up, the place to be if you’re looking for all the best trailers and gameplay videos from the past seven days. So settle in, sit back, and relax. Here’s a few things you can expect to see below the jump. If you’re looking for big…