The Nintendo Switch has arrived! Now that I've had the console for almost two weeks, I thought I'd share a few thoughts while I take a break from Zelda: Breath of the Wild. 

I thought I'd do something a little different this for E3. I'll have some focused articles on various E3 games and announcements over the coming days and weeks, but I thought I'd also highlight some of my tweets with off-the-cuff reactions to the conferences.

You can follow along for the full discussion on my Twitter account, too, of course.

If you watched the Final Fantasy XV: Uncovered event a few months ago, you might have heard about the long-awaited game's new demo: Platinum Demo. It's free to download on either PS4 or Xbox One.

Earlier tonight, I finally played it; and, well, it's weird.

Historically, one of the main differences between developer Naughty Dog's two flagship series was stealth: the "Infected" (i.e. zombie)-filled world of The Last of Us required quiet and careful sneaking, while the pulp fiction swashbuckling action of Uncharted relied mainly on loud, flashy shootouts. 

With Uncharted 4, however, those worlds have collided, and Nathan Drake now has some honest-to-goodness stealth abilities. The result is a set of levels that could be pulled straight out of a really great James Bond game. (Beware: some light spoilers ahead).

I played it in February, but Firewatch was my own personal summer camp. It offers a delightful, if sometimes melancholy and mysterious, departure from urban life with a vast expanse of nature to explore at your leisure.

A game that was highly anticipated, generally well-received at launch, and subsequently second-guessed for not being as life-changing as people thought it should have been, Firewatch is still an experience that sticks out in my memory as a very personal journey inward experienced through the eyes of a man searching for an escape (and maybe newfound purpose) after a period of loss and grief. 

Quantum Break, released on April 5, 2016, is finally here! For those keeping track, it was one of the big Xbox One exclusives unveiled during the original Xbox One reveal event back in May 2013, so it's been a long time coming (and time itself, of course, is a major component of the story and gameplay).

As I've just started playing through it, I thought I would share some initial thoughts and screenshots. This post chronicles the early moments of the game and some of the story along with my impressions as I played. Think of it as my personal game commentary track in written form.

Last week, the Internet (and Good Morning America?) got its first look at Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the new Star Wars spinoff film coming December 2016. This film will mark the first time we'll be getting a major, live-action Star Wars movie that isn't a main-line, numbered episode, and that's a pretty big deal for a number of reasons. Write here...

Despite my growing collection of Nintendo's amiibo toys, it's hard to ignore the obvious fact that they don't contribute much to the on-screen action in any particular game. And, while both Skylanders and Disney Infinity figurines offer the ability to bring characters in and out of the game, this also feels like a somewhat unnecessary (albeit cool) method of purchasing DLC content. So, I wondered, can this whole toys-to-life genre really go beyond the gimmick of watching a character "magically" pop up on screen when you scan in a figure?

Enter LEGO Dimensions , which answers this question with a resounding "yes."

The term "walking simulator" has often been used as a pejorative, but it might just be my new favorite genre. Like Gone Home before it, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a game with no action or combat. There really aren't even puzzles to solve—at least not in the traditional sense. However, the five-or-so hours I spent exploring its idyllic English countryside were some of my most memorable gaming moments in 2015.

It's been over a month since Nintendo released Super Mario Maker, a game that lets you build your own Mario levels. In that time, I've been trying to find time to write a review of it, but it's taken me this long because I can't stop playing this game. It's captured my imagination in a way that probably no other game has before, and it's finally Wii U's "killer app" to show why its tablet-meets-gamepad controller lets players do things no other console can offer.

It's been nearly nine months since I first posted about Amiibo. At that time, I had four lonely figures: Samus Aran, Wii Fit Trainer, Fox McCloud, and Link. In the time since then, things have changed. I now have a collection six times that size (24 total figures) that spans Nintendo's core franchises, niche series, and even third party characters.

Let's check in on it, shall we?

Fire Emblem was always a bit of a mystery to me. Apart from a few a characters that had appeared in various Smash Bros. games, this strategy RPG (think chess meets Final Fantasy) was a Nintendo series I had squarely ignored.

And then, back in early 2013, Nintendo released its latest game in the series, Fire Emblem: Awakening. Suddenly, it seemed like every podcast and gaming site was talking about the 3DS game. After two years, I finally purchased this game during this year's E3 sale on the eShop when it dropped to a rare, low price of $27.99.

So, was it worth all the the hype?

Any long-term gamer who was paying attention to the Wii's launch back in 2006 likely had one very specific feature call to them amid the hype surrounding motion control, blue ocean strategies, and a console promising a "revolution"—the Virtual Console.

And yet, as with so many of Nintendo's innovations, strange policies and limitations have, over time, turned this selling point into a pain point.

If you're reading this, you've probably guessed that I'm a gamer, but you might not know this is my first Father's Day. My wife, Lauren, and I welcomed our daughter, Lyra, on April 4 of this year. Being a new dad means many things: love, transformation, new identities, new roles, new responsibilities, and so much more. But what does it mean to be a dad and a gamer?

A lot of Sony's E3 press conference opening focused on games we knew about or otherwise hoped we knew about: The Last Guardian got re-confirmed, a Final Fantasy VII remake is happening, and a Shenmue 3 Kickstarter got started. But it was one of Sony's completely new franchises that really caught my eye—Guerrilla Games' Horizon: Zero Dawn .

Fox McCloud is back! Yes, we'll all be to "do a barrel roll" when Star Fox Zero releases on Wii U later this year, and I'm pretty excited to jump back into an Arwing.

Nintendo led into the formal unveiling at the beginning of their Nintendo Digital Event video by way of an amazing introduction during which muppet versions of Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aime, and Shigeru Miyamoto gradually turned into muppet versions of Peppy Hare, Fox McCloud, and Falco Lombardi of Star Fox fame.

It was as weirdly charming as it sounds.

Jurassic World was never going to top Jurassic Park; no sequel to the classic 1993 film can live up to the magic of seeing those dinosaurs for the first time. I knew this going in, and I think that helped avoid some unnecessary disappointment. But it's hard not to think about Jurassic Park sequels without a certain hesitation, as the second and third films both had various issues that kept them from reaching the greatness of the original.

The good news, though, is that this film holds its ground much more firmly than The Lost World or Jurassic Park III.

This morning's Super Smash Bros. for Wii U & 3DS livestream on Twitch had a lot of news (some of which had leaked), but I'm most excited about some of the awesome-looking amiibo announced. Before we get into that, though, let's talk about some of the other news.

This week, I finally received one of the last rewards I'll ever get from Club Nintendo: a 3DS XL Pouch styled with The Legend of Zelda pixel art. In the past, I've received desk calendars, a Mario Hat, a Majora's Mask soundtrack CD, and free digital games from the now-defunct loyalty program.

Earlier this year, Nintendo announced its plans to retire Club Nintendo, and it's no longer possible to take their weird, little surveys and redeem those precious coins for all manner of strange, Nintendo-themed goodies. Even though they weren't always perfect, I'm going to miss this program, and I sincerely hope Nintendo has replacement in the works.

And, actually, I think it might be something they announce next week at E3.

A few days ago, the internet was swirling with rumors that Nintendo's next console, codenamed NX, would be running on an Google's Android OS. Today, Nintendo has denied these rumors outright. Whether or not they're not true, it's hard to argue that the hardware maker has yet to release a system with a truly spectacular OS, so it's a problem I'd like to seem them solve.

Every gamer has embarrassing blind spots—games they know they should have played but ignored for one reason or another. For me, the Mega Man series has always seemed like something I would love but never quite clicked. 

Recently, I've set out to remedy that.

Back in 2013, Sony's Japan Studio released an extremely unique platformer called Puppeteer for the PlayStation 3 console. I knew it looked really interesting, I heard some good things about on gaming sites and podcasts, and I even bought the game digitally. But I didn't play it.

The game didn't get much of an advertising push, it wasn't heavily promoted on the PlayStation Network, and it quickly faded out of the public consciousness—and, apparently, mine as well. For well over a year, it sat in my PS3's games list unplayed and largely forgotten. 

This weekend, I realized what a terrible mistake I'd made. 

In a surprise move this week, Nintendo stealth-released Stretchmo, the third game in the Pushmo/Crashmo series on 3DS, without any advance notice and with a "free to start" purchasing model.

While it's great to see Nintendo continue to support a really inventive, newer series, I'm more interested in the way they released Stretchmo and what it means for Nintendo's future.

Trailer #2 for season two of True Detective is here!

In just a little over a month, on June 21, HBO's True Detective will return with its second season, featuring an all-new cast and story. If you watched the first season (or just paid attention to the internet), you'll know that this is a pretty big deal.

Watch the trailer now.

Polygon's Brian Crecente wrote an opinion piece today titled "The console needs to die and Nintendo should be the one to pull the trigger." It's an interesting proposition, but I'm not sure I buy into it—at least not yet.

I'll admit it: I'm a fan of the 1992 film, Bram Stoker's Dracula. 

Most people pan the film for Keanu Reeves' admittedly wooden acting (fair), but I love Gary Oldman's portrayal of the iconic vampire and the generally spooky feel of the film. Plus, it really does capture the Bram Stoker novel better than any other adaptation. So, when I saw a copy of the Super Nintendo (SNES) game at my local used game shop, it was inevitably going home with me.

Keep reading to find out if it stands the test of time.

The Evil Within, released in October 2014, marked Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami's return to his survival horror roots. Since Mikami's last RE game, the near-perfect Resident Evil 4, that series has hit some stumbling blocks, so I was glad to see that survival horror fans would be getting a new outing from the man who defined the genre. 

While reviews for the game were good, if less-than-perfect, I have been having a fantastic time with the game. Here are five things that are keeping me positively freaked out.

Oh, man. The second trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is pure fan-bait. And it's perfect.

While the first trailer released earlier this year gave us glimpses of Episode VII, this second trailer really starts to give us some hints of the plot.

Join me while I break it down.

Nintendo, as promised in their recent Nintendo Direct video, released the latest update to StreetPass Mii Plaza this week (4.16.2015) that includes two new games, a set of free updates, and the ability to purchase a set of paid enhancements. Let's dive into all the details!

The 3DS eShop has gradually become host to a growing library of smaller, download-only games that help balance some of the larger retail releases. Those bigger games may help sell systems, but it's titles like Boxboy!, developed by HAL Laboratories (of Kirby fame), that give 3DS owners plenty to do in-between tentpole releases.

Click through to the post for the full review.