Samus is all cute ‘n’ tiny This mod forSpelunkyis messing with my head. It’s a mashup of two games which each have a highly specific, distinct gameplay feel. I almost can’t deal with seeing Samus so zoomed out. To achieve the desired effect, creatorJoey4trackreskinned the original sprites and swapped out the music to recreate the look ofMetroid. But this is still very muchSpelunkyin terms of how it handles. There are some inconsistencies — ropes and dogs, for instance, appear unaltered — resulting in a creation that is weird and cool, all the same....

I’m smug about this Thomas Was Alone, the game that caused Jonathan Holmes and I toargue like childrenover the term “art game,” is making a migration from PC to consoles witha PlayStation Network release. The game currently has a release date of “Spring.” The bitIget to feel smug about is the fact game creator Mike Bitthell actually creditsJimquisitionas the reason for Cross-Buy. Apparently my fevered rantings are sometimes on the money, convincing the developer to make the game available on two systems with one purchase....

Christmas is just around the corner, trees are going up and being decorated around the globe, and children everywhere are on their best behavior to verify they’re on the nice list. During the countdown to the festivities, it’s a good time to regale kids with seasonal stories, and there are a lot to choose from. As a parent to a young child, I love curling up in the dark evenings with the fire on, a lukewarm hot chocolate in her small hands, and a good Christmas-themed tale to tell....

A shakeup for video game URLs It’s not the sexiest news in our inbox today, but it may be the one that has the most impact for years to come. It wasrecently announcedthat the .game domain extension is launching for public purchases on May 17. A similar extension, .games, will come to market sometime in the third quarter. Uniregistry is the company that won the auction to .game. It beat out four other bidders, including Google and Amazon....

Xenomorph Football League, the only XFL I want The xenomorphs and the Predator race have been at war for quite some time, now. Centuries, it seems. They’ve duked it out in comics, video games, cinema, action figures, and the imaginations of nerds everywhere. But man, all that fighting sure it tiresome. As it turns out, conventional warfare between the two species just wasn’t getting the job done. For every Predator that takes out a couple of xenos with a well-placed shoulder cannon, five more pop out of some C-level actor’s chest just trying to keep his SAG insurance going another month....

I’m just not that into you Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know thatTitanfallis the talk of the gaming world right now. With the game in the middle of an open beta on both Xbox One and PC in preparation for its March 11 release, everyone’s checking out what Microsoft views to be a system-seller for its new console.Titanfallis being received generally positively by most that have played it....

Grab your board CFK are bringing their PC remake of the classic Sega arcadeWonder Boyto the Nintendo Switch later this month.Wonder Boy Returns Remixwill feature the updated audio and visuals of the PC release, but will also include an all new “Charge Shot” attack. Released way back in 1986,Wonder Boyfeatures the titular cave kid on a mission to rescue his cutie-pie girlfriend from the Dark King. Aside from its dangerously infectious theme tune,Wonder Boyis known for its tricky platform negotiation, unbelievably slippy controls, and the implementation of a wacky skateboarding gimmick, all of which are retained in CFK’s 2016 remake....

Level 120 character boosts now boost to 50 Huge changes are coming toWorld of Warcraft; and like any game that’s existed for over a decade, change can be scary. Or downright buggy. A lot of players are hoping that’s not the case when theShadowlandspre-expansion patch hits, in which case we’ll get to test out the changes before they actually hit the expansion proper. The biggest alteration that’s on the horizon? Level squishing....

Come sail away with amiibo More information aboutThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis trickling in, including what role amiibo will play in the game. The miniatures will still provide a drop of resources for Link upon scan, but they’ll also give you the chance to deck out Link’s glider in some fancy skins from throughoutZeldahistory. As showcased onNintendo’s social channels,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomwill let you scan amiibos for both materials and weapons, but also for paraglider fabric....

2K Games, ignoring the fact that it is publishingBioShock InfiniteandBorderlands 2— two incredibly cartoony games that are nonetheless unique and promising — has stated that photorealism will drive innovation, and that new genres won’t open up easily without it. “Recreating aMission Impossibleexperience in gaming is easy; recreating emotions inBrokeback Mountainis going to be tough, or at least very sensitive in this country … it will be very hard to create very deep emotions like sadness or love, things that drive the movies,” the 2K boss toldGI....

‘A brand-new story’ As old cartoons that aren’t namedScooby-Doocontinue to fade into obscurity, the powers that be try to resurrect them every so often in a new way. Live-action films. A revival series that usually doesn’t last one season. You get the picture. But this bit of news is something strange altogether:The Smurfsare back…in game form! Announced by way of their official blog, French publisher Microids (who handles ports like XIII and Munch’s Odyssey, among other games) is tackling aSmurfsgame....

THQ was kind enough to invite us out to theirWWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008review/press event yesterday, which took place in Washington D.C.’sHotel Monaco. WWE diva/superstar Melina, ECW/WWE superstar Elijah Burke, and various members of theSmackdowndev team were on hand to answer questions and promote the game, which hits stores on November 13. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008will be coming to almost every platform imaginable — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation Portable, and wireless platforms....

Promoted from our Community Blogs! [Game developer Adam Tierney took to our Community Blogs to share his short list of 2014 favorites. Want to share your own GOTY stories?Go write something!–Mr Andy Dixon] Hey Destructoid! I’m Adam Tierney, a videogame designer/director from Los Angeles, CA (I also wrote a cartoon once).Check out my appearance on ‘Sup, Holmes?if you wanna hear me talk about games and life and things! I’ve been in the games industry for about 12 years and here is a short list a some of my favorite games of 2014....