
Justin Wagner
Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...
Latest articles by Justin Wagner

Star Wars Zero Company writer wants its cast to have real friction: 'It's not a personal fantasy game'
By Justin Wagner published
News "Player-centric romance" and chosen ones have been cast aside for more tenuous team dynamics.

'Blockchain-powered' game storefront reportedly shutting down and taking customers' games with it
By Justin Wagner published
News The storefront, founded by Brian Fargo, appears to be a wilting leftover from the crypto craze.

A new Crimson Desert patch adds the only RPG feature that matters: A hide helmet button
By Justin Wagner published
News Show us that jawline, Kliff.

Warframe community director says 'nothing in our games will be AI-generated, ever'
By Justin Wagner published
News Cephalons aside, Warframe will remain AI-free.

Amazon TV head allegedly orders Mass Effect show rewrite to make it 'more appealing to non-gamers'
By Justin Wagner published
News I should go.

Magazine generates fake AI interview with One Piece actor Mackenyu
By Justin Wagner published
News The faux interview "was produced with Claude, Copilot, and edited by humans."

Beloved YouTuber The Gaming Historian moves on from making videos with a 'parting gift': A ton of ancient Nintendo court docs you can browse on the Internet Archive
By Justin Wagner published
News The docs are from what may be the company's most famous lawsuit.

House Flipper is free to keep on Steam for the next few days
By Justin Wagner published
News Try out the renovate-'em-up's original incarnation before the remaster comes out.

Nexon CEO admits The First Descendant had 'no staying power,' and that can't be addressed with a quick fix: 'These are design issues that are not fixed with a patch'
By Justin Wagner published
News The Destiny-like was named for its "retention challenges" in a recent presentation.

Star Wars Zero Company director has 'an axe to grind' with turn-based tactics, says fans don't have to settle for no story, crummy graphics, and clunky controls: 'Depth doesn't cost you elegance'
By Justin Wagner published
News "How do we do something that makes you feel something as a player, and not just think through a problem?"

A programmer with terminal brain cancer was caught in Epic's mass layoff, but CEO Tim Sweeney says the studio 'will solve the insurance for them'
By Justin Wagner published
News "Mike is not just a number. He is a father. A husband. A person deeply loved."

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 translator says he was 'fired from Warhorse Studios and replaced with AI'
By Justin Wagner last updated
News "If you've ever played KCD2 in English, you've quite likely seen my work."

The latest Crimson Desert patch adds five new mounts and makes it so you only get in trouble for stealing if you get caught
By Justin Wagner published
News Fixes and quality-of-life improvements abound.

'Early on in the 2000s, we got enamored with consoles and I think certain games didn't make the leap right:' Star Wars Zero Company's director has a theory about why old school PC gaming genres are back with a vengeance
By Justin Wagner published
news "Hopefully people are just [going to say] 'a great game is a great game,' and look at it from that perspective."

Owlcat says everything in its new Expanse RPG 'will definitely 100 percent be human-made,' but also that generative AI will be used for 'vision coordination' and 'inspiration'
By Justin Wagner published
News Another highly-anticipated RPG has been spotted with its hands in the generative AI jar.

Elder Scrolls mobile spinoff Blades is shutting down this summer after eight years, but at least all its store items are ultra-cheap now
By Justin Wagner published
News In the end, it never made it to PC.

Meta to pay $375 million for 'thousands' of children's safety violations, a whole 0.19% of its 2025 revenue
By Justin Wagner published
News Is it a slap on the wrist if you can't feel it?

Man pleads guilty to generating songs with AI then having bots stream them 'billions of times' to make over $8 million in royalties
By Justin Wagner published
News "Although the songs and listeners were fake, the millions of dollars Smith stole was real."

Mega Crit responds to the panic over Slay the Spire 2's 1st balance pass, saying these changes are 'the first of many': 'No change is necessarily permanent'
By Justin Wagner published
News No need to break out the pitchforks.

That Dragon Quest MMO still isn't coming to the west, but it is getting a Gemini-powered AI slime companion
By Justin Wagner published
News Chatty Slimey will introduce conversational AI to Dragon Quest X.

Crimson Desert team apologizes after players find AI art in the game: 'Our intention has always been for any such assets to be replaced'
By Justin Wagner published
News "We also acknowledge that we should have clearly disclosed our use of AI."

An ambitious mod management tool for the original Baldur's Gate games just got a massive overhaul
By Justin Wagner published
News Plan your next playthrough of one of D&D's best videogame adaptations.

Minecraft's Diablo-inspired spinoff is getting a surprise sequel this year
By Justin Wagner published
News "With peace restored, all was well until it wasn't."
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