Anthony John Agnello
The Ringer
Ithaca, NY, United States
Contact Anthony John
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Past articles by Anthony John:
When ‘Halo 2’ Invaded Planet Earth
Online multiple players, esports, and viral marketing—all owe something to the revolutionary Xbox first-person shooter. On its 15th anniversary, creators, executives, and players reflect on the game’s legacy. → Read More
An Oral History of ‘Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater’
As the legendary skateboarding video game turns 20, its creators and Mr. 900 himself reflect on its creation, soundtrack, and legacy → Read More
The 25 greatest video game soundtracks of all time
Plug yourself into the best video game soundtracks to date, and let your ears enjoy the games as much as your thumbs did → Read More
‘Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze’ review
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze is a very well-designed platformer that ultimately fails to strike the right balance between difficult and frustrating. If you have a Switch, it's the best place to play, thanks to a new easier "Funky Mode" option and the option of playing the game on the go. → Read More
11 visions of VR that movies got wrong. Very wrong.
Virtual Reality is here. It happened. We are no longer fantasizing about magical headsets that can transport us to impossible places. → Read More
Why did I sell my Xbox One? To play 20-year-old games obviously...
After deciding that I really wanted to play a bunch of ridiculously old games, there was only one choice: I had to sell my Xbox One. So I packaged it up along with my scant few games and pawned the whole beast off to the highest bidder, funding the purchase of a video processor whose sole purpose is to make 240p games look awesome on an HD TV. You know - like the Sega Saturn and the Neo Geo. The… → Read More
The best Mario Kart games from worst to best
Certain truths are fundamental. In the same way we know that the sky is blue, we also know that running into a shimmering question mark while driving a souped up go kart and suddenly discovering a red shell in your hand makes you feel invincible, like anything in the world is possible. This is the magic of Mario Kart, a series that’s now been with us for a quarter of a century and is poised to… → Read More
Meet the mind behind Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap, the rebirth of a Sega classic
Few series were as difficult to figure out back in the day as Sega and Westone's Wonder Boy. It went by multiple names (Adventure Island for NES? Actually Wonder Boy!), spanned multiple platforms and sequels, and eventually went by the entirely different name Monster World! Thirty years on from its creation, though, we can admire its greatest entries free of the series' bananas continuity.… → Read More
Meet the creators of Yooka-Laylee, Playtonic's glorious tribute to the N64
Yooka-Laylee, the debut PS4, Xbox One, PC and Nintendo Switch game from Playtonic, doesn't just play like a gloriously HD Nintendo 64 game. The characters don't just have that luscious cartoon style, the stages aren't just filled with equally enticing collectibles. The game also sounds precisely like those classic Rare games Playtonic's staff had a hand in. That's thanks in large part to the… → Read More
Every upcoming Star Wars movie to 2021 and beyond
In 2005, George Lucas swore that there would never be another Star Wars movie. "There is no Episode 7," he vowed. There would be television shows like Clone Wars and the aborted Star Wars: Underworld, but movies? Those should be relics from a more civilized age. But now, as we look through every upcoming Star Wars movie on the horizon, we see that Disney's vision for Lucasfilm's most famous,… → Read More
Star Wars Celebration 2017 starts this week! Here's 8 things we want to see
Ready for Star Wars Celebration? Here's what we're hoping to find out... → Read More
The making of Snake Pass, Nintendo Switch's slithery sweet platformer
Snake Pass is one of the weirdest platformer games ever made. Just like in forebears like Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie, you have to navigate your way over tiered ruins and trees collecting glowing gewgaws before moving onto the next stage. The difference is that in Snake Pass, you never ever jump because that's not something snakes can do! Getting your head around slithering instead of… → Read More
5 PC classics that deserve new life on console
The walls have come down here in 2017. The biggest video games may have varied levels of performance or quality depending on what machine you’re playing them on, but you can rest assured that they’ll almost certainly be available for PC and at least one console. The bad old days of PC gamers staring longingly at Super Mario Sunshine and console players cursing their crappy ports of Doom are long… → Read More
What happens when your Nintendo Switch dies? You’ll live, your data won’t
When I picked my Nintendo Switch up out of its dock only to find it locked on an error screen, I wasn’t too worried. The new console wasn’t even three weeks old! What could possibly be that wrong with it? This was probably just a hiccup as it was transitioning out of sleep mode. After soft rebooting the console by tapping the power button, though, the same non-descript error message popped up.… → Read More
6 questions I have after watching Star Wars Rebels season 3
Star Wars Rebels underwent a dramatic transformation between its first and third seasons. What started out as a charming but ultimately shallow exercise in marrying Star Wars’ minutiae with teen TV tropes, has transformed into the richest human story in Lucasfilm’s beloved universe. Season 3’s myriad plot threads echo themes from the films - power struggles, the weight of familial obligation,… → Read More
Like playing Metroid as a wild animal: the making of Rain World
Rain World is not your daddy's Metroid-style exploration game. It is a relentlessly difficult tour through a terrifying world of merciless, wild animals. As Slugcat, you need to act like a cunning beast yourself to even survive as you explore the expansive map. How do you make a video game that milks its thrills out of making you behave in savage rather than systematic ways? Creators James… → Read More
Visceral's Star Wars game: Portal designer signs up, timeframe, and everything you need to know
Portal designer Kim Swift has joined the already-stellar lineup of developers working on the as-yet unnamed Star Wars project. She joins Jade Raymond of new EA studio Motive, working alongside Amy Hennig's Visceral team on a brand new Star Wars game. Added together, that's some serious development pedigree. Be excited.We also know that the game will be set between Revenge of the Sith and A New… → Read More
Perfect For Nintendo Switch: The greatest RPGs you never got to play
Our worries that Nintendo Switch wasn’t going to have a steady stream of exciting games are starting to look mighty unfounded. While it isn’t exactly a brand new release, Square-Enix’s announcement of a Seiken Densetsu Collection for Nintendo’s new machine is mana from heaven for a RPG fans. (Yes, that pun is absolutely intentional.) If the Japanese name doesn’t ring a bell, this package bundles… → Read More
Serial Cleaner's luscious puzzles blend Hotline Miami with clean ‘70s chic
Nothing, as the adage and Jane’s Addiction records tell us, is shocking. The comedy by way of horrific violence video game is a format old as dirt. Forget the gory glory of Hotline Miami; early arcade designers were milking yuks out of horror back in the ‘70s with games like Death Race. If you’re going to leverage sociopathy for humor and a really great game hook, you can’t rely on the violence… → Read More
Blade Runner 2049: Returning characters, release date, the new cast, and everything you need to know
Spoilers: Whether or not Harrison Ford's Deckard is a replicant was a delicious mystery at the end of the original Blade Runner, and not just for the audience. The robot-hunting detective himself was doubting his humanity. Another character actually planted that seed of doubt in Deckard's mind: Gaff, the LAPD detective played by Edward James Olmos. And it looks like he will in fact return in… → Read More