Author: Chris Scullion

Chris Scullion is a Scottish video games journalist who's been covering video games professionally for 16 years. For the first six years of his career he worked at the Official Nintendo Magazine in the UK, then became the Games Editor of CVG before its untimely end. After setting up his own site, Tired Old Hack, Chris then joined Video Games Chronicle (VGC) where he is currently Features Editor. He has a passion for retro games and cataloguing their history, hence his ongoing series of console encyclopedia books (search his name on Amazon).

The Tired Old Hack NES Mini stream (REPLAY!)

Published on November 10, 2016November 17, 2016 by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

The NES Mini is finally with us, even though that isn’t really what it’s called (it’s the NES Classic Edition in America and the Nintendo Classic Mini NES in Europe).

Over the past couple of weeks you may have seen all manner of YouTubers and website journalists giving their takes on the system. Now, as someone who paid legit cash money for the privilege of having to wait until launch day to get it, it’s my turn.

This Saturday (12 November 2016) I streamed all 30 NES Mini games in a massive five-hour Twitch stream. Continue reading “The Tired Old Hack NES Mini stream (REPLAY!)” →

Review code, the ‘media’, YouTubers and all that shite

Published on October 26, 2016October 26, 2016 by Chris Scullion8 Comments

Right then. Let’s do this.

This is the only time I’m going to discuss this topic in any great detail. I’d rather Tired Old Hack focused more on games themselves than the bureaucracy that surrounds the way they’re covered, but given that it’s something that’s been a part of my life for a decade I might as well briefly give my take on it before moving on.

I should also make it clear here that if you’re someone who’s followed other gaming websites for a while, very little of this will be news to you. I’m only really writing this because, well, it’s my site and I want to put my opinion on the record, just so I have something to refer back to every time this happens in the future (and it will, many times). Continue reading “Review code, the ‘media’, YouTubers and all that shite” →

PlayStation VR review

Published on October 20, 2016October 20, 2016 by Chris Scullion2 Comments

The future is finally here. Well, one potential future is, at least.

Despite Nintendo claiming it has no interest in virtual reality and Microsoft only cautiously promising Oculus support for its Scorpio console next year, Sony has made it clear in no uncertain terms that it’s very much on board the VR hype train.

The result of this is PlayStation VR, a headset designed exclusively for the PS4 which promises a (relatively) cheap way to join the virtual revolution.

The big questions are obvious. Does PlayStation VR really transform the way you play PS4 games? Will it make you ill? And is it the future of gaming? Continue reading “PlayStation VR review” →

The 30 best Wii U games

Published on October 14, 2016November 2, 2016 by Chris Scullion9 Comments

This is the eighth in my ’30 Best’ series of articles in which I discuss my favourite games ever on a system-by-system basis for the first time in my career. In case you missed them, the full list of other ’30 Best’ articles can be found at the bottom of this page.

’30 Best’ will now be a regular series, thanks to my lovely Patreon followers helping me reach a stretch goal. If you want to contribute and help me reach my next goal (to start a Tired Old Hack podcast), please visit my Patreon page.

There’s a saying in gaming when it comes to Nintendo. Well, there isn’t really but I’m making it up now and I’ve decided it should be one.

When Nintendo does well, it does really well. Look at the Wii, the DS, the SNES, the Game Boy Advance.

But when it does badly – the GameCube, the Virtual Boy – it does really badly, finishing a distant last place against its competitors.

Such was the fate of the Wii U, a console that arrived on the heels of the wildly successful Wii and somehow went on to undo all the fine work Nintendo’s motion-sensitive phenomenon had managed. Continue reading “The 30 best Wii U games” →

Lego Dimensions complete character guide – every Year One character reviewed

Published on September 27, 2016September 27, 2016 by Chris Scullion8 Comments

This week marks the beginning of ‘Year Two’ of Lego Dimensions, the fantastic toys-to-life game by long-time Lego game studio Traveller’s Tales.

Because Year Two introduces a whole bunch of new franchises to the mix, a lot of players will be getting into Lego Dimensions for the first time.

With that in mind, I’ve put together this enormous guide to all 46 characters released during the game’s first year: that’s the 44 main ones and the two limited edition characters Green Arrow and Supergirl. Continue reading “Lego Dimensions complete character guide – every Year One character reviewed” →

Gemhunter Live #6 – Portal Runner

Published on September 20, 2016 by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

In the first ever live episode of Gemhunter I took on 3DO’s PlayStation 2 platformer Portal Runner, a game boldly featuring a ‘97%’ sticker on its box.

Surely it couldn’t possibly be that good? Find out in this recording of the episode along with the viewer comments as they happened.

(Apologies for the sound quality in this episode, I was suffering technical problems which have since been sorted) Continue reading “Gemhunter Live #6 – Portal Runner” →

Writer’s commentary: Anatomy of a Mario Galaxy review

Published on September 4, 2016September 4, 2016 by Chris Scullion11 Comments

In my decade as a games journalist I’ve reviewed nearly 1000 games.

Most of these reviews were written during my six years at Official Nintendo Magazine (ONM), and most of these were small ones – indie titles, WiiWare and eShop games, retro Virtual Console releases and the like. But many were also multi-page reviews of triple-A titles.

One of the questions I’m most often asked is which of these reviews was my favourite. I have two.

The first is my Super Mario Galaxy review from ONM issue 23 (December 2007) and the second is my Super Mario Galaxy 2 review from ONM issue 56 (June 2010).

Another of the questions I’m asked is how to write a review. There’s no easy answer to this – indeed, there’s no answer at all. Every reviewer has a different style, so there’s no right way to do it.

What I’ve decided to do, though, is take you through my two favourite reviews and give you a little insight into how they were put together.

I’m going to take you on an annotated tour of my Super Mario Galaxy review and my Super Mario Galaxy 2 review. Continue reading “Writer’s commentary: Anatomy of a Mario Galaxy review” →

15 games that sound ruder than they actually are

Published on August 25, 2016August 25, 2016 by Chris Scullion3 Comments

It’s hard work getting your game spotted on shop shelves sometimes, what with all the other titles vying for the public’s attention.

Sometimes you need something to catch their eye: a strong cover image, some positive magazine quotes from reputable publications, something like that.

This one isn't in the list but it was a strong contender — This one isn’t in the list but it was a strong contender

And sometimes you just need a title that makes people stop, do a double-take and say: “hang on, what?”

A few games over the years have had names that caught me off-guard and made me think: “They can’t really mean that, can they?”

Of course, most of the time they don’t mean that at all, and it’s just an unfortunate coincidence that their game’s title also happens to mean something offensive.

With that in mind, here are fifteen of my favourite examples of classic “did they really call it that?” moments. Continue reading “15 games that sound ruder than they actually are” →

The 30 best Vita games

Published on August 13, 2016 by Chris Scullion16 Comments

This is the seventh in my ’30 Best’ series of articles in which I discuss my favourite games ever on a system-by-system basis for the first time in my career. In case you missed them, the full list of other ’30 Best’ articles can be found at the bottom of this page.

’30 Best’ will now be a monthly series, thanks to my lovely Patreon followers helping me reach a stretch goal. If you want to contribute and help me reach my next goal (to start a Tired Old Hack podcast), please visit my Patreon page.

“I didn’t even know it had 30 games!”

This was the predictable reply I got from all manner of clever individuals every time I informed my Twitter followers that my next ’30 Best’ article would be dedicated to the Sony PlayStation Vita.

It’s little wonder, to be fair. Sony abandoned its handheld quicker than David Cameron abandons his children in pubs, which led to the understandable consensus that the Vita was dead before its library had a chance to grow.

In reality, the Vita does have 30 great games. Indeed, it’s got plenty more than that: I’ve added another 15 at the end of this list for good measure, and even then there were some I had to leave out. Continue reading “The 30 best Vita games” →

Cover Me Badd #4 – The 20 worst GameCube game covers

Published on August 10, 2016 by Chris Scullion3 Comments

Cover Me Badd is my regular series looking at the worst video game covers in history. Each article will focus on a specific format. If you missed it, catch up on Part 1: NES games, Part 2: SNES games and Part 3: Nintendo 64 games.

It’s been some time since I exposed your unsuspecting eyes to the 20 worst Nintendo 64 covers of all time. Now said eyes have had time to heal, we can continue.

While the quality of covers greatly improved during the GameCube days for the most part, that doesn’t mean there weren’t some stinkers there too. Let’s continue the groan-fest with a look at the 20 worst GameCube covers ever. As ever, click on each cover to see it in all its full-sized ‘glory’. Continue reading “Cover Me Badd #4 – The 20 worst GameCube game covers” →