Wholesome Alien Antics Invade The Avian Skatepark
This year’s Wholesome Direct just wrapped up, and like always, it made good on its promise of filling our hearts and minds with edgeless, universally appealing fun. Most of the games at the show might look niche to those whose definition of “an average and normal videogame” is a AAA shooter, but for the majority of people in the world (most of whom have never played The Last of Us or Halo in their lives), stuff like skateboarding birds wearing funny hats is a lot more inviting.
That’s probably why, despite middling initial reviews and a lack of big publisher support, SkateBIRD is “on the cusp of making a million bucks” in profit. It’s fun too! A few patches after launch, the game plays better than ever, and if you still find any of the controls to be frustrating, most of them can be adjusted in accessibility settings. Those options, plus the universal appeal of becoming a double-jumping swallow who can freestyle (and fumble) across a series of duct-taped skate parks, have done a lot to help the game make numbers.
Some of those dollars have been spent on making the game even better. Announced at the Wholesome Direct, the game will be getting an update today that adds a new pool-themed park, a playable crewmate from Among Us, and new Pride-themed outfits, though SkateBIRD creator Megan Fox tells us she “…just wanted gay clothes anyways and I’d added them a while ago, and then it accidentally lined up…” with both the month-long LGBTQ+ celebration and its coinciding Wholesome Direct.
This content is headed to SkateBIRD on consoles as well, so if you want to whip out your Switch and kickflip with an owl while wearing rainbow beenie, you won’t have to wait long.
Jonathan Holmes
“Where do dreams end and reality begin? Videogames, I suppose.”- Gainax, FLCL Vol. 1
“The beach, the trees, even the clouds in the sky… everything is build from little tiny pieces of stuff. Just like in a Gameboy game… a nice tight little world… and all its inhabitants… made out of little building blocks… Why can’t these little pixels be the building blocks for love..? For loss… for understanding”- James Kochalka, Reinventing Everything part 1
“I wonder if James Kolchalka has played Mother 3 yet?” Jonathan Holmes
