We at Gamecritics.com are supporters of accessibility in gaming. We love to play videogames, and we think everyone else should be able to enjoy that love too, no matter what their situation might be.

In order to give helpful information to those who might need it, we've been posting addendums to our reviews for several years — we started with content guidance for parents, but we soon began including audio information for those with hearing impairments. If a player needs audio cues to be successful, we felt that was something that someone should be aware of before putting their hard-earned money down.

Recently, it was brought to our attention that the option to re-map controls (or the lack of that option) would be of great interest to gamers that require alternate configurations or special setups. It took us about two seconds to see the value in this, and we will now be adding this info to all of our reviews.

Along the same lines, we've been seeing a number of developers include ‘colorblind' modes as a way of making their work playable to that segment of the audience. We decided to not wait for someone to make the request, so we're also adding this to our reviews, too.

Starting today, February 16, 2016, every review that runs at Gamecritics from this point forward will feature:

– Information for parents

– Information for hearing impaired players

– Information on controls

– Information on colorblind modes

We believe in and support accessibility and diversity in gaming, and we hope that these additions to our coverage will benefit players of all kinds. 

Thank you for supporting Gamecritics.com!

Pete Smith
Content Producer
http://www.gamecritics.com
Twitter:Wonder_Boy_DC
Phone:1-613-812-8849

1 – It's Dungeons and Dragons-themed!

Okay, so it's not Ravenloft, but since we're not paying to play it, how picky are we expected to be? Instead of ancient castles, nameless horrors, and (fingers crossed) mummies as a playable race, Neverwinter offers players a chance to quest through the bright and colourful world of the treacherous North, teaming up with direwolves to battle hordes of orcs!

2 – I'm going to be writing about it!

Despite my well-known and profound twin loves of zombie dragons and wasting time, it may surprise readers to learn that before booting up Neverwinter, I'd never logged a minute in an online RPG! The setting finally dragged me into this one, and over two beta weekends, I've developed a few thoughts and feelings about the game. What are they? Check back next week, when I'll be writing up a storm about my experiences in Neverwinter!

3 – We're giving away beta keys!

That's right, it's not too late to join me for the third beta weekend! Anyone interested in doing a little leatherworking and earning an epic mount can join me and all the other adventurers from Friday at Noon (PST) until Sunday night! How can you manage this? Simple, just head on over to twitter and make sure that you're following Brad Gallaway, me and the GameCritics Official Twitter Feed. On Friday we'll be offering a number of chances to claim a key and get in on the action! I hope I'll see you there, and then we'll all meet back here next week for a discussion titled "Neverwinter: Disaster, or Disastastic!?"

Oh, and If you don't win a key, and you're still curious about the content, there may still be time to buy your way into the beta—swing over to the Neverwinter website and check out the game's details for yourselves!

The first game that we're going to try is Team Fortress 2, for which we've set up our own server (details below). If you haven't played before/aren't experienced, don't worry! This is going to be about having fun above all else, and all skill levels are welcome.

The first date we're shooting for will be Thursday Feb. 23rd, at 7pm CST/8pm EST. I will also post an announcement in the Steam group around that time. Also, we'd like to know what games you would like to see for possible future game nights-post your suggestions in the comments.

Hope to see you there!

TF2 server address (add to favorites in the game): 8.6.75.26:27015

Steam group: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/gamecritics

At the end of episode 67, the announcement was made that after more than three years and what will be 70 amazing episodes, the GameCritics Podcast is losing our inspirational host and guiding light, Timothy J. Spaeth

While he will live on in our hearts (and live on in general) he will be missed.

However, the show isn't over. As is often said, the end of one thing marks the beginning of the next, and that holds true here as well.

GameCritics.com is now in search of a new host to take up the reins and lead our established cast of Mike, Chi, Richard and Brad in a new direction.

Have you been a podcast host in the past and need a new show to call home?

If not… are you someone who's always dreamed of hosting a podcast?

If not… do you at least speak English and want to talk on the Internet?

If the answer to any of those questions is ‘YES', you're a fan of the show/familiar with our format, and you're willing to commit to making podcast magic twice a month, then we want to talk to you – And by the way, a Scottish accent is a plus!

If you think you've got what it takes to become the next host of the GameCritics podcast (or would like to guest host several episodes in the interim), send an audio clip or a link to your past work. If you're a first-timer and don't have any past work, then send us a clip and show us what you've got. All sample submission (no more than 10 megs) and/or links should be emailed to Podcast AT GameCritics Dot Com. Candidates will be contacted by GameCritics staff.

Opportunities like this don't come along every day, and this chance won't be available forever. Drop us a line, tell us who you are, and who knows… *you* could be the new emcee of the world-renowned, fan favorite GameCritics podcast!

Thanks to Brad Gallaway for drafting this announcement.

1. Who are you?
2. Where are you?
3. Where are you from?
4. What do you do for a living?
5. What kind of gamer are you?
6. What games made you into a gamer?
7. Why do you game?
8. Who is your video game character soul mate?
9. Why are video games art?
10. What do you love outside of video games?

Please send in your photograph and answers to chi [at] gamecritics [dot] com and each week, we'll publish a new spotlight. We look forward to reading your responses!

A typical Sunday afternoon at the Lui household.

Several months ago, I thought it would be fun for our online community if we were able to sell GameCritics branded t-shirts featuring memorable taglines that our dedicated readers/listeners would get and identify with. I asked our staff and fans for ideas and I was excited about what the end results would look like.

That excitement quickly turned to discouragement as I didn't realize at the time what a challenge it would be to not only design the t-shirts, but to also find an on-demand t-shirt printing company that met our needs. This company would have to have an intuitive Web site UI to layout and sell the t-shirt designs. There would also need to be a decent selection of colors (including the trademark GC orange) and of course be able produce a product that I would be proud to feature our logo.

The online storefront templates provided by Printfection were bland and wasn't able to match the look and feel of our own site. Zazzle had a brilliant UI and I was confident I had found a winner when I saw that prominent companies like Marvel Comics and Capcom were also clients. So you can imagine my disappointment when my first test t-shirt arrived and I was totally underwhelmed by the washed out printing quality of the graphics.

In researching other alternatives, I eventually came across my final vendor choice: Spreadshirt. I was intrigued by their variety of printing techniques that incorporated vector-based images-traditionally known to produce more detailed results in the graphic design industry. Their online storefront templates were highly customizable and the UI was on par with Zazzle. The best part was indeed the t-shirt printing quality.

Spreadshirt  uses a "flock print" technique that not only produces colors that much more vibrant than their competitors and graphics that pop out more from the slightly raised plush-like material used, but is also touted as extremely durable to wash.

We currently only offer 3 designs for men and women:

• Standard GameCritics logo
• Video Games Are Art
• Good Night and Bonne Chance – GameCritics Podcast Host Tim Spaeth's signature sign off line

Spreadshirt use to limit the amount of designs new users could upload, but seven days ago, they changed that policy so that we'll be able to offer more designs that were suggested by our staff and fans in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for those announcements.

In the meantime, if you'd like to purchase one of our current designs, click on the "Shop" link in the main navigation or go to gamecritics.spreadshirt.com.  If you have any tagline suggestions, please submit them via our contact form. We'll also be starting a GC Reader of the Week feature in the coming weeks and I hope we can see some of readers sporting a GameCritics t-shirt in those reader profiles.

If you've got a little spare time and a desire to chat and/or write about games, please give our community a chance. You can submit a review/essay or just introduce yourself to us. We invite you to stop lurking, take a chance and become a part of our community today.