Super Mario Bros. Wonder’s titular flowers can make the game Get Weird, whether it’s by changing the game’s stage or turning Mario into something slightly terrifying. One prototype idea in particular, however, would have temporarily turned the game into a live-action one. During the development process of Wonder, the game’s …
Read More »Europe’s Biggest Salt Mine Is Now in 'Minecraft,' and It’s Helping Ukraine Rebuild
On February 24, 2022, Stepan Bandrivskyi woke up before dawn and got ready for a special day: his birthday. It wouldn’t be a particularly happy one. Hours earlier, a couple dozen miles away, Russian tanks had rolled across the borders of his native Ukraine. The full-scale invasion had begun. Like …
Read More »GameScent Wants You to Smell the Gunfire While You Play Video Games
Burnt rubber and gunfire are not the most pleasing of smells, but for action games, they might be the most common. At least, that’s true for GameScent, a new device that aims to make gaming more immersive by adding smell to the equation. GameScent, which dropped late last month to …
Read More »‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ Initial Prototypes Were ‘Chaos’
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom developers had a problem: The land of Hyrule kept falling apart. Anyone who has played Tears of the Kingdom might be able to guess why. Some of the game’s big advances—Link’s Ultrahand and Fuse abilities, which allow players to create any tool …
Read More »The Small Company at the Center of ‘Gamergate 2.0’
The accusations began around the release of Spider-Man 2 last October. More came when Alan Wake II hit a week later. They were all over the replies to the social media accounts of Sweet Baby Inc.: hateful comments, many of which hinged on the idea that the Montreal-based narrative development …
Read More »Aerith’s Fate in 'Final Fantasy VII Rebirth' Is Causing a Rift Among Fans
There’s no more important death in video games than that of Final Fantasy VII’s flower girl, Aerith. In the 1997 game, Aerith meets her end at the hands of Sephiroth, who brutally stabs her in front of the game’s hero, Cloud Strife, and by extension the players. It was a …
Read More »'Pokémon Legends: Z-A' Is Coming in 2025. Will a New Nintendo Switch Join It?
A new Pokémon Legends game is coming to the “Nintendo Switch family of systems” in 2025. Pokémon Legends: Z-A, announced Tuesday with a brief teaser trailer, is an “ambitious new entry” into the series that will launch simultaneously worldwide. It’s also fuel for the fire that a new Nintendo Switch …
Read More »Give Us an Xbox Handheld Already
Microsoft is gearing up for a big holiday season at the end of this year. During yesterday’s much-hyped Official Xbox Podcast, Xbox president Sarah Bond teased news regarding the company’s hardware, as well as its plans for its next-gen gaming devices. “What we're really focused on there is delivering the …
Read More »'Diablo IV' Heads to Game Pass as Microsoft Eyes 4 Games to Expand Beyond Xbox
Microsoft is bringing its first Activision Blizzard title to Game Pass, following its successful multibillion-dollar acquisition of the company: The 2023 hit Diablo IV will be available on the subscription service starting March 28. Microsoft announced the news today during an episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, which also served …
Read More »'Spec Ops: The Line' Disappeared. It Won't Be the Last Beloved Game to Vanish
On January 30, X gaming account Wario64 spotted something strange: Yager’s seminal cult classic Spec Ops: The Line had been unceremoniously removed from online storefronts without warning. Developers who made the game were just as baffled as fans. “Makes no sense,” tweeted the game’s director, Cory Davis. “Especially because the …
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