When I bought the Steam Deck a few years ago, I was skeptical. I was willing to risk buying only the cheapest version possible—a $400 handheld with a measly 64 GB of storage. Now, I know I love it. I've used it for hundreds of hours already, stuck with limited, …
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Breakups are hard. They can also be freeing. Just ask the producers of EA Sports FC 24. After a messy divorce, the long-running video game FIFA has got a rebrand, bringing a 30-year relationship to an end. In 2021, soccer’s governing body said it would refuse to let EA Sports …
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The Morrissey had the right melodrama in his limbs, and his voice was strong and pained. I was at Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan to see a Smiths tribute band. I tried to get Morrissey’s acid yodel in my throat, to sing along. I am human and I need to be …
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2023 has been full of high-profile video game remakes and remasters: Dead Space, Metroid Prime, Resident Evil 4, Advance Wars, System Shock, and so on. Some of these have been crowd-pleasing surprises, the kind of thing that sets social media ablaze during a reveal in a Nintendo Direct. Others come …
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Ensemble Studios had spent nearly a decade mastering the real-time strategy genre when it became a victim of its own success. Its 1997 debut, Age of Empires, had been an instant hit and spawned several beloved sequels and expansions that cemented the studio’s glowing reputation. Imitators—some novel, some slavish—quickly appeared …
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The days are long and hot. Naturally, I sit in the depths of my room outfitted with blackout curtains that keep my frail skin shielded from the mild Midwestern sun outside. I find myself hours deep in a game of Stellaris. I am the immortal emperor of the Driesse Imperium, …
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“Step into my office,” says Joanna Fang. OK, but to the untrained eye it's a kleptomaniac's hoard: rolls of Astroturf, mud and moss, wooden planks, violin bows, smashed keyboards, plastic boxes brimming with shoes, a full armory of axes and swords, a sand pit, a bamboo fence, rocks, half a …
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This summer, Telltale, the studio behind critically acclaimed titles like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, released it’s first game since its rebirth. Developed in concert with Deck Nine, the studio behind Life Is Strange: True Colors, the new game is a story set in the universe of …
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On his walk toward Niantic’s office in the Bay Area one day, senior producer Sakae Osumi noticed everyone staring up. There was an eclipse happening, as good a reason as any to tilt back and gaze into the sky, but Osumi had another thought: What if a team working on …
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Microsoft just launched Xbox Game Pass Core, its newest subscription taking the place of Xbox Live Gold. This means the Xbox Live service many console owners used throughout their childhood for online play no longer exists. (Be right back, pouring out an ice-cold Monster energy drink.) Curious how this switch …
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