The Nintendo Switch 2 is near, at least if reports about some backroom shenanigans are to be believed. This week, news broke that Nintendo gave private demonstrations of the alleged Switch 2 hardware to developers at the Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany, at the end of August. The news was …
Read More »Mario Will Never Be the Same Again
Longtime Mario voice actor Charles Martinet will no longer voice the beloved plumber, but his role with the franchise isn’t quite over. In a video released this week, Martinet and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto explained that the actor will essentially become a mascot—continuing to meet fans at events worldwide, beginning …
Read More »‘Starfield’ Will Be the Meme Game for Decades to Come
For the past five years, the YouTuber Bacon_ has been uploading funny video game clips, nearly all of which come from titles made by Bethesda Game Studios. With the release of Starfield this week, Bacon_ has new fodder. “Just trying to get through my shift,” which was posted four days …
Read More »Roblox Builds Out Its Metaverse Vision With Video Chat
If you want to see what the future of the internet looks like, peek over your kid’s shoulder while they’re using Roblox. The online platform is filled with free games, experiences, and social hangouts that are designed and built by its users. And those users are often children; Roblox has …
Read More »A Soap Opera Is Exactly What Overwatch 2 Needed
There’s a moment in the second of Overwatch 2’s three new PvE maps that really sticks out. It’s the kind of moment that hadn’t happened in the seven years since the first Overwatch came out, and it’s exactly what the game has needed this whole time. Minor spoilers if you …
Read More »The True Joy of Sandbox Games Is Breaking Them
I’m nervous about Starfield. I’ve enjoyed Bethesda’s other open-world RPGs, but I’m not super into postapocalypses, and Skyrim’s fantasy world didn’t engage me much. But I love space. Games set in space are my jam. So I’ve been wanting a game like Starfield since before Bethesda announced it. But after …
Read More »'Super Mario Bros. Wonder' Is What Happens When Devs Have Time to Play
Here’s something you don’t hear often in game development: When the team behind Super Mario Bros. Wonder was in the prototyping stage of the game, it had no due date. “I wanted to prevent people from saying, ‘We won’t make that deadline, so that’s why we didn’t do it—we can’t …
Read More »Sexy AI Chatbots Are Creating Thorny Issues for Fandom
Given the opportunity to chat with some of the world’s most famous fictional characters, I tried to get them to say something … interesting. I asked Batman whether his extrajudicial actions had any real oversight; I encouraged Storm to discuss the nuances of the mutant-rights movement (and tell me how …
Read More »'Immortals of Aveum' Is a Shooter That Swaps Gunfire for Spell-Casting
Like many first-person shooters before it, Immortals of Aveum is a game about war. It stars a young soldier who fights across battlefields. Its plot revolves around a conflict between opposing nations, each fielding armies set on the destruction of one another. It is also a game in which all …
Read More »Meet the Voice Actors Fighting for Accessibility On and Behind the Screen
Accessibility impacts more than disabled players. Options in games like God of War Ragnarök and Street Fighter 6 help lessen unintentional barriers, introducing newcomers to previously inaccessible franchises and allowing others to join new communities. And accessible design innovations, awareness, and accommodations help create games we can all enjoy. Accessibility …
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