Last week, while Summer Game Fest attendees shuffled between game reveals and demos in Los Angeles, an unusual digital billboard captured the attention of millions of people online and off. “Gone but not forgotten,” it read, listing shuttered studios like Arkane Austin, Tango Gameworks, and Volition, “+ everyone laid off, …
Read More »‘Doom: The Dark Ages’ and 4 More Summer Game Fest Announcements We’re Excited About
Now that E3 is fully dead, Summer Game Fest has taken on its mantle as the go-to event for big video game release announcements. This past weekend’s Game Fest delivered, with companies from Microsoft to horror studio Blumhouse sending honchos to LA to show off new gear and new titles. …
Read More »Ikea Will Pay You Real Money to Work in Its Virtual Roblox Store
Have you ever thought you’d be good at hawking digital meatballs or helping someone pick out the perfect Lack? Do you find yourself frequently lost in the haunted furniture store of the Roblox game 3008? If you live in the UK and are 18 or older, you might be in …
Read More »When a Video Game Developer Gets Outed as Abusive, What Happens Next?
Jonathan’s actions were irrefutable: Over the course of nearly a decade, while working at a video game developer, he sexually assaulted industry colleagues. One victim came forward, posting their story to social media; others followed with stories of their own. The consequences were swift. Colleagues, friends, and peers disavowed him. …
Read More »‘Animal Well’ Demonstrates What Gaming Stands to Lose Amid Indie Studio Closures
It took Billy Basso seven years to make Animal Well, the dense, dark Metroidvania game that crashed onto Steam’s top-seller chart earlier this month amid a flurry of player hype. The game is a labyrinth exercise where players wander a world inhabited by sometimes friendly, sometimes not-friendly creatures as a …
Read More »'Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door' Sets the Standard for Classic Game Remakes
Limitations can, paradoxically, be a boon for artists. Such was the case with the original Paper Mario on the Nintendo 64. The system could handle only so many polygons, and it’s difficult to make a collection of polygons cute, so Nintendo opted to design a world around simple, flat planes. …
Read More »'Hades II' Proves Lightning Can Strike Twice
It feels foolish to expect a lot from Hades II. Supergiant Games' first Greek-mythology-inspired roguelike was so delightfully weird it seemed unbeatable. It wasn't. After several hours spent playing the game, which was released in Early Access last week, I can report that Hades II isn't as good as its …
Read More »Playing ‘Hades II’? Here Are 8 Tips to Get You Started
Hades II is a witchy roguelike that Supergiant Games somewhat surprise-dropped on Steam earlier this week. Unlike the first Hades, where gamers play as the underworld’s prince, fighting his way out of the depths of hell, Hades II hands the weapons over to the underworld’s princess, Melinoë, who must fight …
Read More »It’s Possible to Hack 'Tetris' From Inside the Game Itself
Earlier this year, we shared the story of how a classic NES Tetris player hit the game's "kill screen" for the first time, activating a crash after an incredible 40-minute, 1,511-line performance. Now, some players are using that kill screen—and some complicated memory manipulation it enables—to code new behaviors into …
Read More »RIP ‘Red vs. Blue.’ Machinima Is Gone—but Its Legacy Is Everywhere
Red vs. Blue is officially over. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery released Red vs. Blue: Restoration, the final installment in the long-running saga that was once at the forefront of a whole new form of entertainment: web videos created from in-game footage. Machinima signaled a new world where that footage—of …
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