Browsing: Gaming

When I first wrote about boomer shooters last year on Steam Deck and also on Switch, aside from New Blood and Nightdive, the most common name was Andrew Hulshult who has done some amazing music over the years. He recently was involved with the DOOM + DOOM II re-release that included his IDKFA soundtrack with new music for DOOM II, and having wanted to interview him for a while now, I finally had a chance to chat with him on call for a few hours to discuss game soundtracks, composition, bands he likes, guitar strings, pickups, cold brew coffee, his…

A new Honkai: Star Rail Special Program has concluded, which means some fresh news about the game’s upcoming major update. Version 4.1, unveiled today as Unraveled for Daybreak, is the action RPG’s next moment, kicking off on March 25. Unraveled for Daybreak is the next chapter in the ongoing story of Planarcadia, with the Astra Express Crew now invited to a fan fest inspired by their own past journeys. The aptly named Star Rail Fest is ostensibly hosted to allow more of the citizens of Arcadia to experience the Trailblaze. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie…

Arc Raiders was one of the biggest games of 2025, and it continues to be incredibly popular on Steam. But its use of AI-generated voice lines rubbed many the wrong way. Now, Embark Studios CEO Patrick Söderlund says the team has replaced many of the text-to-speech lines with real human-recorded dialogue that is “better” than the AI slop featured at launch. When Embark’s extraction shooter Arc Raiders launched in October on consoles and PC, it became one of the most-played games around and received rave reviews from critics and fans. Yet there was some tension around the game’s release when…

1 Tall grass 4 tall grass Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charmander (sunny and cloudy only), Oddish (night only), Geodude (Palette Town only), Charizard (sunny and cloudy only) 2 Tree-shaded tall grass 1 large tree (any), 4 tall grass Scyther, Scizor (Palette Town only), Bellsprout, Pinsir, Heracross, Skwovet (Palette Town only) 3 Boulder-shaded tall grass 4 tall grass, 1 large boulder Timburr, Gurdurr, Machop (Palette Town only) 4 Hydrated tall grass 4 tall grass, 2 water Squirtle, Wartortle, Blastoise, Sliggoo (rain only), Cramorant (Palette Town only) 5 Seaside tall grass 4 tall grass, 2 ocean water Slowpoke, Slowbro, Slowking 6 Elevated tall grass…

Nintendo loves to build on what it has already created. Donkey Kong Bananza, a game that mixes 3D platforming with freeform destruction, began as a prototype that built on ideas featured in Super Mario Odyssey, and the prototype featured a Goomba with giant fists.Super Mario Odyssey’s Luncheon Kingdom, among other areas, featured breakable structures scattered throughout the environment. These objects could be smashed into pieces using many of the special abilities Cappy gave Mario. Nintendo producer Kenta Motokura and programmer Tatsuya Kurihara explained how that mechanic eventually helped inspire the creation of Donkey Kong Bananza during a talk at the…

A lot of folks got into the SaGa series a long time ago through its many releases on prior console generations. For me, Romancing Saga 2 on iOS was actually my gateway into the series nearly a decade ago, and I remember struggling with it quite a bit initially because I kept playing it like a normal JRPG. Fast forward to today, I adore the SaGa series as you can see in the photograph at the bottom of this article, and I was surprised to see Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, a full remake of Romancing SaGa 2,…

The Sims 4 will soon get a new update to resolve a number of issues, some of which have long caused headaches for players. The latest update will arrive March 17 on PC and Mac, followed by PlayStation and Xbox at an unspecified time later. Outside of the fixes themselves, the patch also makes good on the recent re-commitment to continue improving quality of life for players, so there’s plenty here longtime players will appreciate. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings In the latest episode of The Sims 4’s Laundry List blog series, where the…

The backlash against AI is real and you can feel it in the way Microsoft talks about gaming copilot at GDC 2026. The company is moving forward with integrating AI tech directly into Xbox at the platform and hardware levels, but also quick to promise that it’s keeping game makers and content creators front of mind as it rolls out new features. “We really believe that creative control should always stay with the game creators, the game development team, and with the AI features that we are experimenting exploring, this is really to support the vision of the team,” gaming…

Former Overwatch game director and one-time face of the brand Jeff Kaplan left Blizzard Entertainment in 2021, after 19 years at the company. He’s been quietly working on another game since leaving, and recently spoke about his decision to leave Blizzard, the company he once thought he “would retire from.” Unsurprisingly, Kaplan has revealed that the catalyst for his departure from Blizzard and Overwatch was what many expected: corporate meddling and unchecked greed by parent company Activision Blizzard. Kaplan appeared on the Lex Fridman podcast on Wednesday for a five-hour interview, during which he touched on his early career at…

The Epic Games Store continues to give away a free game each week, and this week’s offering is another nice find at a price that can’t be beat. Every Thursday at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET, Epic offers at least one free PC game (and sometimes even as many as two or three). All you need to do to claim the free games is create a free Epic account and enable two-factor authentication. You have a week to add the freebies to your library before the new one(s) take their place. At this point, Epic has given away…