AI is trying to predict your death. It's not as scary as it sounds

Developers happy to mimic the style of Hollywood blockbusters in their video game soundtracks are stopping video game music from advancing, one of the best to ever do it - Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu - has said.

Although I enjoy a wide variety of games from different genres, there are still parts of the video game zeitgeist I have little knowledge of. One of those blind spots is Korean MMOs like Nexon’s Vindictus, which attracts lots of players in Asia, but has made less of an impact in the U.S. Thankfully, my lack of familiarity with that space didn’t make the playtest for Vindictus: Defying Fate any less enjoyable.

Last year was an extraordinary year in the games industry to say the least, jam-packed with hugely anticipated AAA releases including Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Hogwarts Legacy, Starfield, and Marvel's Spider-Man 2, as well as comparative sleeper hits like Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2. This year, however, seems like it'll be comparatively quiet, and one prominent industry analyst is doubtful it'll be able to top the unprecedented games rush that was 2023 if it doesn't pull something out of the bag.

The console wars are a tale as old as time—or at least as old as the point when games consoles from multiple companies came onto the market. Whether Sega claimed to do what Nintendon't or actual customers determined to justify why their console of choice was objectively the best, this war continues to rage on to this day. However, even as far back as the 90s, it wasn't an ideology that Nintendo wanted to promote.

A solo Fortnite player spent Chapter 5 Season 1 trying to have friendly interactions to mixed results. Due to the player-versus-player nature of Fortnite, it may be hard for solo players to have friendly interactions, but this one found a way to engage peacefully with others.

A bipartisan effort in the U.S. House of Representatives is pushing to pass a bill that could potentially lead to a ban of the social media app TikTok. The platform, which allows users to post and view short videos, launched back in 2016 and has significantly grown its base of fans since then. As TikTok has seen its popularity soar, however, it's also become the target of increased scrutiny from many.

Earlier this month, Kay Yu, the lead dev behind Vampire Survivors-esque roguelike phenomenon HoloCure announced a promising new co-op brawler called Holo X Break. Yu has since confirmed that Holo X Break will feature voice acting from at least nine streamers of featured vtubing organization Hololive – all sizable internet celebrities in their own right, with enough subscribers to put them at the top of the whole vtubing industry – but it seems getting them on-board put him through the most embarrassing moment of his life. 

Remember when Ubisoft announced they were working on a movie adaptation of hacking series Watch Dogs, before it was even released? I sure didn’t! Well, allow us both to be reminded of something from over a decade ago, because the Watch Dogs film is still apparently A Thing. It’s more of A Thing now, too, because it has actual names attached rather than just a corporation’s vague “excitement” about licensing out its IP.

If you’ve ventured deep enough into the molten core of your neighborhood big box retailer, you’ve likely seen them. Sitting there in neat little rows next to old standbys like Monopoly and Clue, near the endcap filled with expansions for Cards Against Humanity, is a new and insurgent class of products — the so-called “light hobby board games.” That is, games that look and feel like their heavier cousins from the local game shop or online, but with the rough edges sanded down.

A popular controller modder is revisiting an eight-year-old World of Warcraft challenge because they've found a way to make it even more punishing.

The developer of Stardew Valley has a hack for composers who want to get people to listen to their music; all you have to do is make an entire game from scratch. 

Helldivers, we have yet another problem. Despite their best efforts, some Helldivers 2 recruits – and I'm not just talking about new cadets, who get the benefit of the doubt – are really struggling with the escort missions currently dominating the Automaton warfront. I get it, they're hard. Arguably too hard on occasion, the occasion being, almost every single one on any remotely high difficulty. But the bugs and bots ain't going anywhere and neither are escort missions, so we're gonna have to get through this together. Luckily, the community's been hard at work sharing helpful tips for escorting civilians while keeping their insides inside at least 25% of the time.