Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

The King in Yellow: A Blend of Gothic Horror and Romance

2025-02-07

Robert W. Chambers' 1895 collection of short stories, *The King in Yellow*, is a bizarre blend of gothic horror, supernatural elements, and romance. The nine stories and a sequence of poems begin with a macabre tone, revolving around a forbidden play, *The King in Yellow*, which drives readers to madness and introduces a malevolent entity. The first four tales are steeped in eerie atmosphere and supernatural horror, while the latter stories transition to a more lighthearted, romantic style, focusing on Parisian artists. This influential work has left a lasting mark, impacting H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and inspiring modern works like the first season of *True Detective*.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Game horror fiction gothic Cthulhu Mythos

Efficiently Detecting Enclosed Spaces in a Browser Game

2025-02-07

In a browser game, players place obstacles to hinder enemies. To prevent players from cheating by enclosing themselves or enemies, the author designed an efficient algorithm to detect enclosed spaces. The initial brute-force approach—flood filling from every cell—proved too slow. The author devised an improved algorithm that leverages a cache of "open-faced" cells (cells not surrounded by obstacles) to prune the flood fill search space. When obstacles are added or removed, the algorithm updates the open-faced cell set and recalculates legal placement locations. While the worst-case time complexity remains the same as brute-force flood fill, in practice, this algorithm significantly reduces lag. The author also discusses other optimization tricks, such as iterative updates and checking only cells adjacent to multiple obstacles. Finally, the author mentions another possible solution: a cycle detection-based algorithm.

(www.holm.dog)

Game Enclosed Space Detection

ESA's iicon: A Corporate-Focused Gaming Event Replacing E3?

2025-02-06

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is launching iicon, the "interactive innovation conference," aiming to fill the void left by E3's demise. While lacking E3's catchy name, major players like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are onboard. However, marketing focuses on "visionaries" and "innovators," suggesting a corporate-centric event prioritizing partnerships and brand synergy over consumer-focused game reveals. This contrasts sharply with E3's heyday of major announcements. The inaugural iicon will be in April 2026, while consumer-facing events like Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards continue to dominate.

(www.engadget.com)

Game gaming industry

Legendary Game Designer Steve Meretzky: From Hitchhiker's Guide to Leather Goddesses of Phobos

2025-02-06

This interview features legendary game designer Steve Meretzky, known for his work on classics like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, A Mind Forever Voyaging, and Leather Goddesses of Phobos. The article recounts Meretzky's time at Infocom, detailing his collaboration with Douglas Adams on the Hitchhiker's Guide game, including a memorable design session in rural England. It also explores the creation of Leather Goddesses of Phobos and his evolving design philosophy, along with insights into some iconic puzzle designs.

(spillhistorie.no)

Game interview

Transfinite Nim: Extending the Winning Strategy Beyond the Finite

2025-02-06

This article explores transfinite Nim, an extension of the classic game of Nim to transfinite ordinal numbers. The author first reviews the winning strategy for finite Nim – the balancing strategy – then introduces the binary representation of transfinite ordinal numbers, proving that every ordinal has a unique binary representation. The author further proves that the balancing strategy applies to transfinite Nim as well, demonstrating with a concrete example how to use this strategy to find the winning move.

(jdh.hamkins.org)

Game transfinite ordinal numbers

Nine: A Stunning C64 Demo

2025-02-05

A developer released 'Nine', a small yet incredibly impressive C64 demo at Fjälldata 2025. A video explaining its workings is in the works, but for the impatient, the machine code monitor is available. The demo has been lauded by users, with some calling it the best of 2025. However, one user reported a syntax error when running it on VICE emulator.

(linusakesson.net)

Game Demo

LoFi's Fight for Survival Against the AI Tide

2025-02-04

LoFi hip hop, a genre that organically exploded online in the mid-2010s, is facing a battle for survival against the onslaught of AI-generated music and cheap royalty-free tracks. Initially, LoFi offered unprecedented opportunities for bedroom musicians and independent artists. However, its commercialization has led platforms like Spotify to replace real artists with AI-generated and royalty-free music, diluting the royalty pool. Yet, Los Angeles-based musician Wish on the Beat has carved a new path, transforming her LoFi beats into ambient tracks, demonstrating the enduring value of authentic artistry. This highlights the importance of supporting independent musicians and resisting the tide of low-quality AI-generated music to preserve the diversity of the music ecosystem.

(gamechops.substack.com)

Game independent artists

JS1K Winner: Bouncing Beholder - A 1KB Platformer

2025-02-04

Bouncing Beholder is a JavaScript platform game that fits within the incredibly tight constraints of 1024 bytes. The author achieved this feat through ingenious coding techniques, such as method name abbreviation, minimizing function use, and a highly holistic code design. The game involves navigating a procedurally generated landscape, collecting coins, and avoiding hazardous terrain. The article details the development process and showcases fascinating low-level optimization strategies, offering a unique look into the world of extreme code compression.

(marijnhaverbeke.nl)

Game

Motion Sickness in Gaming: An Often-Overlooked Accessibility Issue

2025-02-04

Up to one-third of gamers experience motion sickness, significantly impacting their gaming experience. This article explores the causes of motion sickness—a mismatch between visually perceived movement and the vestibular system's perception of movement—and common triggers in games, such as field of view, screen shake, motion blur, etc. The article argues that game developers should provide more accessibility options, such as FOV sliders, FPS targets, and the ability to turn off motion bobbing, to improve game accessibility. Using personal experiences and Minecraft's accessibility settings as examples, the author emphasizes the importance of considering accessibility from the initial stages of game development. The article also points out that the misuse of accessibility options by some players highlights not a problem with the options themselves, but rather flaws in game design.

(madelinemiller.dev)

Game motion sickness game accessibility

Video Game History Foundation Launches Massive Digital Archive!

2025-02-04

The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has launched early access to its digital archive, a treasure trove of video game history materials. This includes development documents, behind-the-scenes content, rare game magazines, and more. Highlights include the Mark Flitman papers, offering a glimpse into the business of game production, and over 100 hours of footage from the making of the Myst series. The archive is a collaborative effort, incorporating materials from the gaming community, and features a powerful search engine for easy research. Free and accessible to all, this resource promises to revolutionize how people study video game history.

(gamehistory.org)

Game game history

Cantonese Scrolls: A Fun RPG for Learning Cantonese

2025-02-03

Cantonese Scrolls is a unique Cantonese language learning RPG developed by Jonathan Vasquez. Offering single-player and couch co-op modes, the game aims to make learning Cantonese fun and accessible. Recognizing the lack of standardized resources for Cantonese, the game documents the language as understood by the developer, providing a free, offline learning experience. Donations are welcome to support ongoing development.

(cantoscrolls.com)

Game Cantonese learning

Game Exploit: Hackers Can Take Over Your PC via Marvel Rivals

2025-02-03

A security researcher discovered a Remote Code Execution (RCE) exploit in Marvel Rivals. Attackers on the same Wi-Fi network can execute arbitrary code on other players' PCs. The vulnerability stems from the game's use of RCE for patching, without verifying server connections, and running with admin privileges. This allows for potential remote takeover of PCs. The researcher highlights the need for game developers to prioritize security, implement robust bug reporting systems, and establish bug bounty programs to incentivize vulnerability disclosure.

(shalzuth.com)

Game remote code execution exploit

AI Conquers Tetris 99: Computer Vision and DFS Secure First Place

2025-02-03

Two programmers built "Jeff," an AI that plays Tetris 99 on the Nintendo Switch, using computer vision, a depth-first search algorithm, and a handcrafted utility function. Jeff captures the game screen via HDMI, analyzes the board state and upcoming pieces, and sends button commands to the Switch through a microcontroller. While initially aiming for webcam and Bluetooth control, they switched to an HDMI capture card and USB for simplicity. Overcoming challenges like visual effects and algorithm optimization, Jeff secured first place in a few games. The project highlights the power of combining computer vision and classical AI for real-time gameplay.

(bpinzone.github.io)

Game

Reverse Engineering Nintendo E-Reader's Drawing API: A Stack-Based Secret

2025-02-02

A developer, while creating a Minesweeper game for the Nintendo E-Reader, stumbled upon a hidden feature in the `DrawLine` function of its drawing API. Initially, a loop drawing a minimap rectangle using `DrawLine` revealed lines drawing progressively faster. The developer discovered the draw time was determined by a value pushed onto the stack, a combination of the loop counter and another register. By pushing 0 onto the stack, the issue was resolved, revealing a quirky API detail. This showcases the intrigue of reverse engineering and the peculiarities of older processor architectures.

(mattgreer.dev)

Game Nintendo E-Reader

Severance Season 2: From Corporate Satire to Cult Investigation

2025-02-01

Season one of *Severance* captivated audiences with its unique premise of memory severance between work and home life. Season two delves deeper, transcending corporate satire to explore social control mechanisms, particularly those mirroring cult dynamics. The showrunner and actors confirmed research into numerous cult documentaries, cleverly weaving parallels between cults and corporations to expose the darker sides of power structures and information control. This elevates *Severance* Season 2 beyond a simple corporate critique, transforming it into a profound exploration of social control and the nature of power.

(arstechnica.com)

Game cult

Grandmaster Blunders: Pressure, Hallucinations, and Psychology

2025-02-01

This article delves into the reasons behind grandmaster blunders in chess, analyzing three key factors: pressure, hallucinations, and psychology. Through personal anecdotes and game examples, the author explains how time pressure, complex positions, and mental state lead to seemingly unbelievable mistakes by top-level players. Tips for avoiding these blunders are shared, such as careful move verification and maintaining composure under pressure. The article highlights that both overconfidence and excessive caution can be detrimental.

(lichess.org)

Game blunders strategy

Full Source Code of the Legendary Game Elite Released!

2025-01-31

A website has released the complete original 1980s source code for the classic space game Elite, covering versions for BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Commodore 64, Apple II, and NES. The code is heavily documented, with over 120 in-depth articles explaining its workings. The site also allows you to play the game and experiment with the code, aiming to help appreciate one of the most iconic games of the 8-bit era.

(elite.bbcelite.com)

Game Source Code

Minecraft 25w03a Snapshot: Game Testing Gets a Huge Update

2025-01-31

The Minecraft 25w03a snapshot is out, bringing a massive update to the game testing system! Game tests are now accessible via datapacks using a new test command. You can run block-based tests with the new test block or create more versatile tests using code in mods. This update also includes numerous technical changes, such as updated datapack (63) and resource pack (48) versions, and a new game test main entry point. Additionally, many bugs have been fixed, and improvements have been made to entity data, item components, and resource packs.

(www.minecraft.net)

Game Game Testing Data Packs Datapacks Snapshot Update Snapshot

Game Dev Roundup: Pixel Art to Engine Frameworks

2025-01-31

Hacker News recently featured a plethora of game development resources. From pixel art upscalers and the official release of SDL 3 to reverse-engineering Call of Duty's anti-cheat, developers shared tools, techniques, and insights. Posts highlighted curated lists of game dev blogs, Godot engine debugging add-ons, and the open-source Tramway SDK engine. Discussions also touched upon game design philosophies like defining "cozy" games and showcased level editors such as LDtk. These resources span the gamut of game development, from code and art to tools and theory, offering a rich trove for game developers.

(gamedev.city)

Game resource aggregation open source tools

Discord Ads: High CPMs, But Still Experimental

2025-01-31

Discord's ad products currently use a fixed pricing model based on projected reach, frequency, brand lift, and user engagement. Premium inventory CPMs range from roughly $25 to $30, varying by format, region, and reach. Discord uses CPM pricing instead of CPA because both views and engagement provide value, and it's the right economic model for them, competitively positioned within the premium tier but below the highest-priced platforms. While advertising holds promise, it remains a relatively experimental business unit for Discord in 2025; most revenue comes from its Discord Nitro subscription service.

(nowtoknow.com)

Game Discord Ads CPM Pricing Gaming Social Platform

Phaser v4 Beta 5: Million Sprites Rendered with GPU Acceleration

2025-01-31

Phaser 4 engine's Beta 5 release introduces the groundbreaking Sprite GPU Layer game object. This object can effortlessly handle over a million animated sprites on the GPU, dramatically boosting rendering performance. The article showcases its power through several demos, demonstrating its capabilities in handling massive backgrounds, animated characters, and particle effects, such as the 'Big Forest' demo with 1.4 million smoothly animated sprites. While lacking interactivity, its built-in animation features allow for rich visual effects. Beta 5 fixes issues from Beta 4 and marks significant progress towards a February final release.

(phaser.io)

Game GPU Rendering

Video Game History Foundation Launches Digital Library

2025-01-31

The Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) has launched its digital library, a treasure trove of historical video game materials. This includes scans of the 1999 E3 catalog and old PC Gamer magazines, even unearthing information on the obscure 3D racing game Pretzel Pete. Digitizing this information proved challenging, requiring the development of a custom text recognition tool to handle the complex layouts of 90s gaming magazines. While direct access to game ROMs is currently restricted by copyright, the VGHF continues to advocate for change.

(arstechnica.com)

Game

Pokemon Playtest Card Scandal: Tiny Yellow Dots Reveal 2024 Printing Date

2025-01-30

A player named pfm discovered that most colored versions of Pokémon playtest cards contain tiny, invisible yellow dots. These dots encode metadata such as printer serial number, date, and time, revealing that many cards were printed in 2024, not 1996 as advertised. This discovery has raised questions about the authenticity of the cards and the grading company CGC, potentially resulting in significant financial losses for investors. Different quality cards have different dot patterns; some high-quality versions lack dots entirely. pfm's findings sparked widespread community discussion and have had a significant impact on the Pokémon card collecting market.

(www.elitefourum.com)

Game Pokemon Playtest Cards Forgery

Tetris Remix: How Devs Keep Reinventing a Classic

2025-01-30

From the classic Tetris to its mind-bending variations, developers continuously push the boundaries of this seemingly simple puzzle game. The article explores the battle royale mode of Tetris 99, the multi-angled gravity-bending Schwerkraftprojektiongerät, the weekly madness of Terrible Tetris Tuesday, and the central rotating cube gameplay of Reaktor. These innovative designs retain the core fun of Tetris while adding new challenges and strategic depth, surprising players with unexpected twists in the familiar world of falling blocks.

(www.polygon.com)

Game

Duck Hunter: A JavaScript Remake of the Classic

2025-01-30

jslegend has recreated the classic Duck Hunt game in JavaScript using the KAPLAY library. Duck Hunter lets players aim with their mouse and shoot ducks with a click. Currently only available on PC, it features a pause function (press 'P').

(jslegend.itch.io)

Game

Atari's Limited Edition Asteroids Watches Sell Out Instantly

2025-01-30

To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the iconic game Asteroids, Atari and luxury watch brand Nubeo have collaborated on a limited-edition watch. This unique timepiece displays time in an unconventional way using a Japanese automatic movement that drives three discs. The smallest central disc features the original Asteroids triangular ship firing, acting as the second hand. The outer two discs, filled with asteroids, represent the minute and hour hands. Priced at $499 (originally $1650), each of the five styles is limited to 125 pieces and has already sold out. The design is inspired by the Atari 2600 console, and features Swiss Super-LumiNova glow-in-the-dark ink, 21 ATM water resistance, and comes in a retro-styled protective case.

(www.techspot.com)

Game Limited Edition Watch

Sony Backtracks: PlayStation Account No Longer Required for 4 Single-Player Steam Games

2025-01-30

Sony has performed a dramatic U-turn, making PlayStation Network account login optional for four single-player titles on Steam: Marvel's Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarök, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. While logging in still unlocks in-game rewards like exclusive costumes or early access items, it's no longer mandatory. This follows considerable player backlash and negative reviews after similar policies for other titles, notably Helldivers 2, sparked outrage.

(arstechnica.com)

Game

The Graveyard of Game Assets: A Plea for Reuse

2025-01-29

Game developer Garry Newman recently posted about the wasted potential of assets from failed games. Many games, despite years of development, fail to achieve commercial success, leading to their abandonment. Newman highlights the significant amount of high-quality sound effects, models, and animations that are simply discarded. He proposes a solution: developers with unused assets from defunct projects should consider sharing them for reuse in platforms like Garry's Mod or S&box, giving these assets a new life and preventing waste.

(garry.net)

Game resource sharing

No Man's Sky Worlds Part II: Billions of New Planets Added!

2025-01-29

No Man's Sky has received a massive update, Worlds Part II, adding billions of new star systems and trillions of new planets to explore! This update dramatically expands the game's universe, introducing new terrain, biomes, flora, fauna, and enormous gas giants. Improvements to water physics, lighting, and the submarine enhance the exploration experience. New quests, storylines, and an expedition with a unique new spaceship (a hybrid of a living ship and a jet fighter) round out the update.

(blog.playstation.com)

Game No Man's Sky game update

Civilization VII System Requirements: Can Your Rig Handle It?

2025-01-28

Nine years after Civ VI, Civilization VII is finally on the horizon! The minimum and recommended system requirements have been revealed. Minimum specs include an Intel i5-4690 or equivalent, 8GB RAM, a GTX 1050 or equivalent, and 20GB of storage. Recommended specs bump up to an Intel Core i5-10400 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600X, 16GB RAM, an RTX 2060 or equivalent. The article highlights that the game is CPU-heavy, making a CPU upgrade a priority for optimal performance. Are you ready to build your empire?

(www.corsair.com)

Game Civilization VII System Requirements

Category: Game