Due to the challenging global economic climate, Sony has announced a price increase for PlayStation 5 consoles in the US, effective August 21st. The new recommended retail prices are: PS5 - $549.99, PS5 Digital Edition - $499.99, and PS5 Pro - $749.99. Accessory prices remain unchanged, and no other price adjustments have been announced for other regions.
The 1980s saw box office triumphs like *Beverly Hills Cop* and *Ghostbusters*. Today, however, the Hollywood comedy is reportedly extinct. While audience surveys show a continued demand for comedic films, studios prioritize sequels and established IP over original comedies due to perceived lower returns and international appeal challenges. Comedies, inherently tied to cultural nuances, often struggle globally compared to action franchises. Despite this, the low production costs and untapped demand suggest a potential for a comedy resurgence.
Newgrounds is hosting its fifth annual Flash Forward Jam, celebrating Flash's legacy with cool new Flash games and interactive movies. This year's jam utilizes Ruffle, offering substantial prizes up to $1200. Participants create Flash games or interactive movies and publish by April 20th. Resources and community support are available, encouraging developers to relive the magic of Flash.
160 workers on Blizzard's Story and Franchise Development team, including animators, cinematic producers, narrative team members, and archivists, have unionized, marking the first in-house cinematic, animation, and narrative studio union in North American game industry. The union aims to protect workers from issues like misguided policies and instability resulting from layoffs, and improve workplace conditions. Microsoft, Blizzard's parent company, has recognized the union, in line with a labor neutrality policy agreed to in 2022. This follows recent mass layoffs at Microsoft, highlighting concerns about labor rights in the gaming industry.
Alberto Marnetto details his journey creating SuperSight, a graphical enhancement mod for the classic racing game Stunts. The article chronicles his reverse engineering process, leveraging the community-driven Restunts project (containing partially disassembled code and C-language ports) to understand the game's rendering engine. Initial attempts to modify graphics settings via the in-game menu proved difficult due to the game's lack of option saving. By analyzing Restunts' code, he pinpointed the variable controlling graphical detail. He then implemented simple enhancements like altering the field of view, encountering and documenting minor glitches. This successful proof of concept paves the way for further improvements detailed in future parts.
In 1995, EA acquired the prestigious British game studio Bullfrog Productions, home to iconic titles like Theme Hospital and Dungeon Keeper. The article details the tumultuous journey of these games, highlighting the clash between creative vision and commercial pressures under EA's ownership. Peter Molyneux's struggles with the transition and eventual departure after Dungeon Keeper are explored, showcasing the bittersweet success of the games against the backdrop of Bullfrog's ultimate closure by EA, marking the end of an era in game development.
The gaming industry is facing a potential downturn. US consumers are cutting back on game spending due to economic anxieties, challenging the long-held belief that gaming is recession-proof. The rise of free-to-play games and subscription services means consumers don't feel compelled to buy premium titles during tough times. While the free-to-play market is massive, revenue is concentrated in a few major titles, squeezing smaller developers. Soaring AAA development costs have pushed some publishers to $80 price tags, but this move has faced significant player backlash, with even Microsoft reversing course. The industry is navigating a complex pricing landscape, balancing innovation with the risks of high development costs and a changing consumer landscape.
Steam users in certain regions have experienced disruptions to PayPal payments. Valve has attributed this to a payment processing bank abruptly terminating support for Steam transactions, affecting users paying in currencies other than EUR, CAD, GBP, JPY, AUD, and USD. Valve is working on a solution and suggests alternative payment methods. The issue may be linked to Valve's recent adult content policy changes, though a direct connection remains unconfirmed.
Citybound is an ambitious open-source city builder that uses microscopic models to vividly simulate a city organism arising from the interactions of millions of individuals. Each household (family or business) is individually simulated, managing its own resources and trading to meet needs, leading to emergent economic patterns. The game features microscopic traffic simulation, haptic collaborative planning, and innovative technology like an actor-based distributed simulation engine and a Rust-WASM-JS bridge. Citybound aims to simulate massive cities with millions of inhabitants, featuring real-time interactive editing and community collaboration.
The `gore` project is a minimal, platform-agnostic Go port of the legendary DOOM engine, transpiled from the doomgeneric codebase. No CGo, no platform dependencies – just pure, cross-compiling demon-slaying action in Go. It supports multiple DOOM versions and WAD files, offering terminal, web server, and Ebitengine implementations. While some improvements are planned (multi-instance support, removal of `unsafe` code), it's an impressive feat, bringing classic gaming to various platforms with the power of Go.
This article introduces a two-player game called the "Anti-Pattern Game", where players take turns placing black and white pebbles on a line. A player loses if a sequence of three identical subsequences appears. The author used a Haskell program to find a winning strategy for Player 1 in under 22 moves. The article explores broader questions, such as whether cooperating players can play indefinitely, game strategies with more colors or repetition rules, and winning conditions and strategies for a three-player variant. These questions are challenging, and some answers remain elusive.
Janitor AI, a chatbot platform allowing users to create and interact with AI characters for personalized role-playing and conversations, shut down on July 24, 2025. Launched in 2023, it quickly gained popularity, particularly among those seeking immersive, emotional AI interactions. The platform offered customization of character personalities, appearances, and dialogue settings, supporting various Large Language Models (LLMs). Targeted at adults, Janitor AI also boasted a large creative community similar to Ao3 or Wattpad, used by many for creative expression and connecting with other users. Its closure was due to geoblocking stemming from OSA.
Sbixel is a basic pixel physics simulator built in Rust using the macroquad library for rendering. Currently simulating sand and water, it employs a sector system for performance optimization. Future plans include improving water simulation, sand/water interaction, rendering optimization, code refactoring, and adding gas simulation and static objects. Primarily a learning project.
Driven by childhood nostalgia, a programmer delves into the code of a retro ski-jumping game to conquer its 100-meter barrier. Rejecting tool-assisted approaches, he opts for reverse engineering, deciphering the game's binary and replay file format. By analyzing the game's physics engine, he reconstructs the jump simulation and ultimately uses a meticulously crafted replay file to achieve an astonishing 113.8-meter jump, revealing subtle discrepancies between the game's mechanics and optimal strategies.
Launched in 2022, the Steam for Chromebook Beta program will end in early 2026. Despite being a significant part of ChromeOS's gaming push, the program hasn't received updates in a long time. Google announced that installed games will no longer be playable after January 1st, 2026. However, Google hints at a future for Chromebook gaming, emphasizing continued support through Android apps and cloud gaming services.
Grow a Garden, a viral Roblox game about gardening, has unexpectedly become a summer hit, shattering records for concurrent players and surpassing even major titles developed over years with millions of dollars. Created by a 16-year-old in just days, this low-stress, relaxing game features simple gameplay, a Minecraft-esque aesthetic, and soothing classical music. Its success has cemented Roblox's place in popular culture and sparked a debate about the definition of 'gamer', challenging traditional industry norms. The game's popularity even coincided with the delay of Grand Theft Auto 6, leading to speculation about the desires of the gaming audience.
This code snippet demonstrates rendering a game scene using the React Three Fiber library. It uses Suspense for asynchronous rendering, Canvas to create a Three.js rendering context, and Leva for parameter control. The code also sets properties for the WebGL renderer such as antialiasing, alpha channel, stencil buffer, depth buffer, and high-performance preference. The GameScene component handles the specific scene rendering logic.
Spillhistorie.no interviewed Andrew Morris and Shaun Southern, the creators of Super Cars, a 1991 Amiga top-down racing game. Inspired by Super Sprint, Super Cars II added weapons and strategic elements, along with a unique humorous question-and-answer mechanic. Development faced tight deadlines and technical challenges, such as handling graphics and AI on the Atari ST version. Despite rampant piracy, the Super Cars series enjoyed good sales and positive reception. The developers still express interest in creating a sequel.
Activision is stepping up its fight against cheaters in Call of Duty with major updates to its Ricochet anti-cheat system. Season 5 of Black Ops Cold War and Warzone will introduce mandatory TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot for PC players to create a more secure gaming environment. While not enforced in Season 5, these features will be required for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Activision also announced legal action against 22 cheat makers and strengthened account security measures, including bans for boosting and teaming. Season 5 also includes a new battle pass, maps, and weapons.
Two weeks after Valve removed a large number of NSFW games from Steam due to pressure from credit card companies, and one week after Itch.io followed suit, Mastercard released a statement denying responsibility. Mastercard claims it allows all lawful purchases through its system, adhering to the rule of law. However, it also requires merchants to prevent Mastercard cards from being used for unlawful purchases, including illegal adult content. While the removed games are legal in the US, they may violate laws in other countries. Valve stated it attempted to communicate directly with Mastercard but Mastercard communicated with payment processors and acquiring banks instead, leading to the games' removal. This highlights the influence of payment processors and credit card companies on game content moderation and the impact of public pressure on the gaming industry.
In the labyrinthine New York City subway system of the 1970s, a unique game called "The Subway Game" emerged. The game involves two players: a contestant and a monitor. The contestant must navigate from one subway station to a designated one, without asking for directions or leaving the subway system, relying solely on station signage and maps. The article details the challenges of a classic route, highlighting potential errors and obstacles, such as missed transfers and incorrect route choices. It concludes by describing variations of the game and exploring why the NYC subway system is uniquely suited for such an adventure.
Nintendo's latest earnings report reveals explosive sales for the Switch 2. In less than four weeks, the company sold 5.82 million units, putting it on track to surpass its target of 15 million units by April 2026—a significantly faster pace than the original Switch. Despite these impressive numbers, Nintendo acknowledges that demand exceeds supply and promises increased production. Switch 2 software sales also soared, reaching 8.67 million units, driven by bundled titles like Mario Kart and strong third-party support. Backwards compatibility boosted sales of original Switch games to 24.4 million. This success propelled Nintendo to a remarkable quarter, more than doubling revenue to $3.8 billion.
Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, and PayPal's sudden delisting of NSFW games from Itch.io sparked a massive gamer backlash. Players are bombarding payment companies with phone calls, demanding the games' reinstatement. The movement, supported by unions and game developer associations, has yielded some results, with payment company representatives showing shifts in attitude. However, payment companies refuse comment, citing vague policies about "illegal or brand-damaging" activities. The core issue revolves around whether payment processors should censor content and the implications for free speech.
Following Steam and itch.io's crackdown on adult games, gamers have launched a coordinated campaign targeting payment processors Visa and Mastercard. Players are bombarding the companies with phone calls and emails, aiming to pressure them into reversing their policies. While the payment processors claim their actions are to comply with regulations, gamers argue the impact is too broad, potentially affecting other games. The campaign, heavily discussed on platforms like Reddit and Bluesky, demonstrates impressive organization, with gamers sharing strategies and even creating scripts for contacting representatives.
This devlog details the author's journey in simplifying car physics for their racing game. Initially attempting a realistic physics model proved too complex. The author switched to a simplified model, using basic force equations to simulate acceleration, braking, steering, and friction, fine-tuning the experience through coefficient adjustments. Substepping was implemented for increased accuracy. The final result is a controllable car model with a slide effect, further enhanced by an accumulator to simulate grip loss at varying turn intensities.
Marvel's "Fantastic Four: First Steps" raked in approximately $57 million on its opening day, making it the second-highest opening day of the year and a significant win for Marvel and Disney. This success comes a year after Disney announced a reduction in film and TV output to focus on quality. The film's global box office has already reached $106 million, projecting a weekend total around $125 million, surpassing even the recent "Superman" release. Despite a $200 million budget, positive critical reception (88% on Rotten Tomatoes, 7.6/10 on IMDb) bodes well for profitability. Remarkably, its opening weekend already surpasses the total domestic gross of the 2015 "Fantastic Four" film.
World champion Magnus Carlsen defeated ChatGPT in an online chess match in just 53 moves. Carlsen won without losing a single piece, while ChatGPT lost all its pawns. Screenshots shared by Carlsen showed ChatGPT resigning. While ChatGPT complimented Carlsen's opening, patience, tactical awareness, and endgame technique, Carlsen noted ChatGPT's failure to capitalize on its opening advantage. This match sparks further discussion on AI capabilities and the ongoing competition between human intelligence and AI.
San Diego Comic-Con 2025, while lacking a Marvel presence, was still a massive spectacle! Sneak peeks at films like *Tron: Ares* and *Predator: Badlands*, along with bustling toy booths, set the stage. But the real excitement lay in the plethora of TV show, movie, and game announcements. Highlights included first looks at *Avatar: The Last Airbender*'s sequel *Avatar: Seven Havens*, a *Peacemaker* season 2 trailer featuring interdimensional portals and a vengeful Rick Flagg Sr., and release dates for *Star Trek: Starfleet Academy*, *Coyote vs. Acme*, *Five Nights at Freddy's 2*, *Percy Jackson and the Olympians* season 2, *Twisted Metal* season 2, and more. Gamers were also treated to trailers for *Invincible VS*. The Con proved a haven for fans of all things sci-fi, fantasy, and action.
Itch.io, an indie game marketplace, has deindexed all NSFW games following pressure from the anti-pornography group Collective Shout. Collective Shout targeted payment processors, threatening to cut off Itch.io's ability to process payments unless it removed the games. This has sparked controversy, affecting many developers, particularly those in the LGBTQ+, female, and BIPOC communities, whose games, even award-winning ones, were removed for covering sensitive topics like sex, mental health, or other triggering themes. The incident highlights the immense power payment processors wield over content moderation and their potential negative impact on creators.
This article dissects the use of High Dynamic Range (HDR) in game graphics and its shortcomings. Many games, while visually impressive, lack the realism of films or photographs, exhibiting excessive contrast and unnatural color saturation. The author analyzes the issues with tone mapping functions and Look-Up Tables (LUTs) used in game engines, pointing out how their improper use leads to visual distortions. Using examples like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Forza Horizon 3, the author shows how avoiding excessive contrast and carefully utilizing color can yield superior visual results. The solution, the author argues, needs to address both technical and artistic aspects, requiring game developers to prioritize the importance of tone mapping in visual design.