One of the greatest sins in video game design is when the developers put a cute animal into the game, but do not let you pet it. Crimson Desert yes-ands this desire by letting you pick up any kitten, cuddle them in your arms, and pet them as long as you like.
Last year changed the way many of us thought about software. It certainly changed the way I did. I spent much of 2025 building, probing, and questioning how to build software, and in many more ways what I want to do.
According to Digi Capital augmented and virtual reality are about to explode as VCs and corporates get in on the act. Facebook's multi-billion dollar acquisition of Oculus got everyone's attention early last year, but it's only really in the last 12 months that investments have accelerated, with more than $1bn pouring into the sector. Meanwhile Mashable reports Nokia's virtual reality camera is now available for pre-order for a cool $60,000.
Project Genie, which is currently only available for Google's AI Ultra subscribers, uses AI to build virtual worlds. That sounds interesting, if not necessarily revolutionary. Videogame developers already model and build virtual worlds all the time. Project Genie's simple concept, though, belies the tech's potential impact. The new system, and the Genie 3 model behind it, have the potential to forever change how videogames are built and played.
I haven't played Crimson Desert enough, but we had everything that I've seen from Crimson Desert in the plans for that game. It was signed with a big publisher that has a lot of famous IPs...And then they just changed business direction again and wanted to focus on their existing IPs instead of new ones. They broke up with us on a text message, which I will never forgive them for.
Archie is a small arch-shaped piece that essentially bridges the two sticks on your controller. It's not a Bluetooth gadget loaded with firmware updates or a subscription service. It's just a clever piece of physical design that does exactly what it needs to do and nothing more.
The console wars died down not because any side won, but because it became irrelevant. Major games, seeking to make their gigantic budgets back, went platform agnostic. Where once companies had splurged on making consumers identify with specific console platforms, suddenly where you play games had become a much less defining factor.
There has been a demo renaissance in the last few years, and we couldn't be happier. Demos have been a part of video game history for a long time, but whether or not they've been good for sales has been up in the air for quite some time. Fortunately, in the last couple weeks we've gotten a Dragon Quest 7: Reimagined and Final Fantasy 7 demo for Switch 2.
30 years ago chronicled a generational conflict between an old-timey pull-string doll and a fancy new one with buttons. The two toys learned to get along. This week a trailer for showing both toys enacting a against tablets. While I agree on the potential detriments of excessive screen-time, it is telling how the creators and intended audience now identify less with the kid playing with toys and more with the adult who just spent all of dinner hearing about ' butlerian jihad looksmaxxing.'
Spending more than 10 hours a week playing video games may begin to affect young people's eating habits, sleep quality, and body weight, according to new research led by Curtin University and published in Nutrition. The study surveyed 317 students from five universities across Australia. Participants had a median age of 20 years, placing the focus squarely on young adults during a key stage of habit formation.