Nintendo’s Switch andSwitch 2 release calendars are bulking up. During a packed Nintendo Direct livestream on Friday, the company announced on-sale dates for several games as well as the return of the Virtual Boy, the proto VR headset Nintendo originally launched in the mid-1990s.
One of the biggest of Friday’s announcements was that of the release date for the sequel to Supergiant’s wildly popular Hades. Hades II will hit Switch, Switch 2, and PC on September 25. The long-awaited new Metroid game, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, will also finally launch December 4 for Switch and Switch 2.
The news comes ahead of the upcoming holiday season, which will be the Switch 2’s first since its launch this summer.
While Hades II has been available on PC as an early access game—an unfinished version players can test out and give feedback on—since last year, the version coming to Switch at the end of the month will be the full “1.0” launch game. Players who already own the game on Steam will be able to update theirs for free. The game stars Melinoë, sister to the original game’s hero Zagreus, on her quest to kill the Titan of Time, Chronos.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond sees the return of Samus running and gunning against alien foes. Along with a firm release date, the trailer shown Friday debuted a new tool for the heroine: Vi-O-La, a techy motorbike Samus can use alongside her psychic abilities.
Nintendo is also expanding some of its games with downloadable content. New DLC for Donkey Kong Banaza, which launched July 17, is now available for $20. The pack, called DK Island & Emerald Rush, adds extra missions and levels to explore (and presumably punch). Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which is launching October 16, will do so alongside a Mega Dimension DLC that adds additional Mega Evolutions.
Nintendo also teased several 2026 releases, including a surprise announcement for a new Pokémon game, Pokémon Pokopia. As a human-shaped Ditto (as horrifying as that sounds), players befriend other pokémon, build homes, and collect food to create a tiny paradise. It launches for Switch 2 next year.
Additionally, a new entry in the turn-based tactical series Fire Emblem, called Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, is headed to Switch 2 in 2026. A trailer shown today teases its heroes in an arena-style battle; a familiar face at the end of the trailer suggests the game is set after 2019’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses. A new Resident Evil game, Resident Evil Requiem, will also be released for Switch 2 on February 27.
Mario is returning to the big screen. Following the massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which made more than $1.3 billion worldwide in 2023, animation studio Illumination and Nintendo are releasing a sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, in April 2026. Nintendo dropped a teaser trailer during its Direct presentation on Friday.
The teaser doesn’t offer much about the movie, which takes its name from the 2007 platformer. Mario dozes in a field before title credits appear, that’s about it. But the trailer still signifies that Nintendo will continue to churn out films aimed at turning Mario into a megafranchise.
It’s no coincidence that the trailer and accompanying announcement come just one day before the 40th anniversary of the original Super Mario Bros. video game. In the four decades since that game’s release, Mario—and Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, and other assorted characters—have become cultural icons.
In 1993, Super Mario Bros. became one of the earliest videogame film adaptations. It was panned by critics and fans, but in the years since, games ranging from Mortal Kombat to Tomb Raider have been turned into movies. Now, as superhero fatigue sets in and ’90s nostalgia peaks, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which will include nods to the entire Mario series, stands poised to continue Mario’s domination.
Considered the most successful video game adaptation ever made, The Super Mario Bros. Movie was the second highest-grossing movie of 2023, second only to Barbie. The original cast, including Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, Charlie Day as Luigi, and Jack Black as Bowser, will return for the sequel.
Alongside the news, Nintendo also announced it will release remastered versions of Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel on October 2.
Welcome to Video Games Weekly on Engadget. Expect a new story every Monday or Tuesday (Or, I dunno, Thursday), broken into two parts. The first is a space for short essays and ramblings about video game trends and related topics from me, Jess Conditt, a reporter who’s covered the industry for more than 13 years. The second contains the video game stories from the past week that you need to know about, including some headlines from outside of Engadget.
Please enjoy — and I’ll see you next week.
Earlier this week, FlyQuest top laner Bwipo (Gabriël Rau) was suspended for one series of the League of Legends LTA playoffs after saying some wild stuff during a livestream about women and their ability to play esports. Here’s a sampling of what he said:
“I think there’s just not enough support for female pro players… women’s anatomy and their monthly cycles are just extremely different from males, and there’s no proper support system for women to go through what they’re going through.”
“Even men just tilt out of their fucking minds when they’re playing League of Legends. So, when a woman is on the wrong part of the month and playing competitively, there is a time of the month where you should not be fucking playing competitive games as a woman, in my opinion.”
OK, Bwipo. His comments received an appropriate amount of ridicule from fellow players, casters and fans, and FlyQuest benched him during a pivotal moment in the race to Worlds. He has apologized and pledged to “reflect, listen, and do better.”
So, here we are yet again. It’s 2025 and it must be stated: Men are not biologically better at video games than women. Women, femmes and nonbinary people are not physiologically less interested in or skilled at competitive gaming than a player who lives as a dude. Gender on its own has no bearing on how quickly a person can click a mouse, scan a screen or strategize in high-intensity situations, and lines of code react the same no matter how an individual player identifies.
That said, I find myself agreeing with Bwipo’s initial statement, “There’s just not enough support for female pro players.” I understand, in a backward kind of way, the logical leaps he then tried to make in order to explain a situation that doesn’t make any sense — namely, the absence of non-guy players in mainstream, professional esports. His conclusion may have been laughably misguided, but the core conundrum still stands.
The professional esports scene is segregated by gender and dominated by men. There are no hard and fast rules barring women or gender nonconforming people from competing at a professional level in any major league, but there are vanishingly few women, femmes or non-male-presenting players participating in mainstream esports tournaments, and this tends to be the baseline. There are separate leagues and competitions established specifically for women and gender nonconforming players, and while I find these events to be extremely exciting, they’re siloed and receive far less financial, marketing and back-end support than mainstream tournaments. Women’s esports leagues exist in a bubble that, for some strange reason, seems to be modeled on the gender segregation practices of traditional sports, with matching gaps in pay, respect and opportunity.
A handful of women players have broken through on the main stage over the years, including Potter (Christine Chi, CS:GO), Karma (Jaime Bickford, Rocket League), Hafu (Rumay Wang, WoW, Hearthstone) and Scarlett (Sasha Hostyn, StarCraft II). Still, the earnings gap between men and women in esports is cavernous: According to Esports Earnings, the top male player on record is N0tail (Johan Sundstein, Dota 2), with $7,184,163 in prize money to his name. The top female player on that list is Scarlett, with $472,111 in total earnings. There are 619 male players ahead of her, and the totals don’t factor in the lucrative sponsorship deals available to elite gamers.
I have to say it again. Esports, an industry built around people playing video games really well, is segregated by gender. Isn’t that insane?
The natural question is, why? It’s not because only men are good at video games, since we’ve established that’s a steaming pile of horseshit. Nor is it because, as Bwipo suggested, some women menstruate. But the actual reason is just as clear.
It’s sexism. The gender makeup of the mainstream esports scene is the result of everyday, bog standard, garden variety, run of the mill misogyny. In the world of esports, it’s sponsored by Red Bull, drenched in LEDs and proudly hosted by your favorite streamer. At our current stage, when a veteran LoL player is openly trying to bring back the hysteria diagnosis rather than looking at the realities of a system that provides him privilege, I think we have to say it plainly. Put the pivotal issue on the table so we can look at how ugly, regressive and nasty it is. Only then can we start to change it.
There is a dearth of women, femmes and nonbinary people in mainstream esports because of the sexism that permeates society at large.
I understand why someone like Bwipo — or other players, coaches, presenters, managers, team owners, league organizers or game makers at the highest levels of esports — wouldn’t want to acknowledge this fact or how much power it holds over the entire scene. I get that some would rather twist themselves into knots trying to blame women for their own exclusion, instead of tackling an uncomfortable social issue that runs far deeper than just the gaming industry. I understand it, but I think it’s cowardly. Ostrich behavior.
So, let’s look at it. If misogyny in esports is the problem, I think a solution has to lie in the talent pipeline. During the scouting stages, when school-age players of all genders are streaming and climbing ranks from their bedrooms, boys naturally receive things from the community that girls don’t, like enthusiastic support, a welcoming attitude, respect, and, eventually, enough belief in their skills to risk investment. I’m not suggesting toxicity isn’t a thing for everyone, but these positive aspects are also built into the experience for many young men playing games. Young women have to earn these responses, generally by overperforming compared to their peers, and while being belittled, sexualized, threatened with violence, hyperanalyzed and othered, for years on end. It’s exhausting. It silently pushes some women out of video games and esports.
It’s also malleable. Sexism spawns from an embarrassing and irrational way of thinking, but people change their minds all the time. A simple but widespread shift in perception — oh right, it’s weird that esports is segregated by gender — can make an enormous impact especially on these early stages of esports play. How we think alters how we behave, how we speak and what we allow in social spaces. It really can be that simple, at least as a starting point.
I think about this each time I turn on a pro match, which is currently every day with LoL Worlds qualification tournaments in full swing (hi, FlyQuest). The esports gender disparity is face-smackingly obvious, especially in concert with the godlike presentation that existing players tend to receive: hype trailers with uber-masculine motifs, walk-out rituals, emotional behind-the-scenes documentaries and epic promotional spots depicting teams as otherwordly superheroes. Of course, most esports players are literal teenagers, which tends to make these macho presentations more adorable than anything — but the fact remains that male esports pros, even teenage ones, are taken extremely seriously as athletes (athletes!) and can find support for their goals at every level. I’d love to see this encouragement, faith and excitement extended to young women and nonbinary players as well.
The mental shift is the first step. As demonstrated by Bwipo’s offhand comments, it seems plenty of people in the esports scene are still in the early stages of critical thinking when it comes to gender and opportunity, so we’re starting with the basics. Remind yourself that men are not inherently skilled at playing video games and women aren’t naturally bad, and think about how ridiculous those suggestions sound in the first place. Remember that sexism is an artificial barrier limiting opportunities for everyone in esports. Next time you see an ad with a bunch of dude esports players surrounded by ladies in cosplay, take a second to notice how odd that is. Hear how many times the casters say “gentlemen,” “sir,” “boys” and other gendered terms during games, and recognize how daunting this space is for players who don’t fit those descriptions. Get comfortable with the idea that some humans can play video games really, really, really well, and this fact is completely divorced from how they look or identify. It’s easy to do because it’s true.
IO Interactive’s James Bond game, 007 First Light, is heading to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Steam and the Epic Games Store on March 27, starting at $70. Engadget UK Bureau Chief Mat Smith got his hands on the preview at Gamescom earlier this month and he found it to be spectacular in the very literal sense.
What a lovely little surprise. Stardew Valley creator ConcernedApe (Eric Barone) announced another numbered update is on its way, adding significant bits of new content to the game more than nine years after its Steam debut. Update 1.7 will hit Stardew Valley at an unspecified time in the near future and Barone clarified that it won’t impact the release timeline for his next game, Haunted Chocolatier. Barone had the following to say about the whole thing:
“Haunted Chocolatier will be released at some point. And sure, the reality of my life is that I have a very popular 1st game that I still want to take care of, which means that my 2nd game might take a little longer. It is what it is. I didn’t have to make a 1.7 update for Stardew Valley, but the game is still so popular (in fact, still growing), that it’s hard to just stop improving it when there are still things that can be improved. But I hope the approach I am taking for Stardew Valley 1.7 will help keep Haunted Chocolatier on track.
“About the Stardew Valley team: they are awesome, all very talented, hard-working, and contribute unique things to the development process. We are a very small group, and I like it that way. Also, I am still working completely solo on Haunted Chocolatier without any plans to change that for the time being.”
Playtonic’s bright and shiny remaster of Yooka-Laylee will come to PS5, PC, Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S on October 9. For the Switch 2 version, Playtonic has opted to release the full game on an actual cartridge, rather than relying on game-key card downloads, which is a heartwarming throwback to the way things were. Digital versions of the game cost $30, while the physical edition is $50.
More than 450 developers with Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo team have voted to form a union with the backing of the Communications Workers of America. The CWA is also overseeing the ZeniMax QA union, and is backing recent organization efforts by the Overwatch 2 crew and Blizzard’s Story and Franchise Development group. (Am I the only person who wants that to be Story and Song development? Probably.) The CWA says more than 3,500 Microsoft employees have organized under its banner.
Diablo producer Kelly Yeo is an organizing committee member of the latest Blizzard union and she said in a statement that multiple rounds of sweeping layoffs at Microsoft prompted the organization efforts.
“With every subsequent round of mass layoffs, I’ve witnessed the dread in my coworkers grow stronger because it feels like no amount of hard work is enough to protect us,” Yeo said. “This is just the first step for us joining a movement spreading across an industry that is tired of living in fear.”
It feels like nowadays, for every unionization story, there are at least two tales of layoffs. This was sadly true in recent weeks, with news of mass firings at Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics and Civilization team Firaxis. An unknown number of people were fired from Crystal Dynamics and it’s unclear if the cuts were tied to the recent cancellation of The Initiative, which Crystal Dynamics was helping reboot. The Initiative was canceled as part of Microsoft’s huge cuts to its gaming segment in July (which followed similarly large losses the year before, and so on). Crystal Dynamics is still owned by Embracer Group and is working on a new Tomb Raider installment.
After unleashing Civilization VII on the masses in February, Firaxis has also laid off an undisclosed number of developers in the name of studio restructuring. Firaxis is owned by 2K, which recently canceled a remake of the original BioShock and sent Cloud Chamber’s new BioShock title back to an even-deeper circle of development hell. Meanwhile, Take-Two Interactive, the company that controls all of this, is reporting healthy financials and expectations to grow in the second half of 2025. Grand Theft Auto VI is on its way, after all.
I swear, if the release trailer for Ghost Story Games’ Judas doesn’t include the Lady Gaga song, I will riot by myself.
Following all of that weird BioShock news out of 2K, Ken Levine decided to remind everyone that his game Judas is still in development and even has key art. His post on the PlayStation Blog outlines some of the relationship mechanics in Judas, relating them partly to the Nemesis system from Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, which has me all kinds of excited. And, yeah, the new picture looks cool, too.
The Silksong corner
The day of its release, Hollow Knight: Silksongsinglehandedly crashed multiple game storefronts including Steam, the Nintendo eShop and the Xbox Store. The marketplaces recovered, but players haven’t — the bulk of the post-launchdiscourse has focused on whether the game is too hard, a suggestion that I find baffling as someone who does not enjoy punishing metroidvanias like Silksong. With this brand of game, I was under the impression that if it’s beatable, it’s not too hard. It’s mechanically precise, tricky, twitchy and super-duper challenging — isn’t that exactly what you masochists want?
Then again, Team Cherry’s first update for the game includes a “slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses” including Moorwing and Sister Splinter, so what do I know?
The Flame Fatales speedrunning event, which features women and femmes playing a bunch of awesome games very quickly, is underway and runs through Sunday, September 14. Check it out here!
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Have a tip for Jessica? You can reach her by email, Bluesky or send a message to @jesscon.96 to chat confidentially on Signal.
Oliver Brandt is a Contributing Pop Culture Writer based in Tasmania, Australia. Their focus is reporting on video games, film, and TV. They have extensive knowledge of video game history and communities both in Australia and abroad, animated films and television shows, and international cinema. Oliver joined Newsweek in 2024 and has previously worked at Men’s Journal, Parade, and more. They are a graduate of Curtin University. You can get in touch with Oliver by emailing o.brandt@newsweek.com. You can find them on X and Bluesky @chocobalt. Languages: English.
While fans have been loving the sequel to the beloved metroidvania Hollow Knight, many have noted its intense difficulty, especially in the early game. In response to the early-game difficulty, developer Team Cherry has revealed that the game’s first patch is on the way, and it’s set to make the game easier for new players.
Protagonist Hornet faces off against multiple enemies in a promotional screenshot for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Protagonist Hornet faces off against multiple enemies in a promotional screenshot for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Team Cherry
The first post-release patch for Hollow Knight: Silksong is currently available on Steam in the public beta branch of the game, and is expected to roll out to other platforms mid next week. The update brings a host of bug fixes, including some soft locks in the early and late game, and Team Cherry says all fixes will apply retroactively, so if you’re stuck or something is broken, you can just wait for the update to fix it.
The more exciting part for some fans is the tweaks to difficulty in the early game. Among the fixes includes a reduction in difficulty for two early game bosses, Moorwing and Sister Splinter, as well as a reduction in damage from Sandcarvers. There’s also a reduction in the cost of a few mid-game benches, and an increase in rosary rewards from a couple of in-game activities.
Below are the full patch notes for Silksong’s first patch, courtesy of the Silksong Steam blog.
Hollow Knight: Silksong First Update Patch Notes
Fixed situation where players could remain cloakless after Slab escape sequence.
Fixed wish Infestation Operation often not being completable during the late game.
Fixed wish Beast in the Bells not being completable when Bell Beast is summoned at the Bilewater Bellway during the late game.
Fixed getting stuck floating after down-bouncing on certain projectiles.
Fixed courier deliveries sometimes being inaccessible in the late game.
Fixed craft bind behaving incorrectly when in memories.
Fixed Lace tool deflect soft-lock at start of battle in Deep Docks.
Fixed Silk Snippers in Chapel of the Reaper sometimes getting stuck out of bounds.
Fixed Claw Mirrors leaving Hornet inverted if taking damage during a specific moment while binding.
Fixed Snitch Pick not giving rosaries and shell shards as intended.
Removed float override input (down + jump, after player has Faydown Cloak).
Slight difficulty reduction in early game bosses Moorwing and Sister Splinter.
Reduction in damage from Sandcarvers.
Slight increase in pea pod collider scale.
Slight reduction in mid-game Bellway and Bell Bench prices.
Slight increase in rosary rewards from relics and psalm cylinders.
Increase in rosary rewards for courier deliveries.
Various additional fixes and tweaks.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
After years of anticipation (no, really), the Hollow Knight sequel finally sings its way to the surface on September 4. Silksong was first announced in 2019, and after sporadic details and development promises, the DLC-turned-full-release was given a formal release date just two weeks ago — causing mayhem like the Eras Tourmovie for other game releases. The indie game sequel follows Hornet, a former princess introduced in the first game, as she explores the new land of Pharloom with similar fighting mechanics to the original game, as well as the newly added quests. You can pinch yourself to check if you’re not dreaming; you can finally download the game after a years long wait— well, sort of.
Despite being released on multiple platforms, the $20 game was hard to play on launch. The game’s Steam page crashed several hours into its release; gamers have also reported crashes from the Nintendo eShop, the PlayStation Store, and the Xbox Store (including game pass downloads). However, plenty of players made it through the hell of the crashes, as it’s currently the most purchased game and the third most played game of the day on Steam, with over 400,000 concurrent players. Even if you have no plans to play the game, you might still be affected by its passionate fan base. Young Horses, creators of the hit game Octodad, are “delaying” their work until later this month so they have time to play the game. Surely, there are plenty of other gamers who are having slightly less productive work days because of Hornet; they probably just aren’t as upfront about it.
After six years of waiting, Team Cherry’s long awaited Hollow Knight sequel, Silksong, launched globally today at 10 am eastern. Unfortunately, fans may have to wait a little longer to play the action-adventure game. Online retailers such as the Xbox and PlayStation stores, Steam, and Nintendo eShop, are rife with loading screens and error messages as people rush to buy it.
On Steam, players trying to add the game to their cart or complete their purchase are being met with the same message: an image of a frustrated blob with the caption “Something went wrong.” Switch players on Bluesky say the eShop hangs on loading screens or error messages. On the PlayStation store, the game appears to have disappeared entirely for some players, while it’s not available to purchase for others. According to Verge reporter Tom Warren, fans trying to buy the game on Xbox Game Pass should remote install it via the console’s website.
In lieu of playing the game, many fans are turning to social media to vent their frustrations.
“STEAM, LET ME PLAY SILKSONG,” posted one Bluesky user. “First boss of #Silksong is really tough,” wrote another with a picture of Steam’s error message. Twitch streamers trying to play the game for their viewers are running into similar problems. On X, user @HaydenSchiff posted a screenshot of many streamers encountering the same Steam error message.
Players who’ve successfully managed to buy the game, meanwhile, are gloating about their success. “God’s favorite,” wrote one with a picture of Silksong on their Switch 2.
Silksong, announced in 2019, is the followup to Team Cherry’s debut title, Hollow Knight. A winning combination of Dark Souls-like difficulty and cartoonish charm, Hollow Knight became an award-winning indie darling that sold over 15 million copies—an impressive feat for its tiny, Australia-based developer. While the team initially planned to release Silksong as downloadable content, the project eventually ballooned into a full-fledged title that took seven years to finish.
Despite years of few updates and little news, the Silksong fanbase has remained active. Some fan communities have even turned waiting into a game, while others dedicated their time to (mostly non-existent) daily news updates.
The weeks leading up to Silksong, available today for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, have been chaotic for both gamemakers and fans. After developers made a surprise announcement in August that the game would launch in two weeks, at least half a dozen fellow indie developers delayed their own games to make way. “Dropping the GTA of indie games with 2 weeks notice makes everyone freak out,” wrote one developer, Demonschool developer Necrosoft on Bluesky after announcing its own delay.
The game’s popularity is undeniable. As of writing, Silksong is Steam’s top-selling game; it already has more than 100,000 concurrent players on that platform alone. For the rest still waiting to buy a copy, it turns out years of waiting may have been good practice for launch day.
Initially, Silksong was planned as downloadable content for the original game, before its creators expanded it into a full-fledged sequel. In August, when developers surprise-announced that the game would launch in just two weeks, at least half a dozen other indie developers immediately delayed their own games to clear the way. “Dropping the GTA of indie games with 2 weeks notice makes everyone freak out,” wrote Demonschool developer Necrosoft on Bluesky on its delay.
Despite a seven-year development cycle, excitement for the game never died down. Reddit user The_Real_Kingsmould tells WIRED the community has “largely kept itself afloat with its insanity and the occasional crumb of news.” The posts, the jokes—it’s all “that feeling of being a part of something,” he says.
“When [there’s no news], everyone’s sad, and then everyone goes insane and starts spouting misinformation without batting an eye,” he says. “When there’s news it’s the happiest day of your life. There’s hype posts EVERYWHERE. All your hope in Team Cherry is restored.”
Over the years, the community has passed the time by role-playing with the game’s lore. There was the sacrifice era, where a handful of prominent users were chosen as “dreamers,” a nod to characters in Hollow Knight who traded the waking world for eternal sleep, and a Hollow Knight. These community members were then “sealed away”—banned from the subreddit, as it were—and are only allowed to return after the game launches.
Other memorable moments in the subreddit include a play on shapeshifter Nosk, one of the original game’s hidden bosses. Fans began pretending they’d encountered fake copies of Silksong around the world, granted to them by “Snosk,” a version of the bug with a copy of Silksong for a head. “Pretty fast there were a lot of PSA’s going around: Do not approach or attempt to pick up any copy of Silksong outdoors, or one that isn’t yours,” The_Real_Kingsmould tells WIRED of the in-joke. “But there were also users trying to deny the existence of Snosks (having been “overtaken”), claiming the copies are safe and all you have to do is go outside.”
This particular campaign came to a head after moderators called for anti-Snosk fan art to “banish the Snosks for good,” he says. People began pumping out art of the subreddit specifically, not the game, he says, until it was enough: “After a short while the Snosks were gone.”
The subreddit has built its own lore over the years. Even today, users in the subreddit have flair that gives them faction labels like doubter, denier, or “beleiver,” which is purposefully misspelled because “”there is no lie in be[lie]ving.”
Stark says Silksong is fertile ground for role-playing fans because the game’s lore is so deep. “Hollow Knight on the surface kind of reads like a [Dark Souls] game, because the lore is a bit inscrutable until you get really deep into it,” she says. “It sometimes talks in riddles. It takes a long time to get to all of the pieces, and sometimes the pieces really rely on the player’s interpretation.”
The fan communities are no different. “Subreddit users together have created their own interpretations from these pieces of lore that are strange and playing in layers,” Stark says.
With Silksong’s global release imminent across Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, the communities will soon shift their attention from waiting to playing.
If the game is as dense as Hollow Knight, there will be months, if not years, of discoveries and theories for fans to tear through on Reddit. Others will enter new chapters of their own lives.
Araraura’s time tracking Silksong news with YouTube updates is coming to an end. He’ll shut down the YouTube channel: “nothing to look forward to anymore, so no new videos,” he says. He feels wistful at times about that, after getting so used to uploading videos to the channel, but he’s ready. “I think I’ve finally made peace with that,” he says. “Now I’m just really, really excited for Silksong.”
If much of that description sounds familiar to modern politics and culture, Matsuno would agree. The conclusion of his post reads: “Now in 2025—a time when inequality and division are still deeply rooted in our society—I offer this story once again.”
We Can Rebuild It
The Ivalice Chronicles may maintain the look of the original game, but it’s a re-creation developers had to complete from the ground up. The master data files and the source code don’t exist anymore; it didn’t become common practice in game development to hold on to those resources until later, meaning its team had to rebuild those core pieces. Maehiro says the team listed out the ways the first game felt “a little clunky or less intuitive,” then reconstructed those elements with improvement in mind. Part of that includes tweaks to the way battles play out, like a clear combat timeline for players to see whose turn is next.
The director says that the team considered different ways to modernize Final Fantasy Tactics, including following in the footsteps of Square Enix’s massive, multiyear remake of the original Final Fantasy VII. “It was an option on the table that we considered—to give [Final Fantasy Tactics] a full remake, as we did for FFVII,” he says. It’s one way to effectively revive an old game, he says, and it made sense to reinvent FFVII as it exists today. Once a single game with an ambitious plot, the experience has been broken out into three individual titles to do the original story service. Its blocky, PS1-era cast has been transformed into high-fidelity characters roaming a vast world. The first game, Final Fantasy VII Remake, for example, takes place entirely in Midgar—a city players where spent only a couple of hours in the original.
For The Ivalice Chronicles, however, Maehiro vetoed that idea. Part of the allure of the original he says, was “the very charming pixel style artwork, as well as the 3D isometric maps you’re on for battles. I felt those were things that gave Final Fantasy Tactics its identity.” Maehiro didn’t want to lose that.
Other versions of Final Fantasy Tactics have been ported over or made for older consoles. That includes Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions, a 2007 title made specifically for the PlayStation Portable. Notably, it added new jobs and extra playable characters, such as Balthier from Final Fantasy XII. Because these features were not part of the original game, Maehiro and his team opted to leave them out.
“Our first and foremost goal here really was to recreate the original game,” Maehiro says. That being said, he knows fans want features introduced in War of the Lions. Maehiro says that while he “cannot make any promises,” there’s a possibility the team will explore adding additional content if the game does well.
More than that, Maehiro says, it could lead to more games down the line. “If [The Ivalice Chronicles] were to become a success,” he says, “I do feel that that would then lead to discussions around potentially bringing out sequels, for example, or newer tactical RPGs.”
The Nintendo 64 was a fantastic console, home to generation-defining games such as Super Mario 64 and GoldenEye 007. With its four built-in controller ports, it revolutionized multiplayer gaming in front of the TV, and it was the first mainstream console to introduce an analog stick, essential for navigating the burgeoning 3D worlds the medium was starting to deliver.
Unfortunately, the controller it did all that with was an abomination, an unholy three-pronged monstrosity that earned my lifelong disdain. Fast-forward roughly three decades, though, and third-party peripheral maker 8BitDo has improved on the original N64 pad in almost every way with its new 64 Bluetooth Controller.
Nostalgia Upgraded
Photograph: Matt Kamen
8BitDo’s pad is chiefly designed for the Analogue3D, an upcoming field programmable gate array (FPGA) console set to play original N64 cartridges, but it can be paired to practically any Bluetooth-enabled device, from PCs to smartphones to Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 consoles, where it can be used to play the digital N64 game library included for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers.
Aesthetically, traditionalists may lament the lack of the original N64 pad’s pops of color, but they have a sleek elegance to them. Intended to mirror the similarly monochrome Analogue3D, 8BitDo’s efforts match perfectly, while also looking like a fitting companion to Nintendo’s official Switch 2 Pro Controller. Functionally, this takes everything that made Nintendo’s original controller so groundbreaking and repackages it into a modern unit that, crucially, fits into the average human’s two hands. Every input is present and accounted for, accurate down to icons and fonts.
The 64 Bluetooth Controller massively improves the orientation, though. The original Z-Trigger, once on the underside of the official controller’s middle prong, is now two shoulder buttons, sitting where the L2/R2 triggers do on a PlayStation grip, while the analog stick is shunted to the left, comparable to an Xbox controller’s left stick. The result is that every input is within easy reach, eliminating the need to juggle your grip. It also introduces some welcome 21st-century upgrades, like making the thumbstick drift-proof thanks to Hall effect tech, and baking in haptic feedback, eliminating the need for a separate Rumble Pak.
Stick ’Em Up
Photograph: Matt Kamen
The thumbstick is the star, feeling incredibly precise thanks to both Hall effect sensors and retaining the eight-way “gate” at its base, the octagonal notches allowing it to snap satisfyingly into place. Expect effortless combos in 1080° Snowboarding, precise shots in Perfect Dark, and smooth flying in Starfox. The staff of the stick is also wider, shorter, and made of metal, making it feel far sturdier than that of the original pad. While the top of the stick reproduces the trio of raised concentric rings and subtle concave dip for your thumb to rest on, it’s rubberized now, rather than slippery plastic, making for a surer grip.
Editor’s note:This article contains descriptions and an image of hate speech found on the Roblox servers and might be triggering to some readers.
In Roblox, one of the world’s largest online gaming platforms, users join to play, create, and be themselves in a virtual world — but some might be there for a more insidious purpose: to expose youth to hate speech.
Players of “Spray Paint!” — a popular game on Roblox, with over a billion visits, in which players skate and create graffiti art in a virtual skatepark setting — can bypass moderation by spray painting hate messages across walls, ramps and other virtual game settings, a CBS News investigation found.
CBS News documented dozens of swastikas and at least a dozen instances of hate speech targeting minority groups across Spray Paint! servers, which host multiplayer games. There are millions of games on Roblox where players can join servers to play with friends and strangers.
What’s happening in “Spray Paint!” is not uncommon — nor surprising. Roblox currently has at least 18 active lawsuits pending nationwide due to inappropriate content found on its games, attorney Matthew Dolman, whose firm is representing individuals in cases against Roblox, told CBS News.
Roblox said in an emailed statement to CBS News that its 24/7 moderation system closely monitors the platform, and that the company takes “swift action against any content or users found to be in violation.”
However, hate speech still appears in Roblox games, like Spray Paint, CBS News found. “Within three minutes of getting in there for the first time, I also saw a swastika,” said Rachel Franz, the early childhood advocacy program director at the nonprofit Fairplay, which advocates for children’s online safety.
Hate can run rampant across various Roblox games. A group called Active Shooter Studios recreates school shootings at Columbine, Uvalde and Parkland and consistently evades efforts to take down recreations, the Anti-Defamation League found in an April report. A lawsuit filed this month alleges that Roblox hosted hundreds of Sean “Diddy” Combs-themed games, as well as more than 900 user accounts registered across Roblox with variations of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s name.
“Roblox is fully aware that these experiences pervade its app, and it allows them to continue to exist unchecked despite the ability to control or eliminate them,” the lawsuit alleges, and said the effects on children can be devastating.
Last week, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill filed a child protection lawsuit against the platform.
“Roblox is overrun with harmful content and child predators because it prioritizes user growth, revenue, and profits over child safety,” Murrill, a Republican, alleged in a press release. “Every parent should be aware of the clear and present danger posed to their children by Roblox so they can prevent the unthinkable from ever happening in their own home.”
In a statement to CBS News, Roblox said, “We share Attorney General Murrill’s urgency to help keep kids safe because safety has always been our priority,” adding that it looks forward to working with Murrill to help keep children safe.
“We share the critically important goal of keeping kids safe online and any assertion otherwise is categorically untrue,” Roblox’s statement said. “We hold ourselves to the highest standard and work constantly to remove violative content and bad actors.”
What children are encountering
Predators can troll Roblox, experts say, and other similar gaming platforms, to recruit young players for extremist groups or possibly sexual exploitation.
Children and teens make up more than half of Roblox players, and about 40% of players are under the age of 13, according to a 2024 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Roblox attracts an average of 97.8 million daily active users.
“If you are a predator, it’s very clear that there are opportunities to access vulnerable folks on these platforms,” Franz said.
When children play the Spray Paint! game, they might see slurs targeting Black and Jewish people and phrases like “KKK” and “Jew” etched in graffiti on virtual brick walls. In one server, there were over 14 instances of this speech, CBS News found, as well as a reference to the “Third Reich.”
The phrase “I can’t breathe,” the words uttered by George Floyd, who died in 2020 in police custody by an officer later convicted of murder, was written across a virtual brick wall in one server. Some servers had graphic sexual drawings, and in another, there was an instance of suicidal language, CBS News found.
This is an image of hate speech found on the Roblox servers and might be triggering to some readers.
CBS News
Roblox’s chat feature, available in some games, has a filtering system that prevents inappropriate content, like discriminatory speech, from being visible, but in Spray Paint! players can bypass filtering mechanisms by scrawling text via the game’s paint feature as opposed to writing in the chat, where content is filtered.
Users must enter their birthday when creating a Roblox account, but the platform doesn’t require authentication, meaning adults can pose as children and children can pose as older than they actually are. Kids can converse with other players via the voice chat feature — which has a minimum age requirement of 13 —but also doesn’t require age verification.
Roblox says the company has implemented what it calls a “trusted flagger program,” where trusted partners can report “terrorist content” in an effort to crack down on hate messages.
Roblox also says on its website that content uploaded to be incorporated into games is evaluated in a multi-step review process to screen for child sexual abuse material and other inappropriate content. If it is identified as fodder for possible child sexual abuse, Roblox says it is automatically reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit organization focusing on finding missing children and reducing child exploitation.
Roblox has developed an artificial intelligence system that the company says helped submit about 1,200 reports of potential attempts at child exploitation to NCMEC — and last year, Roblox submitted 24,522 reports to NCMEC overall.
Roblox says it has a human review team continuously evaluating flagged games and encourages users to report concerning activity. Spray Paint! players have the option to play in “safe mode,” which allows them to only view art created by other players who are on their “friends” list in the app.
A Roblox spokesperson told CBS News in an emailed statement that “while no system is perfect,” the company has implemented safeguards including “restrictions on sharing personal information, links, and user-to-user image sharing, as well as content maturity [l]abels and parental controls.”
“We share with our community the critically important goal of keeping everyone safe online and ensuring users have positive experiences on Roblox that align with our strict Community Standards,” the statement said, adding, “We continuously innovate to deter bad actors and have launched over 50 safety features since last year.”
Despite efforts to curb extremism and the targeting of young players, experts and CBS News found that protections remain easy to override.
“There’s a larger question of how you regulate and moderate something that is supposed to encourage creativity and freedom of expression, but actually ends up introducing some really unsafe and truly harmful and disgusting practices,” Franz said.
A double-edged sword
Allegations in several cases suggest Roblox has also been used to exploit teens and children. A Florida teenager was arrested in April for allegedly targeting children on Roblox, where he would demand child sexual abuse material over text messages or the messaging platform Discord. In Texas, a lawsuit filed in April alleges a 13-year-old girl was groomed and sexually exploited on Roblox and later, Discord. Roblox has recently been hit by a spate of lawsuits with similar claims. Dolman said his firm currently has seven cases and is investigating 400 more. Another firm filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Roblox and Discord representing over 400 people.
A man in California was arrested in April on kidnapping and sexual misconduct charges in connection with a 10-year-old he is believed to have met through Roblox. Last year, a woman in Florida was arrested for allegedly using Roblox to instruct a 10-year-old to kill an infant by dropping the 2-month-old on a tile floor. The infant was seriously injured.
When asked for a response to the lawsuits, Roblox said in an email that the company is “deeply troubled” by any incident that endangers its users, noting that safety is a top priority.
“Roblox is committed to empowering parents and caregivers to help ensure a safe online experience for their children.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced in April that he issued a subpoena to Roblox.
“There are concerning reports that this gaming platform, which is popular among children, is exposing them to harmful content and bad actors,” he said in a press release. “We are issuing a subpoena to Roblox to uncover how this platform is marketing to children and to see what policies they are implementing—if any—to avoid interactions with predators.”
Open-world games like Spray Paint!, where users can roam a virtual space in relative anonymity, can be a double-edged sword. Doris Chang, a psychologist and associate professor at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work, says that these spaces can be affirming for queer youth.
“They can be whoever they want. Gender fluidity is really common,” Chang said, adding it can also put those groups at risk for exposure to hate speech and predatory individuals.
“You’re just interacting with people that you wouldn’t normally interact with. It’s completely wide open,” Chang said.
Chang said when children play a game like Spray Paint! without parental supervision, they may have to navigate problematic scenarios that might be confusing or upsetting.
“It brings up the larger question about how much parents know about what their kids are getting exposed to online,” she said. “Broadly speaking, Roblox is just one corner of the internet that our kids are navigating.”
Looking for a healthy dose of gaming nostalgia? You can save $15 on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, freshly remastered for basically every gaming console, including the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s relatively uncommon for newer titles to get a discount, especially on the latest Nintendo console, so this is a good time to scoop them if you’re interested.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4
If you’ve never played a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game, you’re missing out! The first game dropped in 1999, and they have steadily evolved over the years with bigger tricks, more points, and an ever-growing cast of real professional skaters. In recent years, Vicarious Visions and Iron Galaxy have buckled up the proverbial helmet and remastered the early games in the series, starting with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 in 2020.
Notably, the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 remasters don’t include the career mode, a big shift made by the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 that gave quests to NPCs around each map. Instead, both games use more traditional two-minute rounds, with a list of objectives to try and complete during that time.
There are three entirely new maps for the remaster, my favorite of which is set on a huge pinball machine, complete with an even larger Tony Hawk looking down on you as you skate. I like that it feels unique and new, while still having that fun, slightly off-kilter vibe that made the games great in the first place.
All of the existing maps have been revamped as well, with updated textures and models, new objectives, and fun little Easter eggs to find as you play. In addition to create-a-skater, and the original cast of pro skaters, there are new additions as well, like Andy Anderson, Bam Margera, and even Doom Guy from Doom. There are even remixed soundtracks with both classic tracks and new songs that fit the THPS vibe.
After beating the career mode, there’s a surprising amount of replayability here, with tons of extra challenges and achievements to complete. I sunk countless hours in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 working on the “Get There” challenges, trying to perform precise combinations of tricks and gaps on each map. I’ve already worked my way through the regular and pro goals for each map in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, and I’m slowly chiseling away at the hardest challenges in the game, which ask for combos in the millions of points.
If you’ve been hunting for a new GPU, you already know that getting one for its suggested retail price isn’t guaranteed. High demand, low supply, and a constantly shifting economic space have caused the new 50 Series graphics cards to hit the market well above the expected price, at least at launch.
Thankfully, the situation seems to be stabilizing a bit, as indicated by this deal on PNY’s overclocked example of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, which is available on Amazon for its MSRP of $750. Even better, your purchase includes a copy of the upcoming Borderlands 4, potentially saving you $70 if you were planning on picking it up.
PNY
Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB Overclocked
I spent some time with the Asus Prime version of the RTX 5070 Ti and was seriously impressed with its performance at multiple resolutions. It managed to stay above 120 frames per second at 1080p in almost every game I tested, making it a great choice for gamers who are still at the lower resolution and looking to max out their screen’s refresh. It also beat 90 fps in all of the test games at 2,560 x 1,440, which is great news for new system builders targeting the higher resolution. This version is overclocked by PNY, which should give you a couple more percentage points on these numbers.
Screenshot courtesy of Brad Bourque
As part of the newest generation of Nvidia GeForce GPUs, you also get access to DLSS 4 and the landmark feature, Multi-Frame Generation. The RTX 5070 Ti can leverage machine learning to produce up to three extra frames between each traditionally rendered frame, shooting your frame rate into the stratosphere in exchange for a bit of quality. While I wouldn’t rely on it for every game, I did an in-depth look in my review of the RTX 5090 Founders Edition (7/10, WIRED Recommends) that shows some of the effects it has on both image quality and frame rate.
If $750 sounds like a lot to spend, make sure to check out my full GPU buying guide, which lays out the different options from the latest generation of both Nvidia and AMD cards. As soon as you move past those sub-$400 budget cards, I think the RTX 5070 Ti offers the best balance of performance and price as an upgraded pick. It’s rare to see these cards listed for retail, and the included copy of Borderlands 4 really sweetens the deal, assuming you were going to play anyway, so I wouldn’t sleep on this if you’ve been considering an upgrade.
CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif., March 6, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– GameClass, the groundbreaking EdTech startup that transforms popular video games into interactive educational lessons and assessments, has officially partnered with the Network of Academic and Scholastic Esports Federations (NASEF) South Africa to bring innovative video game education software to over 200 schools across Africa.
The partnership includes ambitious plans to expand support to up to 500 schools and 10,000 students across Africa by the end of 2025, bringing transformative video game education to even more classrooms.
“Our visions aligned perfectly,” said Skyler Scarlett, founder and CEO of GameClass, a two-time ABC Shark Tank entrepreneur. “This partnership marks the beginning of rapid global expansion, something rarely seen for early-stage EdTech startups.”
Scarlett attributes GameClass’s momentum to a world-class team, including CTO Naresh Gupta, who has worked for Microsoft, led research as VP for Samsung Korea, and holds 25 patents.
“We built GameClass over two years, conducting over 1,000 interviews with teachers and EdTech leaders,” Scarlett explained. “We believe video games are one of the most valuable educational tools in the world. Our platform and software makes integrating video game education extremely applicable, effortless and time-efficient.”
Imagine learning about potential energy as Spider-Man swings between skyscrapers or discussing ancient civilizations through the landscapes of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. GameClass focuses on popular video games that students love, transforming entertainment into powerful educational experiences that make learning more engaging and memorable. The platform has been tested across all grade levels, and the results are clear: students are more engaged than ever.
“It’s hard to forget probability when you learn it through Mario Kart,” Scarlett said. “There’s something special about mastering subjects through your favorite games.”
Marc Joubert, head of NASEF South Africa, emphasized the impact of the partnership:
“GameClass is a game-changer! It aligns perfectly with the learning experiences we aim to create. Students will be more engaged than ever, platform analytics will help identify learning deficiencies early, allowing for targeted interventions to improve student outcomes and teachers will save time with a platform designed to make their lives easier.”
Scarlett, who self-funded GameClass, wasn’t actively seeking investment but remains open to opportunities that accelerate adoption.
“I’ve been blown away by the support,” he said. “Gaming studios and developers are reaching out to support our mission to bring video game education to all students. I believe we’ll partner with several gaming companies to expand GameClass quickly.”
GameClass is also breaking new ground in inclusivity. The platform includes special education features, sign language integration, and AI-driven lesson creation. The interactive editor empowers students to demonstrate subject mastery through video games, fostering creativity and deeper learning.
For more information or to connect with Skyler Scarlett, contact:
About GameClass GameClass is an EdTech platform that turns video games into interactive learning experiences, enabling students to engage with educational content through the games they love.
About NASEF South Africa NASEF, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, provides scholastic esports opportunities to students and educators worldwide, promoting learning, leadership, and career pathways through gaming.
Virtual worlds and online gaming have become a new source of meaning, purpose, and belonging in today’s world, especially for those who struggle with loneliness, social anxiety, or physical disabilities. The new documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin shares the inspiring story of Mats Steen, a young Norwegian man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, who built a meaningful life through the popular game World of Warcraft.
The digital world is sometimes criticized for being a “shallow escape” from real life. However, for many it can be a reliable source of meaning, connection, and purpose—especially for those who may find it difficult to fulfill certain needs and values in their regular daily lives.
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
The 2024 documentary The Remarkable Life of Ibelin is an insightful and heartfelt story on how people find real meaning, connection, and purpose through online gaming and virtual worlds.
Mats Steen, a young Norwegian man living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, found freedom and fulfillment through his digital persona, Ibelin, in the popular video game World of Warcraft. Mats’ physical limitations were significant, but in Azeroth, he experienced life without barriers.
His parents only discovered the extent of his online relationships after his death, realizing that the world they thought was isolating had actually given Mats purpose and belonging. For eight years, Mats was an active member of the Starlight community, a guild within World of Warcraft that became like a family to him. Every evening, Mats would log in to talk, roleplay, and have fun with dozens of online friends. Throughout those years, he dedicated over 20,000 hours to the game and participated in conversations that filled more than 42,000 pages of chat logs.
The documentary used these chat logs to recreate Ibelin’s life within the game, including sentimental and meaningful moments with his online friends Rumour and Reike. Viewers get to witness, through these virtual interactions, how Mats / Ibelin found a place where he was valued not for his physical abilities, but for his personality, humor, and kindness.
Through this digital world, Mats was able to find a sense of purpose and belonging. As he says in the documentary, “Games are my sanctuary. I am safe here, feel valued and respected.”
Finding Love and Romantic Fulfillment in Virtual Space
Due to his physical condition, Mats struggled to find love and romance at school or among real life friends. However, through his virtual avatar Ibelin in the game, Mats was able to experience rare moments of romantic connection that he never thought possible. For once, he was able to connect with people just based on who they are on the inside; as Mats observed, “Everyone looks good in this world, so looks don’t matter, it’s about personality.”
In World of Warcraft, Mats formed a romantic bond with a player known as Rumour. Their connection began with playful moments, like when Rumour stole his hat “just to see what happens,” and gradually grew into a deeper and more significant connection over time. One of the most memorable moments was their virtual kiss, which Mats described as, “The closest thing I’ve ever been to a crush my entire life.” Mats would give her digital gifts and flowers, and she reciprocated by drawing a real-life picture of their characters embracing—a gift Mats would hang in his room.
Real-World Emotional Bonds
These digital connections often spilled over into real lives and deep emotional bonds.
One day, Rumour mysteriously disappeared from the game and stopped playing. Mats only later found out that her parents had taken her computer away due to her poor grades. This sudden disconnect deeply affected Rumour, whose real name was Lisette, and she began struggling with depression because she could no longer connect with her online friends. Mats, finding out about her pain, wrote a heartfelt letter to her parents, pleading with them to return her computer and emphasizing the value of the relationships she had formed in the digital world. His support helped Lisette during one of the most challenging periods she faced, showing how genuine and meaningful digital bonds can be, even outside of virtual spaces.
Another one of his gaming friends, Xenia, known as Reike in the game, struggled to connect with her autistic son. Mats encouraged her to try gaming as a way to bridge the gap, and through World of Warcraft, Xenia was able to find new ways to communicate and bond with her son, including giving each other “virtual hugs,” which was a big deal because her son struggled with human touch in the real world. Xenia also said that her son could now share things with her that he normally couldn’t in person or face-to-face, improving their overall ability to communicate and connect through the shared experience of video games.
These are just a couple examples of how Mats’ digital relationships had significant, positive effects on the real lives of those around him, illustrating the powerful potential of online communities to bring about meaningful change.
Opening Up About His Condition
Mats took a long time to open up about his physical condition to the other members of Starlight. Feeling completely protected behind his virtual persona, Mats could ignore his material reality and didn’t have to worry about people showing him superficial pity or sympathy because of his illness.
This hesitation to open up and be vulnerable unfortunately led to some missed opportunities, including missed phone calls and video chats with his online friends. And during a real-life meetup and party for all the members of Starlight, Mats ended up being one of the few to not attend.
Despite his fears of vulnerability, Mats eventually found the courage to open up as his illness progressed. He shared his fears of dying without meaning anything to anyone with Reike/Xenia, who reminded him of the profound impact he had made on her life and her son’s life. She then listed all the other people he had positively influenced, proving just how meaningful his presence had been over the years.
Ibelin’s Funeral and Legacy
After Mats’ death, the emotional weight of his digital connections became evident. When his parents announced his death on his blog, there was an outpouring of emails filled with love, sympathy, and support for Mats / Ibelin and his family. One email read, “What mattered to Mats was being able to spread joy in our lives. And stuff I learned from his example has changed the way I think about life. I hope that wherever he is, he knows that he’s remembered and treasured, and smiling right now.” Five of his online friends from multiple different countries attended his funeral, showing how deeply these connections extended outside of the virtual world. The Starlight community also organized their own virtual funeral for Ibelin, which has now become an annual tradition to honor his memory.
Studies Supporting the Value of Online Gaming
A well-known study (PDF) by Nick Yee (2006) identified three primary motivations for playing MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games), such as World of Warcraft. Each of these motivations can be seen in Mats’ experience as Ibelin:
Achievement: The drive to accomplish goals, gain recognition, and feel a sense of success. Mats fulfilled important roles within the game, like his ‘investigator job,’ which gave him a sense of duty and made him feel valued and respected as a member of the Starlight team.
Social Interaction: The desire to connect, build relationships, and be part of a community. Mats was an active member of the Starlight community, where he built meaningful friendships both online and offline, including his connections with Reike (Xenia) and Rumour (Lisette).
Immersion: The desire to lose oneself in a fantasy world and experience life through a completely new perspective. Mats immersed himself in his avatar Ibelin and the virtual world of Azeroth, finding freedom from his chronic illness and experiencing life in a way that was uniquely empowering and uplifting.
In another related study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, researchers found that players often experience deep social connections within their gaming communities which can help alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation, especially for those who struggle with social anxiety or shyness. And a study in Computers in Human Behavior indicated that the collaborative nature of online games encourages many pro-social attributes such as improved communication, trust, and shared purpose.
All of these elements are evident in Mats’ story, where his participation in the Starlight community gave him a valued role within a group and elevated his sense of identity and self-worth – all of which are important pillars in building a meaningful life. For individuals facing challenges like physical disabilities or social anxiety, online games can provide an accessible way to fulfill essential psychological needs that may be harder to meet in the physical world.
Feeling Like You Made a Difference Somewhere
One of the most meaningful aspects of Mats’ journey as Ibelin was his desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Despite his fears of dying without leaving a mark, Mats’ impact was undeniable. Through his friendships with Rumour, Reike, and others, he provided emotional support, created lasting memories, and changed lives for the better. His story reminds us that feeling like we have made a difference — whether in the physical or digital world —is a fundamental human need that gives life purpose.
The annual virtual memorials held by the Starlight community, the heartfelt emails his parents received, and the international attendance at his funeral are all powerful symbols of the difference Mats made. His story shows that creating a positive impact on others isn’t just about physical presence, but ultimately the energy you give to others.
Conclusion
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin invites us to reconsider how we view digital spaces and the potential they hold for providing meaning, connection, and purpose. The emotional weight of Mats’ story moved me deeply—I’ll admit that by the end of the documentary I was tearing up a little bit, but that shows how powerful “just digital” relationships can be and how inseparable they are from our broader reality. For Mats Steen, World of Warcraft was more than just a game—it was a lifeline, a place where he could be a stronger and more confident version of himself, find love and romantic connection, and support his friends in a real and tangible way. His story is a powerful reminder that behind every avatar is a real person, and that the connections we form online can be just as enriching and life-changing as those we form in the physical world.
If you’re looking for more insightful documentaries, check out my recommended list of documentaries here.
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It’s the perfect time to start playing cozy games. And by cozy games, I mean the opposite of what you might think. For some, video games are about loud noises, intense competition, and cutthroat leaderboards. The best cozy games embody the opposite feeling. They’re mindless but not uninvolved; inviting but not harrying. They’re meant to evoke feelings of warmth, comfort, and peace. In my opinion, they’re best enjoyed solo alongside a cup of tea.
I’ve always loved cozy games, but the colder months are my favorite time to play them. Take a chance and add a few to your gaming library. It’s important to note that “cozy” is relative—if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy, then it’s cozy. These are my favorites.
Updated November 2024: We’ve updated this guide to reflect the new Stardew Valley update on Nintendo Switch, and double-checked pricing and accuracy throughout.
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We recently told you why the Nintendo 64 controller was actually terrible, contrary to any flawed childhood memories you may have. Now let’s take a look at why the GameCube controller is quite the opposite. In fact, it stands as one of the best joypads Nintendo has ever released, and a brilliant example of how much Nintendo could improve in just one console generation.
Launched alongside the diminutive GameCube in 2001, the controller beautifully refined the inputs of the N64’s. Its main thumbstick and D-Pad were aligned for easy reach, while the four C-buttons of its predecessor evolved into their final form, the C-stick, a long-overdue second thumbstick that allowed for better camera controls.
The awkwardly placed Z-trigger of the N64 became the GameCube’s Z-button, sitting atop the right shoulder trigger, while the left and right triggers themselves curved outwards to naturally hug players’ fingers.
The classic, and much loved, GameCube pad.
Photograph: Courtesy of Nintendo
The GameCube pad also offered some bold design choices of its own, such as the ultra prominent A button, surrounded by satellite B, X, and Y buttons—the latter two returning for the first time since the SNES. The asymmetry is still a bit odd to look at, but mechanically it works marvelously.
Making Mario jump, his raison d’etre, is mapped to that colossal A button in Super Mario Sunshine; it’s the main interaction button for Luigi’s Mansion or The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the shoot button in Metroid Prime. It gently reminded players—and perhaps even developers—how often a single face button dominates control layouts, and how controls can often be simplified to minimize inputs in the first place.
Overall, it was an incredibly ergonomic controller, more comfortable to hold than its predecessor, and a better fit for the grip of homo sapiens—a species which, as previously discussed, evolved to typically have two hands, not three.
Free As a Bird
Nintendo even improved on the GameCube controller just a year later, with the glorious WaveBird model—a wireless upgrade that finally cut the cord for console gaming.
The GameCube wasn’t the first console to introduce a cordless controller—that honor probably, technically, goes to the Atari 2600—but the WaveBird did make the idea finally viable. Many earlier efforts relied on an infrared detector (such as Nintendo’s own NES Satellite, which allowed up to four players to connect to the humble NES from 4.5 meters away), but as the tech required a strict line-of-sight from controller to receiver to work, they often flopped. Others, such as this monstrosity Intel attempted as a wireless PC controller in 1999, required prominent base stations to be installed.
I’m really starting to like ultrawide monitors. I’m the kind of guy who usually prefers to work in full-screen mode to reduce distractions, and a 21:9 aspect ratio is a bit silly for that. But the LG Ultragear 34GS95QE monitor has been persuading me. It’s stylish and dramatic, but it took me a while to realize why this screen resonated.
This Ultragear monitor has an 800R curvature. That number refers to the radius, in millimeters, of the circle the monitor’s curve conforms to, and let me tell you, 800R is a low number for ultrawide monitors. Like really low. That means this monitor is exceptionally curved. The MSI QD-OLED model I tested a while back had a much more subdued 1,800R curvature, which is a more common number for curved monitors.
That made the LG Ultragear striking the moment I pulled it out of the box. The longer I used it, the more it just felt right. It’s not without its annoyances, but now that I’ve used such a curved OLED display, it’s hard to go back.
Perfect Placement
The LG Ultragear 34GS95QE achieves perfect black levels and striking contrast, which isn’t too surprising given its OLED panel. The 800R curve made it feel a little sharper than I was expecting. It took me forever to figure out why, but it’s because the sides of the monitor are physically closer to my eyes.
Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft
That might not sound like a huge deal, but consider how often you’re looking at something other than the center of your screen, especially while gaming. In Overwatch 2, one of my most-played games, the elimination feed is a crucial element that sits in the upper-right corner of the screen. Meanwhile, my health is on the bottom left, and my abilities are on the bottom right. Heck, almost all of the game’s HUD elements are in one of the four corners.
It’s an extremely subtle change, but with curvature this stark, all those elements felt easier for my eyes to focus on. This is likely true in a literal sense, since my eyes are roughly the same distance from every part of the screen, something that’s not quite true of flat-panel displays. Making micro-readjustments in fast-paced games dozens of times a minute can wear on the eye muscles.
Shopping for a PC gamer is a perilous endeavor. What might look like a great sale on a GPU or gaming keyboard can turn out to be a bad deal because of some arcane spec that only the most die-hard forum-dwellers understand. If you’re shopping for the gamer in your life who lives that nerd life, we have a simple, accessible guide to what they might like.
Updated October 2024: We’ve added the LG Ultragear Gaming Monitor, Corsair Scimitar Elite Wireless, Elgato Stream Deck+, Steam Deck OLED, and HyperX Quadcast 2 S.
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The best advice I can give when shopping for a PC gaming enthusiast is simple: If you’re unsure, just ask. Ask if they have a favorite mouse, keyboard, or headset brand they’ve been eyeing. Ask if there’s anything else they’ve been thinking about picking up for themselves. If you’re still not sure, and you don’t want to get them the wrong thing, there’s another one-size-fits-all gift that no PC gamer will dislike: a Steam gift card. With this, the PC gamer in your life will be able to pick out a game from a vast online store. Most popular titles are around $60, so use that as a baseline for how much to add to the card.
We’re in the final stretch of the 2024 presidential election and both sides are pulling out all the stops to get those all-important undecided voters. The Harris/Walz campaign is exploring an unconventional option: a map in Epic Games’ mega online multiplayer hit Fortnite.
The “Freedom Town, USA” map available at 7331-5536-6547 is a little different from the usual Fortnite matches. Forbes senior contributor Paul Tassi played the new map and reported that there aren’t any guns in Freedom Town (probably for obvious reasons). Instead, the game focuses on racing with cars and parkour style. The map also has some campaign signs and decorations for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz’s presidential run.
Video games have become a cornerstone of the Harris/Walz campaign. Harris’ camp has its own Twitch page that’s been broadcasting games like World of Warcraft and the latest Madden title as a way to spark discussions with the voting public. The Fortnite map, however, doesn’t look like it’s doing a great job of getting the message out to players. As of this story’s publishing, the map only has less than 300 active players.
Political ads and recruitment in video games isn’t just limited to this campaign cycle. Then-candidate Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign introduced the concept to politics when they purchased ads in 18 games including Need for Speed: Carbon and Madden NFL 13 on Microsoft’s Xbox Live service and the mobile version of Tetris, according to NPR.
Last week, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) released a expressing its regret that the US Copyright Office’s refused to grant an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to help preserve rare video games. However, the VGHF continued by saying it won’t back down and will continue advocating for improved video game preservation.
For some context, the VGHF had been a longtime supporter of the Software Preservation Network’s (SPN) petition to receive a for the sake of preserving video games, especially for researchers who need access to them and can’t do so due to unavailability. As the only currently legal way is to get a legitimate hard or soft copy of the game and play it on its corresponding console, researchers are encountering difficulties in progressing in their studies. Piracy would be illegal, of course, which is why the SPN is fighting for an exemption. However, there are those who don’t see things this way.
Despite not convincing the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the US Copyright Office, the VGHF doesn’t regret supporting the SPN’s petition for a DMCA exemption. Its goal, and that of several like-minded organizations (as mentioned by ), is to help preserve out-of-print and obscure video games for future generations to enjoy. The petition sought to allow researchers to access these games remotely from libraries and archives.
The ESA pushed hard against the petition, refusing to allow any remote game access whatsoever. ESA members have even ignored calls for comment on the situation, reports. As the VGHF says, researchers are now forced to use “extra-legal methods to access the vast majority of out-of-print video games that are otherwise unavailable.”
Three years of fighting for a cause and not giving up shows that the VGHF remains committed to video game preservation. The organization ended its statement by calling game industry members to support its cause.
