Xi Rao – Student, Curator, Gamer

Xi Rao is a research assistant and PhD student in Technology and Humanities at Illinois Tech. She is interested in social media analysis, information design, as well as fan study. She studies and curates Twitter discussions on games such as #1ReasonWhy and #1ReasonToBe Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly called Illinois Tech or IIT, is a private, Ph.D.-granting…

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I’ve found my perfect summer game: A stomach-churning horror story about Czech train conductors built over a bafflingly deep simulation of a fictional subway

I’ve developed a bit of a reputation among my coworkers for loving niche, lo-fi indie games that make you feel bad and gross and weird on the inside. I’m flattered to stand out in such a way, but I also don’t ever want to be typecast. Anyway, Brno Transit is a game about being trapped…

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Steam has raked in an estimated $11.1 billion gross revenue so far this year, says market analyst—its ‘biggest-ever six months’

It’s easy to feel like the videogame industry is an endless tornado of shattered dreams and hellfire, and that’s because it is. But it also brings in a lot of money, and our beloved PC gaming space in particular is growing faster than both mobile and console markets. Thursday, a report from Alinea Analytics said…

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College Football 27 to remove microtransactions after player backlash, though EA maintains they were only added to ‘give players more choice’

The latest EA Sports College Football game has finally arrived, which is tantalizing news if you were excited for the series’ hotly anticipated comeback a couple years ago. Less tantalizing is the game’s reception, which so far has been marred by widespread backlash to its egregious microtransactions. Complaining works: in a post on X yesterday,…

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The Elder Scrolls Online’s developer deserved better than to get sucker-punched by Microsoft twice in two years

Terminally Online (Image credit: Future) This is Terminally Online: PC Gamer’s very own MMO column. Every other week, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the genre, interviewing fellow MMO-heads like me, taking a deep-dive into mechanics we’ve all taken for granted, and, occasionally, bringing in guest writers to talk about their MMO of choice. I’m…

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Talking Point: New Ocarina = New amiibo? Nintendo Needs To Make These Zelda Figurines

amiibocarina time. With an Ocarina of Time remake coming later in the year, it’s got me looking at my bookshelf of Ocarina-related knick-knacks and wondering what else Nintendo might have planned for release. Coming in Zelda’s 40th anniversary year, I’m expecting a tempting Limited Edition with a Steelbook, an artbook, a Triforce paperweight – something…

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Handheld gaming PCs are cooked

(Image credit: Future) This month I’ve been: Inducting my daughter into a life of crime in Magical Princess, and constructing cozily cluttered dioramas in Shanty Town—two games I’m confident would also be fantastic on a handheld. The idea of taking serious hardware horsepower on the go was always the dream of my misspent, console-gaming youth….

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After 17 years, a developer has finally revived the dream of Hannah Montana Linux, an open source operating system themed around Hannah Montana

First reported by Tom’s Hardware, Linux-based gaming just got a massive shot in the arm thanks to developer Noah Cagle. That’s right, baby: Hannah Montana Linux is back. Ok, maybe less a “shot in the arm” and more a “completely neutral development”—more on that in a second—but HML is a fully fledged OS capable of…

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