Summary Launching today on XBOX. John’s game design and creation process. Sources of inspiration and teamwork during development. Fountains is a solo-developed Metroidvania inspired by Dark Souls and Hollow Knight, built over five years by creator John Pywell. With the game now launching on XBOX, we spoke with Pywell about its development, influences, and unexpected…
Beware the Shotmaker. It’s been two long years since we last heard from Mitchell Hammond, the artist behind the impressive, independently produced “Metal Gear Warhead Activate” animation from 2024. But Hammond has returned, bringing with them a recreation of a familiar scenario from Hideo Kojima’s seminal stealth series. The new clip, titled “Metal Gear Snake…
XEpic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says the European Union’s plan to restrict social media use by children, including a complete ban for anyone under the age of 13, is “terrible for the next generation of humanity” because of the impact it will have on the growth of creativity and expression. Announced today, the EU KIDS…
As reported by IGN and Gabe Follower on X, Backrooms director Kane Parsons shared an Instagram story from Valve’s Bellevue, Washington headquarters on September 16. The director has previously said that Portal was extremely influential on his work, inspiring hopes for a Parsons-led adaptation or some other collaboration with the studio. There’s more circumstantial evidence…
Today, I’m proud to share that Gears of War: E-Day has officially gone gold, marking a major milestone for the team as we enter the final stretch toward launch. On behalf of everyone at The Coalition, I want to thank the many people who helped bring us to this moment, especially the fans. Your passion…
Too cool for Zool? A few months ago, we reported on the news that 33 Games was re-releasing Gremlin’s classic 2D platformer Zool on the Mega Drive. One of the SKUs available was the ‘Ultimate Archive Edition’, which gives Zool fans the chance to properly pledge their allegiance to the ‘Ninja of the Nth Dimension’…
“Get away from this year, you –“. Developer Cold Iron Studios has announced that Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 for the Switch 2 has been delayed into early 2027. As covered by IGN, the team believes that the extra time in the oven will allow it to deliver “the best possible version for the hardware”. No…
The industry obsession with high-resolution graphics has haunted it for years, but given the dire state of things in regards to both layoffs and hardware prices? It’s now starting to be downright incompatible. Raph Koster, a veteran developer who worked on Ultima Online and was the creative director for Star Wars Galaxies—and is now making…
If you remember a very cool project we reported on a few months ago that got Ubuntu Linux up and running on PlayStation 5 consoles, I have some bad news: the lead developer of the open-source project, Andy Nguyen, has stepped away: “I am stepping away from the PS5 scene and stopping all my work…
I’ve got to the point where I grimace when I see a listing for a gaming PC. The memory crisis has so severely gutted pricing and availability that I’ve found my eyes glazing over PCs whenever they’re on the screen in front of me. One glance at our roundup of the best gaming PC deals…