id Software’s second FPS only brought in $5,000, and the studio might not have made Wolfenstein and Doom if the game hadn’t made a dev fall out of his chair: ‘That was just one of the craziest things in a videogame I’d ever seen’

In celebration of the 35th anniversary of Doom developer id Software’s founding, co-founder John Romero has released a video retrospective on one of id’s most unsung games: Catacomb 3-D. The video featured Romero’s own recollections, as well as those of id vets Tom Hall, John Carmack, and Adrian Carmack⁠—no relation on those last two, by…

Read More

2 days after promising it was still ‘worthy of your investment,’ the most successful Kickstarter MMO ever was canceled and its team laid off: ‘The developers and staff acted in good faith and deserved better’

Early access MMO Ashes of Creation has reportedly ceased development, and the entire team behind it at Intrepid Studios has been laid off. With nearly $3.3 million raised in a 2017 campaign, Ashes of Creation was the crowdfunding platform’s most successful MMO fundraiser, and one of its most successful videogame campaigns overall. On Saturday, January…

Read More

‘We need to get the funniest person we can possibly find’: Helldivers 2’s lead writer had seven days to cast John Helldiver, the face of the game’s beloved intro cinematic

Helldivers 2’s gleefully unsubtle satire of American jingoism begins mere moments after you launch the game, as the community-named John Helldiver’s squeaky-clean suburban life is torn apart in front of him by a giant insect. “You could be next,” he warns. “That is, unless you make the most important decision of your life.” Millions of…

Read More

‘What the f**k’: Iron Lung creator puzzled as Markiplier’s film adaptation quadruples its budget in one day, beating out Melania and Send Help at the box office

If you’re a fan of Iron Lung, the indie horror game from Dusk creator David Szymanski, you may want to get used to hearing the following five words: “You mean the Markiplier movie?” YouTube phenom Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach’s long-awaited film adaptation of the 2022 sub sim has finally hit theaters, and it’s already made an…

Read More

‘What the f**k’: Iron Lung creator puzzled as Markiplier’s film adaptation quadruples its budget in one day, beating out Melania and Send Help at the box office

If you’re a fan of Iron Lung, the indie horror game from Dusk creator David Szymanski, you may want to get used to hearing the following five words: “You mean the Markiplier movie?” YouTube phenom Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach’s long-awaited film adaptation of the 2022 sub sim has finally hit theaters, and it’s already made an…

Read More

21 years after release, Guild Wars 1 just got an ‘Ironman’ mode inspired by a venerable community-driven challenge

Guild Wars might look indistinct among the many MMOs that arrived in the wake of World of Warcraft’s genre-defining heyday, but it has relatively little in common with WoW or even EverQuest, the Iron Age big dog in the massively multiplayer space. It’s a unique blend of deckbuilding and ARPG-esque adventuring where you can team…

Read More

The whole Fallout series is at a steep discount on Steam, so if you’ve been waiting 29 years to begin your journey in the wasteland, your time is now

Every Fallout game is meaningfully different from the last, and the series includes some of the best games you’ll ever play. It’s an easy recommendation to anyone with a passing interest in computer roleplay, and even easier now that you can get every game in the series (including the black sheep, Tactics) along with a…

Read More