Upon reflection, I have figured out that my favorite genre of game is "just a bunch of weird little guys, running around." Starcraft, Pikmin, Dwarf Fortess, Tropico, Kingdom Rush, Vampire Survivors. Banished, Civilization, Rimworld. Factorio is technically one guy but it counts thanks to bots.

I just backed Mystery Puzzles: What you see is NOT what you build on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/odd...

I've started playing Factorio again, this time with the ultra-complex "masochistic" Pyanodon's overhaul mods. (I personally think Py's reputation is overblown). Some shots of my factory - 1. Iron mining/smelting column 2. (Very) Early-game item mall 3. Simple steam setup 4. Ash storage/disposal

I am excited to announce the Games for Palestine charity bundle page is now live!!! Over 300+ games with proceeds going to UNRWA USA in support of Gaza relief. Thank you to everyone for your support. The bundle launches on Sept 2nd 9am PST. Link: itch.io/b/2979/play-...

In Donkey Kong Bananza, Pauline's idle animations evolve over the course of the game as she learns to be more comfortable around DK. In the beginning, she looks around worriedly. After Sublayer 300, she starts ruffling his hair, and after Sublayer 1400, starts tickling him.

I know this is nothing new but it is always quite funny to me how long, 10+ hour international flights operate. They served us a steak dinner with mashed potatoes and asparagus at like 10 am Munich Time and then turned out all the lights. Almost everyone then went straight to sleep.

The Lune Necklace has arrived. ✨ An exact replica of the one worn by Lune from Clair Obscur: @expedition33.bsky.social and handcrafted in sterling silver from @rocklovejewelry.bsky.social. Only 333 exist worldwide, each engraved with a unique number. Get yours today!: bit.ly/475Eq6q

Press X to follow mom.

I’m just going to say it I love World of Warcraft so much.

Sakurai's great. He talks about how Kirby seems too close to Mario Kart and perhaps too much like it. And it seems like he's about to say "but my game is more focused on speed / combat / minigames" or whatever. But instead he just says basically "yeah, it's weird they're both so close. Anyway..."

Pips #1 Hard 🔴 1:22 www.nytimes.com/games/pips/h...

Played and completed Is This Seat Taken? this weekend. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnpO... Controls a bit clunky on Switch and the core puzzles could have been further explored, but overall I'm a big fan. A surprisingly charming story, good music. Overall very funny and clever.

Thinking about reading Homestuck for the first time.

Arkham, Middle-earth, and more await in the Best of Humble Bundle: WB Play the Legends featuring: - Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition - Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Game of the Year Edition - Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Edition - and more! Supports Raiden Science Foundation | bit.ly/3HctGbY

I started Wheel World last night and cleared about ~70% of it in one sitting. Loved it. It's about ~4-5 hours total maybe: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmL1... It's a perfect Game Pass game imo. Short, chill, vibes-based. Great bike control. Race around and explore. A little simplistic but that's OK.

So apparently, it may turn out that The Wizard of Oz at the Las Vegas Sphere wasn’t entirely made in AI and Google threw the VFX crew under the bus by claiming it was all done by artificial intelligence. If true, then fucking yikes.

Steve Jobs tried to make the reason for Apple’s success as explicitly clear as he could and the second he died Andreesen was like “fuck books”

Beat DK Bananza this weekend. Nintendo has gotten *really* great about endings recently, hasn't it? Epic in scope, genuinely hard but not impossible, satisfying conclusion. Great music. Great game overall. Quick Q - is there even one *real* banana in the game? It's all Banandium Gems...

Holy shit. This guy saved a PNG to a bird. (he drew a bird into a spectrogram, played that sound to a starling, and the starling reproduced it back to him with enough accuracy he got his bird drawing back in their call's spectrogram) www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCQC...

I just backed Flip Voyage + Fliptown: New Frontier on kickstarter www.kickstarter.com/projects/wri...

I just backed Emerald Echoes - A Narrative Puzzle Adventure Game on kickstarter www.kickstarter.com/projects/pos...

Finally back home and digging into Donkey Kong Bananza and I'm just flabbergasted by how impressive this game is. How does Nintendo keep doing this? They're absolutely styling on other developers at this point.

Job Alert Editorial Director, RockPaperShotgun: jobs.jobvite.com/ign/job/oN7r... Guides Writer, RockPaperShotgun: jobs.jobvite.com/ziffdavis/jo... Digital Marketing Manager, IGN Store: www.ziffdavis.com/careers/jobs... Director of Subscriptions: jobs.jobvite.com/ziffdavis/jo...

Started up a new (attempted) F2P Battle Cats account earlier this summer. Made some pretty good progress. Great game. - Completed Empire of Cats w/ all treasures - Into the Future w/ all treasures - Unlocked the Aku Realms - Unlocked all crazed cats - On Stories of Legend Subchapter 24

Smoking spare ribs.

Oh nice, Hempuli (the Baba Is You developer) is releasing his ULTRA SICKO Solitaire anthology on Steam next week. 30 very different solitaire games. Including time travel solitaire. RPG monster-hunting solitaire. Farming solitaire. Binary solitaire. And, of course, Baba Is Solitaire.

Batman: Arkham Knight came out 10 years(!!) ago. I just want to go on record saying I don't need video games to look any better than this. This is good enough. I would take this, forever, to get back to 3-4 year dev cycles for big single-player games.

The Initiative was formed in 2018 and had talent from Blizzard, Insomniac, Rockstar, Naughty Dog, BioWare and others. In 7 years it never shipped a game and has now been shut down. Absolutely wild. Video game development has to change.

Smoking spare ribs.

the Death Stranding 2 video no one asked for

You've been asking us for it for years, and it's finally here. Pick up the review score tees that speak to you most, or if you're a true sicko you can grab a complete 10-pack at a discounted price: bit.ly/44hSO8J #IGNSummerOfGaming

We finally did it: store.ign.com/collections/...

The more I play Mario Kart World the less I like it. It's very good casually with friends as always. But to me it somehow feels both too chaotic/random and too empty at the same time? The courses are too often just long, wide stretches with not much going on.

Orders for the limited-edition DOOM: The Dark Ages IGN Artist Series are now open! Available exclusively on the IGN Store, we have 400 premium-weight art prints ($70) and 100 premium acrylic art prints ($275), measuring a bold 18 x 24 inches. bit.ly/40hQT2z #IGNSummerOfGaming

New Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 tees and a flag have dropped on the IGN Store. With designs featuring the 33 logo, Gestral Fight Club, and fan-favorite Esquie, there’s bound to be something you like. Shop now: bit.ly/4k3SsZT #IGNSummerOfGaming

The Proving Grounds shrines in Zelda TOTK are so good. They're like an collection of excellent mini Eventide Island challenges. Bonus points: They replace (and are far superior to) BOTW's Tests of Strength. I would play a DLC of just 50-100 of these. Like Metal Gear VR missions.

There is a community / public effort to solve every possible 5x5 nonogram (Picross-style) puzzle. There are 25 million possible puzzles and 8 million of them have been solved: pixelogic.app/every-5x5-no... Pick a section from the dropdown menu and solve a few!

I just backed Retro Game Zine Issue 008, 009 & 010 on kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/dar...

Zelda: TOTK is an astonishing upgrade on Switch 2. The original ran at 30FPS w/ frequent dips and frame hitching to 25 FPS or even lower, and ran rocked at 1080p upscaled. Switch 2 version is a locked 60FPS at 2160p resolution and supports HDR. Feels like how the game was meant to be experienced.

Work has been stressful lately so back to watching the original Primitive Technology guy on YT: www.youtube.com/@primitivete... (remember to watch with captions on)

Thanks to everyone that came out to IGN Live and found me to say hello! It means a lot to me. It feels very special to hear from folks that the whole family listens to Game Scoop together (sorry for the swears), or that my perspective on games resonates with someone.

If you are already at or plan to come to #IGNLive this weekend, remember we've expanded the hall! There are gaming stations *upstairs* with Mario Kart 9, new Capcom games, and that game with the huge cat butt 😅

The Death Stranding 2: On the Beach vinyl includes 16 tracks composed by Woodkid for the highly anticipated sequel, as well as 5 bonus tracks. Pre-order now on the IGN Store: https://bit.ly/3SBsz7R

Celebrate the start of #IGNLive with this bundle from our friends at @humblebundle.com#IGNLivefeaturing games like Wartales, The Medium, Slay the Spire, Bloodroots, Old World, and more! #IGNSummerOfGaming

We just expanded our collection of official Expedition 33 merch with several new tees and an official E33 flag: store.ign.com/pages/offici...

If you're in the LA Area come out to IGN Live this weekend. It was a good time last year and is even bigger this year: Game Scoop panel is on Sunday! Use code SCOOP for a discounted ticket. Tickets: www.tixr.com/groups/ign/e... www.ign.com/articles/che...

Stern Pinball will have some of their best machines at #IGNLive June 7-8! Swing by to check out Dungeons & Dragons, John Wick, Jaws, King Kong, Uncanny X-Men, and more! #IGNSummerOfGaming Use the code IGNX to get $10 off your tickets to our event in downtown LA: bit.ly/43ik6v8

I've always had a soft spot for the old XBLA colony games Kingdom of Keflings and World of Keflings. A steam port of World was just announced - huzzah! store.steampowered.com/app/3238580/...

I was not emotionally ready to see the passage of time in the new King of the Hill opening credits. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R189...

We have truly special guests coming to #IGNLive this year! Check out some some of the amazing talent joining us in downtown Los Angeles on June 7-8! Grab your tickets and use the code IGNX for a discount: bit.ly/43ik6v8