Professor Layton update from Level 5 today, for any fellow Layton obsessives

In today's Game File, three short previews of three intriguing games 1. At Fate's End - a gorgeous family feud 2. Blighted - a brain-eating game whose world levels up, the better you play 3. Crop - an eerie farming game that requires you to dig a grave www.gamefile.news/p/swords-bra...

NEW: Netflix's game controller app, which is used to play multiplayer games you can stream via Netflix, just had a huge weekend For a spell, it was America's most downloaded free iOS app, ahead of ChatGPT, Temu, etc Data suggests it's a recurring hit on holidays www.gamefile.news/p/netflix-vi...

Good morning! I highly recommend anyone who thinks they might possibly interested to apply for my job at IGN. It is a fantastic (UNION!!!!!) job working with the absolute best people. I have loved it with all my heart. You will too. www.ziffdavis.com/careers/jobs...

I enjoyed Screenbound's first world but am even more interested in the second

Screenbound, a so-called 5D game (2D + 3D) is pretty cool. I played it, wrote about it, put some clips of it in today's Game File, including the game's little-seen second world. If the game's first world is a Mario riff, the second's a link's awakening www.gamefile.news/p/screenboun...

So, what do you do when your daughter loves the new Tamagotchi she got during spring break but is now worried about how it will survive if she has to leave it home during the school day? I found one tip about how to “pause” them by setting the time. Is that it?

My Mario Galaxy movie thoughts, copied from Game File reader chat substack.com/chat/66124/p...

25 years ago today, I was in the Houston Astrodome

NEW: A couple of weeks ago, I finally played through Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, so I could speak to the developers about the ending. We certainly did (and I've marked that part with spoilers, if you want to skip) But much wilder things happened. Enjoy... www.gamefile.news/p/the-develo...

As Sony raises the PS5 price by $100+, I'd like to point people to yesterday's Game File. A rare case of a console-maker on the record about this stuff Nex CEO David Lee told me price was potentially going to go up (it did) but was also exploring a switch from increasingly scarce DDR4 RAM to DDR5

That increase equals the cost of one whole annual Game File subscription!

NEW: The Nex Playground is a rare success story in the video game industry right now. They're a hit with families. They're building up tiny 1st-party teams. Game budgets are low. Only problem is RAM. They just had to raise their price. We talked about all of it www.gamefile.news/p/for-nexs-u...

I changed my sweater for this one at the last minute so that Chris and I would have a better color contrast It was a good chat. Lots of Switch stats from @dringo.bsky.social, while I googled for the avg. length of a dog walk (I'm a cat person and the results of my search reinforced that choice)

It might be a good time to point out that the Switch version of Ubisoft's 2018 Starlink: Battle for Atlas--which does not require toys to play--doubled as a pretty good Star Fox game. And it's still the newest Star Fox adventure available kotaku.com/theres-a-lot... www.nintendo.com/us/store/pro...

82 of the 1000+ workers laid off by Epic this week worked in Washington State, which is among the most transparent with these situations. Which is why we can see those 82 cuts by job title Layoffs included: - 2 senior gameplay programmers - 1 director, LiveOps - 1 senior counsel, employment & labor

It's always possible to state things more clearly. To wit, a reader asked if I was going to be using ChatGPT or other gen AI like that for my reporting. (Said they'd prefer to cancel their sub if I planned to.) The short answer is no. The longer answer is here: www.gamefile.news/p/whoops-cha...

I wan't planning to publish an edition of Game File today. Then I had an idea. But I didn't have the bandwidth to do this idea. A thought: Was this the moment ChatGPT could help me commit some journalism? So I asked it to. Then it screwed it up. Repeatedly. www.gamefile.news/p/whoops-cha...

NEX is raising the price of the Playground motion-controlled game console from $249 to $299, effective April 1. I was writing up my recent interview with them for tomorrow's Game File when I saw the change. Timely, given we discussed RAM issues and their options www.nexplayground.com/blog/nex-pla...

Given the new variable pricing for Nintendo games, they should add a tier where they just send you a print-out of the source code and you have to type it in. Like I used to do with my C64 and RUN Magazine back in the day. Maybe $30 for that version?

More layoffs today: PlayStation is closing Dark Outlaw Games, a studio formed last year by former Call of Duty lead Jason Blundell (his previous PlayStation studio, Deviation, was shut down in 2024). PlayStation is also making other cuts including in mobile development. Around 50 people laid off.

As noted in today's Game File, an Epic rep told me the company will have just over 4,000 employees after today's cuts In 2023, Epic cut 830 workers from a headcount of just over 5,000 That suggests significant hiring since then, reversed to cuts today Round-up: www.gamefile.news/i/191981032/...

NEW: AI is coming for video game leakers At GDC, I saw impressive demos from a company called EchoMark, which is pitching its anti-leak tools to the game industry "You probably don’t like us,” the company founder said when I introduced myself as a games reporter www.gamefile.news/p/video-game...

Always heartwarming to see a game on Steam finally break through and find its audience after years of struggle

NEW: At GDC, I asked Blue Prince lead designer Tonda Ros to pick the game's best and worst puzzles. The former was easy for him. The latter was tricky, and led him to telling me about a puzzle he might tweak in a patch No big spoilers. Just puzzle talk: www.gamefile.news/p/best-worst...

Today's Game File, when it is ready, will be, first and foremost, for Blue Prince sickos

I wasn't sure what the Mega Man Star Force games were, but, thankfully, the new collection's official web page includes a genre listing

Just checking my RSS feed for gaming news

UPDATE: At 1:13am ET this morning, Gill's lawyers submitted a heated motion to the court, saying Krafton must explain why it shouldn't be sanctioned. Peeved at Krafton confirming "May" to IGN, then PC Gamer and Kotaku Says Gill hadn't had a chance to review the state of the game. Big update here:

NEW: There's new Subnautica 2 drama. Lawyers for newly-restored CEO Ted Gill say Krafton had no authority to announce a May early access release for the game. Might ask a judge for Krafton to be held in contempt Krafton says Gill can still make his own decision www.gamefile.news/p/subnautica...

An incredible story that is topped with a photo of a Ukrainian man visiting his own grave, where his family thought they buried him three years ago www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/w...

NEW: Last Wednesday at GDC, Nintendo held a Donkey Kong Bananza talk. At the same time, Microsoft ran a talk teasing Project Helix And PlayStation? Half an hour after those talks, they ran a session about Horizon fonts and Destiny logos. It was pretty cool: www.gamefile.news/p/playstatio...

NEW: Don Daglow, who's been making video games for 55 years, remains hopeful about an industry in turmoil Where did his optimism come from? Surviving the industry crash in '83 And something further back: "My parents met and fell in love during the Depression" www.gamefile.news/p/don-daglow...

Usually I’m the reporter backstage with the most absurd question for all the game award winners. It was a pleasure to watch @imrankhan.bsky.social outdo me at this year’s GDC

As noted in Game File last week, Nintendo's tariff lawsuit against the U.S. government is on hold, as all such suits have been automatically stayed A refund process is expected, though TBD if Nintendo will be among the companies that passes refunds to consumers www.gamefile.news/i/190768553/...

Got two runs in during GDC week. Also played some cool games, interviewed fascinating people, heard great talks, and filed some Game Files. And I bought two donuts at 7-11 for a guy who goes by “Smooth” The full SF GDC experience.

Testing a new GDC coverage approach

Very cool to see that this project from one of my former Kotaku colleagues is already a big success!

NEW: At GDC, Nintendo's designers didn't just explain the origins of Donkey Kong Bananza They showed how Nintendo's current top devs are influenced by Nintendo classics they played as kids. In this case DKB's producer loved Super Mario Bros' breakable world 1-2 www.gamefile.news/p/nintendo-d...

GDC dispatch: Google's DeepMind team spoke to a packed audience about Genie 3, the world model tech that conjures interactive worlds that stay consistent for about a minute. Genie 3 sent game stocks tumbling in January The goal of Genie 3 isn't games, they stressed www.gamefile.news/p/google-dee...

GDC tip: as with voting, just stay in line!

At least 100 GDC attendees unable to fit into this Google Deep Mind panel about AI and the future of playable worlds Clearly of major interest

NEW: A busy day of third grade wrapped up, their fruit-strip snacks eaten, my nine-year-old twins had some questions about MLB The Show 26. Good thing we'd booked time for them to interview one of the game's developers A fun new edition of Game File: www.gamefile.news/p/my-kids-in...

Working on a feel-good edition of Game File right now.

If you're attending GDC next week, please consider attending this panel about The Rise of Independent Game Journalism, featuring some so-called experts on the topic (Monday, 3:10-4:10pm, West Hall - Room 3005) schedule.gdconf.com/session/the-...

Added context: Nintendo is not alone. Other companies that have sued over Trump's tariffs recently include FedEx, UPS, Barnes & Noble, Costco, Revlon, Prada, Staples... In terms of gaming companies, I haven't seen others Great scoop by @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social www.reuters.com/business/aut...

It's Mario

Another Ubisoft source told me they used to consider the company to be stable, but were rattled by job cuts and “the fact that we’re unable to ship anything right now.” Ubisoft sources I speak to want to get more of their work out there. Big games, small games... anything...

Will take a moment for my Assassin's Creed-wired brain to stop thinking of Helix as the animus replacement in Assassin's Creed Unity (which, coincidentally, got a 60fps new-gen console update today)

NEW: What has happened to Ubisoft, a once-prolific publisher that now struggles to release games? A veteran Ubisoft developer gave me an insider's take “For years now... Ubisoft has repeatedly failed to create the conditions for an excellent game to be made" www.gamefile.news/p/ubisoft-wh...