Is the Xbox 360 one of the best consoles ever? Classic games, red rings, and faceplates. All this and more on this month's episode of CVG: Chatting Vintage Games. Out now on Patreon at all tiers: www.patreon.com/posts/157958... Did you do the towel trick?

What a day to be alive 💚☘️

Your monthly reminder to claim all your free PC games if you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, even if you don't play PC games at the moment. Always useful to build a wee library for the future, just in case.

I really hate to do this but my corgi has been sick for the past two months and it's reached the point where we've depleted all of our emergency savings. Please don't feel the need to donate if you can't, but it would mean the absolute world if you could share. Thank you 😭 gofund.me/c02000a66

Another positive move. Xbox is starting to do the right things again, hopefully this momentum can continue. Everyone should want a strong Xbox (and a strong PlayStation, and a strong Nintendo), no matter what systems they own.

I adore the Steam Controller, but getting non-Steam games to work with it is a faff and a half (and sometimes doesn't appear possible at all). If you want something plug-and-play that works across all PC launchers this isn't it, but for Steam-only players it's great. My review:

Agree 100% with Tim Cain. Sometimes when I post something on social media, at some point I'll suddenly get a slew of replies from people making exactly the same counter-argument: that's when I know it's ended up on a YouTube video somewhere, and they've been told what to think.

Today marks 20 years since I started as a professional games journalist. A huge thank you to anyone who’s ever read one of my articles, watched one of my videos, listened to any podcast I was on, or otherwise kept me relevant and kept my head above water for two decades ❤️

The full video wouldn't fit on here, but you can check it out on Patreon in this free post. www.patreon.com/posts/157099... As someone who is awful at keeping secrets, this was hell. Well worth it.

Absolutely delighted with this. Very touched. For those who don’t know the story, when I left ONM after six years I was given a leaver’s cover full of C-bombs and lad jokes, so I was secretly gutted I could never actually display it in the house. Yer man Middler has finally ended that story ❤️

Podcast: Is First Light the best Bond game ever? @jordanmiddler.bsky.social, @scully1888.bsky.social, @andyrobinson.bsky.social and @apzonerunner.com break down the week in news. Watch: youtu.be/tgBSaBw4gmg Listen: open.spotify.com/episode/0Q2v...

This took me a hell of a long time to put together so please do bear in that mind before you DM me and call me an absolute hole for not putting some random puzzle game in there

In two weeks I’m flying off to Japan again to cover BitSummit for the fourth time. Any devs or mutuals in Japan who want to meet up while I’m there (16-30 May) chuck me a DM or email ❤️

I adore how these look. Going to have to get my hands on them. MicroSD support is a godsend, can get my Bear Bovver on the move.

I’m putting the Steam Controller through its paces, expect a review on VGC next week. If you have any questions about it, fire them over now and I’ll try to address as many of them as I can in my coverage ❤️

Looks like we could have an answer to the PlayStation digital game 30-day timer thing, and if it's true we can breathe a sigh of relief for now. You can't spell 'drama' without DRM

Every time I need a smile I look at this. This was just the 15th Peanuts strip ever created (out of 17,897), from the month it started in October 1950, and Snoopy always gets me chuckling in it.

Myself and Scullionhausen @scully1888.bsky.social sat down to review WrestleMania. Watch at your own peril (which is good advice for watching any wrestling these days.) Free post! Open to all! www.patreon.com/posts/156597...

Podcast: Xbox makes another bold statement, but will it follow through? @jordanmiddler.bsky.social, @scully1888.bsky.social @andyrobinson.bsky.social and @dringo.bsky.social chat about the week in news. Watch: youtu.be/-CPB5ilwrYE Listen: open.spotify.com/episode/2P10...

That's another great get for Atari. With Digital Eclipse handling 8-bit and 16-bit, Nightdive handling late '90s / early 2000s polygonal, and now Implicit handling PS1 (and later PS2/PS3, apparently), Atari's steadily increasing its retro re-release capabilities.

When you invoke the names of Segagaga, Out Run and Dynamite Deka, you have my attention, even if it ends up being a keyring

All six Neo Geo Metal Slug games are currently 50% off to mark the series' 50% anniversary. The digital re-releases of Metal Slug 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and X are $3.99 each for the next two weeks. www.videogameschronicle.com/news/all-six...

Always good to see yer man on the shelf there @scully1888.bsky.social

As someone with Game Pass Ultimate who doesn't care about Call of Duty, I'm delighted about this.

Now that the embargo has lifted the kid has gone all-in on Tomodachi and is loving everything about it. It's actually really good for kids around her age (7) because there's a lot of text and a lot of user input, and the fact it's all read back to them helps with reading and spelling.

Capcom has thanked Macross and Transformers legend Shoji Kawamori for his help in the development of Pragmata. www.videogameschronicle.com/news/capcom-...

Don't touch the bloody song, whatever you do

Oh, I'm all over that controller.

Coachella is trying to wipe all of the footage of The Strokes protest set so I’m gonna post it here. The last images on the screen made me cry.

When you use AI to do your writing, you are telling your audience: “I deserve your attention, but you do not deserve my effort.”

Just back from Akira in IMAX. Absolutely glorious. Audience stayed completely silent during the silent bits, outstanding stuff.

Well that’s my gigolo name sorted

The perfect alibi for yer smelly da to point at

Xbox Fridge is a godsend when you’re staying in a low-budget hotel en route to your holiday

This isn't the massive deal some people will assume it is based on the fact that Amazon is killing one part of its Luna offering. It's really a part that very few people use and it can now focus solely on its streaming subscription service (and the free PC games).

Podcast: Is Forza Horizon 6 a Game of the Year contender? @jordanmiddler.bsky.social and @scully1888.bsky.social chat about the week in news, and what they've been playing. Watch: youtu.be/RSJ36JaMKXs Listen: lnk.to/VGC Plus: Jordan and Chris get scanned.

Pretty wild to respond to claims you don't pay your contractors with "we pay our full-time staff, plus haters are making that up because they want to see us fail, and if you don't believe me pay us $1,700 in our own cryptocurrency and I'll prove it"

A mad conspiracist commented on my Forza Horizon 6 footage that when I switched out of the in-car view there are no cars around because the game can't handle rendering my car and other cars at the same time. Firstly, I was on the top of a fucking mountain. Secondly, here's more footage I took:

Mendel Palace isn't just a curio because it's Game Freak's first ever game, I do actually quite enjoy it - it's worth trying out at least.

Next up in critics’ week: Chris Scullion (@scully1888.bsky.social) loves rearing digital steeds in Pocket Card Jockey – but he's worried this Apple Arcade game will disappear one day: mobilegamer.biz/critics-week...

For the past few days I've been playing a preview build of Forza Horizon 6 and it's superb. Here's my hands-on impressions: www.videogameschronicle.com/features/han... And here's a 4K video with 22 mins of gameplay, while I answer questions from the VGC Discord. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwlB...

That would be all well and good if it wasn't pushed as a workplace tool. You can't claim it's the future of productivity then say "it's only meant to be a laugh" when it goes wrong. "Don't use the Calculator app because sometimes it gets the sums wrong. We only made it to say BOOBIES upside down"

Your reminder that The Smurfs once covered Love is All Around www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgMb...

"Kanye fuck, mate"

This sounded quite exciting until it turned out it's basically a competition where only one person wins (for now).

The first film's numbers were wild but expected: it was the first animated Mario movie and every kid knows Mario. The second film's numbers may be more important because it shows enough people liked the first one to come back for more. Money talks, at the end of the day.

That's clever - Tomodachi Life essentially has a modified version of Handheld Boost Mode included when it detects a Switch 2, meaning the touchscreen can stay on for designing things

Your monthly reminder to claim all of these if you have Prime, even if you don't play games on your PC. You might decide to start one day, and you'll have a ready-made library if you do.

This was much better than the first trailer. Great music choice www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMhy...

Enjoyed The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Think the first one started better, but this one ended better. Loads more niche references for old bastards like me, even better score then before, Fox bits were great ❤️ It’s a 4/5 for me but you def need to be a Mario fan to really enjoy it