Month: November 2024

It’s funny to think that, despite the cutesy aesthetics and family-friendly appeal, the two longest-running multiplayer Mario franchises seem specifically designed to promote conflict amongst groups of friends. From blue shells to King Boos, Mario Kart and Mario Party have spent decades seemingly committed to fostering as much division among their players as possible–my wife once exclaimed, “I do not love you” when I beat her to the finish line of a flagpole minigame in 2018’s Super Mario Party. We are, as of the time of writing, still together.Super Mario Party Jamboree–Nintendo’s latest attempt to drive families apart through play–is the third Mario Party game to release on Nintendo Switch, and the first to combine both traditional and motion controls. At a preview event last month, the key word Nintendo used was “more”–more boards, more minigames, more characters, more modes–and as such, there are more ways to drive your loved ones up the wall, too.

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Conventional wisdom dictates that having a companion by your side makes handling a stressful situation easier. But after a 30-minute demo with Little Nightmares 3, it seems conventional wisdom doesn’t apply to The Maw, the macabre setting of all Little Nightmares games. Little Nightmares 3, scheduled for release in 2025, will bring players to never-before-seen areas of The Maw, some of which I got to see for myself in a recent hands-on demo.The big headline for this horror sequel is the addition of two-player co-op, and as a horror fan, I was happy to learn your co-dependent relationship may amplify the scare factor. In my demo, I played through a level set in The Maw’s “candy factory,” featuring sweets that make gelatin seem as appetizing as a Wonka confection. Assembly lines of dead or dying bodies creaked slowly through the shadows in the background of the oppressive workspace as my co-op partner and I controlled the game’s new dual protagonists, Alone and Low.

The Game Boy Encyclopedia: Every Game Released for the Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Color $41.85 Preorder at Amazon 35 years ago, Nintendo shook the games industry up with the release of its Game Boy handheld–a device that made video games more mainstream than ever thanks to its simple design and library of must-play titles. If you’re looking to relive the golden age of Nintendo’s iconic portable console, you should check out The Game Boy Encyclopedia, an upcoming book that explores the hundreds of games released for the handheld across its lifespan. The giant compendium launches November 30, and is available for preorder now.

The Game Boy Encyclopedia: Every Game Released …

On December 3, 1994, Sony launched the original PlayStation in Japan and changed the video game industry forever. American gamers didn’t get their hands on the PS until September 9, 1995, but Sony’s not going to make us wait another year to start the celebration of PlayStation’s 30th anniversary. And the first plans for that year-long party have been revealed.From October to the end of January, Sony Music will release classic PlayStation game scores on Spotify and digital music storefronts. The confirmed titles include God of War, God of War II, God of War: Chains of Sparta, Twisted Metal, Starhawk, and Unit 13. ​A free trial version of Gran Turismo 7 called My First GT will also be released. Sony hasn’t set a date for the trial yet, but it will be released this holiday season for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 users with some of the fan-favorite cars, tracks, and more from Gran Turismo 7.Sports gaming enthusiasts should take note that September 21 and 22 will be a free online multiplayer weekend with multiple esports tournaments for games like Madden NFL 24, MLB The Show 24, NBA 2K25, NBA 2K24, and even fighting games like Tekken 8, Guilty Gear Strive, and EA UFC 5. You won’t n…

A new challenger has entered the handheld gaming PC scene, as Acer is throwing its proverbial hat into the ring with the Nitro 7. Announced this week at IFA 2024, the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 has some great hardware that makes it an attractive alternative to the other handhelds on the market.

The Nitro Blaze 7 is equipped with a seven-inch 1080p screen that has a 144Hz refresh rate, and it uses a Ryzen 7 8840HS chip with a Radeon 780M integrated GPU. It also has 16GB of RAM, a 50-watt-hour battery, and up to 2TB of SSD storage. The processor it uses is one that you’d typically find in high-end gaming laptops, so this device could potentially boast better performance when compared to its rivals, but that could drain ihe battery very quickly.For the controls, there’s an asymmetrical analog stick layout, the usual face buttons, shoulder buttons, and the typical spread of shoulder and trigger butt…