Jason Koebler, writing for 404 Media:
A 13-year-old competitive Tetris player has become the first known human to beat the game on the original NES by forcing it into a kill screen. In doing so, the player, Blue Scuti, broke world records for overall score, level achieved, and total numbers of lines in the 34-year-old game. Previously, only an AI had broken Tetris.
Tatiana Cirisano, writing for Billboard:
Over the past year, Roblox has hosted immersive virtual concerts with artists like Lil Nas X and Twenty One Pilots. Now, the gaming platform is inviting artists to stream entire albums in the metaverse through virtual listening parties.
For its first-ever listening party, Roblox is teaming with Grammy-nominated musical chameleon Poppy and her record label Sumerian Records to stream her brand-new album Flux in the gaming platform starting today (Sept. 24). Music from the album will be integrated throughout nine popular Roblox games — which collectively boast more than 3 billion lifetime visits — so that fans can listen as they dance in RoBeats, attend Robloxian High School or explore Creatures of Sonaria.
Panic, a company known for their Mac and iOS software, has announced the Playdate, a new handheld video game system:
Playdate is both very familiar, and totally new. It’s yellow, and fits perfectly in a pocket. It has a black-and-white screen with high reflectivity, a crystal-clear image, and no backlight. And of course, it has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C, and a headphone jack. But it also has a crank. Yes, a crank: a cute, rotating analog controller that flips out from the side.
It also includes a full season of original games, at no extra charge, delivered each week to the system — games in all sorts of genres that are all hopefully surprises.
This looks adorable. Panic is a Portland based company that has their office not that far from where I live; I walk by their customizable sign all the time. The company is also one of the main reasons I started using a Mac after discovering their editor Coda, which was basically revolutionary to me at the time. This little video game system looks like a whole lot of fun and I wish them the best of luck.
A Stranger Things video game is being developed. A trailer has been released.
Entertainment Forum: Red Dead Redemption 2
Entertainment Forum: Spider-Man (Playstation Game)
In this video, Evan Puschak explains how music was made for Super Nintendo games.
Pre-orders are now up for the game Alto’s Odyssey. This is the sequel to one of my favorite iOS games of all time, Alto’s Adventure.
Stranger Things have released a new retro-style video game in the App Store and on Google Play. This looks annoyingly addicting. Check out a trailer for the game here.
Nintendo will release the Super Nintendo Classic Edition on September 29th. It’ll come with 21 games, including the unreleased Star Fox 2. A full list of the included games can be found below.
Ashlee Kieler, writing at Consumerist:
Nostalgia lovers who missed out on scoring one of Nintendo’s mini-Classic console systems before the company discontinued the product last week, could have another chance to walk down memory lane: The gaming company is reportedly planning to follow up on that system’s popularity with a miniature Super Nintendo version. Though, if the report is true, you’ll have to wait until the holidays.
I’d buy one. I still don’t understand why Nintendo discontinued the mini-NES though.
Rock Band VR have announced the first wave of songs that will be available in the game. You can find those below.
The trailer for the sequel to one of my favorite iOS games, “Alto’s Adventure,” has been released. “Alto’s Odyssey” will see a release this summer.
Rock Band will be coming to the Oculus Rift on March 23rd. The reports I’ve seen have been pretty lukewarm about the devices:
The scaling back of Facebook’s first big retail push for VR comes after workers from multiple Best Buy pop-ups told BI that it was common for them to go days without giving a single demonstration. An internal memo seen by BI and sent to affected employees by a third-party contractor said the closings were because of “store performance.”
One of my favorite games from the past year, Firewatch, has come to the Mac App Store.
The year is 1989. You are a man named Henry who has retreated from his messy life to work as a fire lookout in the Wyoming wilderness. Perched high atop a mountain, it’s your job to look for smoke and keep the wilderness safe. An especially hot, dry summer has everyone on edge. Your supervisor Delilah is available to you at all times over a small, handheld radio—your only contact with the world you’ve left behind. But when something strange draws you out of your lookout tower and into the forest, you’ll explore a wild and unknown environment, facing questions and making choices that can build or destroy the only meaningful relationship you have.