Pushing Buttons: readers’ memories of the game-changing Game Boy at 35
Not to make anyone feel old, but the Game Boy turned 35 at the weekend. That small grey box was millions of people’s first introduction to video games. It was shared among families, played with equal enthusiasm by girls, boys,…
TopSpin 2K25 review – game, set and match to an engrossing tennis sim
Tennis is one of those sports that has only been intermittently well served by video games. The odd major series comes along, such as Pete Sampras, Virtua Tennis or Smash Court, but often we’re left relying on old favourites (take…
‘Games are more important to Apple than ever’: what’s next for Apple Arcade?
When Apple launched its games subscription service, Arcade, in September 2019, it drew a huge amount of attention – as with everything the company does. Offering 100 premium (ie, not ad-infested) mobile games for a monthly subscription fee of £4.99/$4.99…
The Game Boy at 35: a portal to other magical worlds
On April 21, 1989, Nintendo released a chunky grey game-playing rectangle to stores in Japan. It’s fair to say that nobody expected much of it. Internally, at Nintendo’s Kyoto HQ, the portable console was reportedly not a well-loved project. But…
‘I was trying to create the sound of a really warm hug’: the poignant story behind Monument Valley 2’s music
‘The part where the mother and child are separated on a red mountain, in a level quite early on in the game where you have to get back to the mother and find her … I was completing the sound…
Success of Fallout proves video game adaptations have gone mainstream
In the first few days of its release, Fallout – the Prime Video adaptation of the post-apocalyptic video game franchise – has become a hit with global audiences, shooting to the top of the UK chart and ranking among Prime’s…
Reigns Beyond review – sci-fi silliness meets rock band road trip
You may remember the Reigns series from its excellent Game of Thrones tie-in: its signature is Tinder-esque card swiping, where you make snap decisions on what to say or do by flicking left or right, before watching the consequences unfold….
Pushing Buttons: The Fallout series doesn’t just look right – it feels like it was made by gamers, too
I am a few episodes from the end of the series Fallout on Prime Video. It’s funny and gory, at times sentimental and at other times ridiculous. In other words, it’s just like the games, which veer between quiet, tragic…
As if Wes Anderson ran amok at Aardman: Harold Halibut, the visually stunning puppet adventure game
Ticktock, ticktock. In the dripping confines of the Fedora 1, an aquatic space colony of exquisite retro-futuristic design, it’s not water but time that exerts an unmistakable pressure on inhabitants. A cataclysmic meteor looms on the horizon, threatening to wipe…
‘They even got a real jetpack in there!’: Todd Howard and Jonathan Nolan on Fallout
If you had asked director Jonathan Nolan what his favourite film of the year was in the late 00s, more often than not he would have given you the name of a video game instead. “Having grown up with the…