Feature

There’s Something Hiding in Petscop

The game was fake. But creator Tony Domenico spawned a true—and truly creepy—phenomenon.
Before Infamous Was Infamous, It Was a Superhero Animal Crossing

The story behind the early prototype that led Sucker Punch to Empire City.
Street Fighter V Has Finally Fixed Its Netcode—But a Modder Did It First

The official solution took four years to arrive. Altimor made his in just two days.
Conscientious Objectors: The Designers and Artists Tackling Real Conflicts in Virtual Spaces

Meet the interactivists.
Killing Me Softly: The Insidious Beauty of Dying Game Worlds

The post-apocalypse is a fantasy of rebirth. It’s no coincidence that Fallout’s recurring motif of eyes adjusting to the light, seeing a new world and a new destiny, mirror that idea exactly. Rebirth is an alluring concept, especially to us humans so burdened with responsibility: Post-apocalypses grant both a freedom and a new frontier in…
The Artist Who Helped Create Crash, Spyro, and Jak and Daxter Has a Bone to Pick

Charles Zembillas on his iconic designs and more.
The BattleTech Renaissance

More than a quarter-century after it first launched, the mech-powered universe is in the midst of a gaming revival.
The Esports Empire You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

Supercell’s mobile games may not garner the mainstream attention of other esports, but the competition is real and the stakes are high.
How The Legend of Zelda Prepared Us to Play the Princess

The quest to rebalance the Triforce has been decades in the making.
The Evolution of Animal Conservation in Games, from Zoo Tycoon to Planet Zoo

How conservation has evolved in zoo simulation games and in the real world.
Netflix’s Witcher Is Letting Women Explore Its World Without Prejudice

How the TV series appeals to a broader audience by moving beyond the male gaze of the games.
The Outsize, Oft-Ignored Legacy of the Original Dragon Quest

Though overshadowed in the West by subsequent JRPGs, Yuji Horii’s NES classic remains an important trailblazer.