Don't Not Live

Video games like Her Story, Fez, and Tunic beg the player to take detailed notes to keep track of the story. But journaling or note-taking games are part of a long tradition that goes back to the game manuals of the 80s and 90s. Back in the day, games like The Legend of Zelda had incredibly beautiful, detailed manuals that helped the player navigate difficult puzzles and learn about lore, when memory on consoles was short. Polygon's Clayton Ashley details the history of taking notes in games, and some of his recent favorites that continue the tradition.

Moana is gorgeous to look at, but it's too faithful to the animated original's storyline (and even camera moves) to offer anything new to the tale. Catherine Laga'aia makes a great bright-eyed protagonist, but Dwayne Johnson can't nail the swaggering demigod Maui's charisma in live-action.

Fable is now arriving in February 2027, but with some extra months to fine-tune the fantasy adventure, Playground Games looks set to release an impressive entry in the classic franchise. Older Fable games from Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios had lofty ambitions, but with Playground at the helm, the new title is taking the series in an unexpected direction: life-sims. During Summer Game Fest, GameSpot got a closer look at Fable behind closed doors, with the game's developers showing off just how deep relationships are in the game. In one example, the player had to become a success story to wo

Nintendo's decision to host a Nintendo Direct this June befuddles me. The virtual showcase wasn't terrible, but it certainly didn't wow me either. Deltarune is very cool, so it was nice to see a release date for Chapter 5, and I'm sure plenty of folks are thrilled to jump back into Pokemon Pokopia with its new expansion pass. But the games that would have been this Direct's big hitters, Kingdom Hearts IV and a remake for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, got extremely short teasers that didn't drum up much hype (for me, anyway). The entire Direct felt somewhat lackluster, and I wonder why

If Steam says "You've made too many requests recently," don't worry: it's not just you.