Flying Islands Games Bundle

We're months into the AI-caused RAM crisis, and it just seems that AI is just making gaming worse and more expensive. And it doesn't seem like gamers are really getting anything out of the deal.

The Game Industry Hardship Fund bundle is live now on Itch.io.

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.

What is gambling? Strategic deck-builders like Luck Be A Landlord and Balatro have both been hit with high age-ratings by app stores and ratings boards, because the games are associated with gambling. Both are one-time purchases with no microtransactions, and no ties to gambling other than visuals borrwed from the casino world: slot machines and poker hands, respectively. Meanwhile, loot boxes and gacha games, which actually do have exploitative mechanics, seem to slide by ratings boards without much trouble. So what, actually, is gambling? And how do we talk about it in 2025, when gambling is

After soaring past an initial goal of $100,000, a Game Industry Hardship Fund bundle on Itch.io is now nearing $200,000 raised with seven days remaining. The bundle has so far raised more than $163,000, and features 127 games for the minimum price of $10, with the proceeds going towards helping laid-off developers pay for everyday expenses. There are some bigger-name games included as well, including indie titles like Skatebird, A Short Hike, and Arranger. It's the brainchild of Necrosoft Games director Brandon Sheffield and United Videogame Workers, a CWA union benefiting game developers, who