Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

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

What Marvel character do you think he was adamant about adding to Spider-Man: Brand New Day?

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.

Valve has added initial support for the Claw 8 EX AI+, along with some other ARM handhelds, and I hope it's just getting started.