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Seeing red. It's time for yet another edition of Box Art Brawl, and we're going virtual. Before we strap a plastic peripheral to our faces, however, let's take a look at last week's showdown, where a trio of covers for Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind went head-to-head. Despite some close competition from Japan, it was the North American design that came out on top, snapping up 44% of the vote. Japan came in second with 37%, leaving Europe to claim the remaining 18%.

American composer Gordy Haab is a force to be reckoned with, pun absolutely intended. His catalogue of video game work includes composing scores for the likes of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Star Wars Squadrons and, most recently, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. He is arguably our generation's John Williams, perfectly encapsulating everything we have heard and loved from those iconic scores gone before, but with that extra dash of Haab seasoning.

"We feel like 800 titles should just be a point we pass". Hamster Corporation launched its new retro series Console Archives for the Switch 2 earlier this year, and it apparently wants this library to be even bigger than its Arcade Archives collection. During a chat with Famitsu recently, Hamster's CEO and founder, Satoshi Hamada, noted how Arcade Archive's "target of 800" retro releases should just be a "point" passed by Console Archives at some stage.

Including Mario, Mario Kart and Animal Crossing sets. Following the news LEGO would be retiring its first Legend of Zelda set earlier this week, it's been discovered some other Nintendo sets will be retired soon. According to the Lego website's "last change to buy page", sets from the Super Mario, Mario Kart and Animal Crossing sets are also "reiting soon". Here's a look at each Nintendo set featured on this particular page:

Meching money.

No, not Richard Garfield. The other one.

"Or even a grav gun separating me from that 10-foot pole."

It released just three years ago.

If ChatGPT really has been sharing user data with Google and Meta, then that's just one more reason to start using a VPN whenever you go online.

Back in late 2024, Palestinian developer Rasheed Abueideh announced Dreams on a Pillow, a "pseudo-stealth adventure game." It's set during the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic cleansing that saw Israel violently displacing Palestinians and dispossessing their land and homes, serving as Abueideh's emotional response to the attacks on Gaza that began in 2023. And now, as a second round of funding continues, a first look at gameplay has been offered up.

Here's what we read (and liked) this week.

The first thought that probably arose for most people upon seeing Mixtape for the first time was probably something along the lines of, "that's a lot of licensed music, wonder how long it takes before it's delisted." Music licensing is notoriously a pain in the ass, and considering how embedded into the story every song that's in the game is, it certainly seemed like Mixtape was doomed. But according to its devs, there's nothing to worry about.

The developer paid for perpetual music licenses to avoid that problem.

The other Final Fantasy MMO is still doing its thing.

Game Changer host and Dropout CEO Sam Reich on how all the company's 2026 innovations are doing, from the board game Kickstarter to the Superfan tier.

Not everyone got an email, but if you did, you'll have to act fast.

Reuters reported that SpaceX could make the initial announcement by next Wednesday.

The first game anthology features modules based on six classic games including Resident Evil and Tekken.

A concept that quite genuinely keeps me up at night is the idea of waking up one day and every other person on Earth disappearing. Couldn't possibly tell you where this fear of mine stems from, all I can say is that I would imagine such a reality to be a cosmically nightmarish one. Enter Sleepover, a post-apocalyptic cosmic-horror visual novel that sees in that exact fear of mine, the key difference being that its protagonist isn't alone after all.

Release That Witch more interested in rebuilding the world than merely saving it

With nearly 100 players packed into an underground bunker.

No more frustrating deaths in between save points.

A roundup of recent reviews published by Engadget.

PlayStation is beta testing the Community Activity widget for the Community Hub on PS5, but I don't think they should add this feature

Blending city builder and colony sim, Steel Artery challenges you to balance growth, economy, and social order aboard a vast moving train.

There is a horse in the middle of the field. It wants to escape, run free, to graze upon the grass where it thinks it is greener. The horse knows not of the dangers of the outside world, for it is simply a horse. So what must we do? We must put up enclosures to form a pasture for the horse, yet we only have so many walls to use, so we must be choosy. This, more or less, is enclose.horse, a daily puzzle game where you must stop a horse from running away to eat grass.

Pokémon TCG’s Chaos Rising set proves the game’s biggest strength isn’t competitive gameplay — it’s stunning collectible art and illustration rares.

Perfectly balanced, as all things shouldn't be.

Residents will have to go through a course on artificial intelligence before activating the subscription.

While liminal spaces thrive in visual mediums, novelists have had their own success

The Company of Heroes 3 Dare and Destroy pack introduces four battlegroups, while balance changes address anti-air, infantry, and late game.

Final Fantasy 11 is the MMO that just keeps on ticking. It's the game's 24th anniversary today, which still isn't old enough to make it the longest running MMO, but does make it old enough for those of you that played it when it came out to have grandkids. The game isn't just still running either, but getting new updates too, with a livestream held on the Japanese Square Enix YouTube channel yesterday marking the anniversary with details of what's still to come. Quite notably is the fact that th...

Inkonbini is a very relaxing and cozy slice-of-life, narrative-focused game. It makes for a great weekend binge.

This week's science news.

Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times is a delight.