Riordan Zentler

On Aug. 17, Microsoft announced that support will be dropped for the Xbox 360 online storefront next summer, on July 29. This news follows a trend set by other console makers, with Nintendo withdrawing access to their eShop for the 3DS and Wii U in March and Sony discontinuing store access for the PlayStation Portable in July 2021.

While there are a variety of exciting factors to frequently-updated “games as a service” – balance updates, new content and a lively community – there are also downsides. If a game is ever-changing, its overall quality is bound to have peaks and valleys.

On Sept. 28, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney sent out a company-wide email announcing that 16% of Epic employees are being laid off – about 830 workers. He further specified that two-thirds of the layoffs were in teams outside of core development, and that 250 people are leaving Epic through “divestitures from Bandcamp and SuperAwesome.”

While the dichotomy between AAA video games and indie titles fills many gaps, the popularity of specific genres nevertheless seems to come and go like fashion trends. For instance, while one-on-one fighting games have remained steadily popular, the long-dormant cooperative beat ’em up genre recently experienced a resurgence with the surprising success of 2020’s Streets of Rage 4 and 2022’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

In some odd twist of fate, October has evidently become the month of video game protests, with passionate players forming two substantial petitions to protest the choices of Psyonix and Mojang, the development teams behind Rocket League and Minecraft, respectively.

October’s been quite the month for Sega – publishing Sonic Superstars to favorable reviews on Oct. 17 and just two days later releasing Endless Dungeon, a new title in the Endless world offering a unique blend of genres and gameplay elements.

So much time had passed from the initial 2015 announcement of the film adaptation of Five Nights at Freddy’s that I was surprised to hear it was finally headed to screens this month. It was released Oct. 26 on the streaming service Peacock and hit theaters the following day.

If you've spent any time on social media or video game-centric corners of the internet, you've likely come across the proclamation that video

At Sullivan Square Shopping Center in Spokane Valley lies Elite Gaming Center, where adults and children alike go to play video games and tabletop sports games like air hockey and ping-pong. Alongside its regular operating hours, the facility hosts birthday parties, corporate events and even offers a weekly day camp for summer and winter breaks.

The Spokane area’s fabled video game developer Cyan Inc. recently became the oldest surviving independent game studio in the U.S., so it’s only fitting they’d release a comprehensive remake of Riven, the 1997 sequel to Myst that cemented them as creative visionaries in video gaming.