Awesome Games

As if both games weren’t hard enough on their own, Kertis Jones infused Minesweeper into Tetris to create Tetrisweeper. It lets you place tetrominoes and clear lines as you would in the original game. But you also have the option to clear lines by correctly flagging tiles and revealing mines within the puzzle pieces. Check out Icely Puzzles’ demo for more.

The latest edition of Razer’s Viper Pro mouse takes the versatile wide and flat shell of the Viper V3 HyperSpeed and packs it with its latest proprietary optical sensor that promises virtually 100% resolution accuracy for pixel-perfect aiming. The Viper V3 Pro also has a smoother matte finish, satisfyingly clicky side buttons, and improved tactile mechanical switches.

The retro emulator formerly known as GBA4iOS is now Delta, and can now be installed on iOS devices. It can play NES, SNES, N64, GBC, GBA, and Nintendo DS games, with more systems to be added. It supports most modern controllers and even has built-in cheat systems. Just bring your own game ROMs.

YouTuber Not from Concentrate was so disappointed with the “slim” PS5 that he painstakingly showed Sony what a truly compact version of the console should be. The result is a box with almost half the size and nearly 40% of the volume of the PS5 Slim. It even has a removable magnetic charging dock for the controllers and an external disc drive.

Abandoned Films imagines what a Super Mario Bros. movie might have looked like as a movie shot in Super Panavision 70 back in the 1950s. The surreal take on Nintendo’s iconic plumbers is made extra trippy courtesy of generative AI tech. The images are by Midjourney, video by Runway, voices by ElevenLabs, and the script by ChatGPT.

Overwhelmed by open world games? Fed up with first person shooters? Sick of soulslikes? Placid Plastic Duck Simulator is here for you. More of a semi-randomly generated video than a game, this relaxing indie hit sees different kinds of rubber ducks gradually converging at a seaside swimming pool. That’s it. Available for PC, Switch, PS5, PS4, and Xbox Series X/S.

This mini fidget slider was inspired by the Nintendo Game Boy. It’s small enough to carry in a coin pocket and offers a satisfying three-level sliding action thanks to clicky neodymium magnets. Its outer layers are machined from titanium, while its center layer is made from black anodized aluminum. Choose from natural, gold, or purple bead-blasted finishes.

The Star Wars universe goes open-world in this expansive action-adventure game from Ubisoft. It takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and follows the story of a rogue and her furry companion who must take on the galactic underworld in a quest for freedom. Drops 8.30.2024 on PC, PS5, Xbox, and Luna cloud streaming. Pre-order now.

Solo developer Dan Govier is promising both scale and detail in this ambitious sandbox game. He claims that he’s designing the spaceships as if they were real-world naval vessels, including having full wiring and plumbing. To top it off, the game is set in a 1:1 scale adaptation of the Milky Way, filled with other systems and life forms. A demo is out now on Steam.

You probably know that Nintendo came up with the A and B buttons in video game controllers. But did you know that they were not the first to use Start and Select? Or that we have Sega to thank for the ergonomics of the Xbox controller layout? Learn all that and more from YouTuber Lextorias’ deep dive into the origins of video game controller buttons.

Scott Sloan builds 1:6-scale digital pinball machines that are fully playable. The 3D-printed systems can play many games using Visual Pinball X and are powered by a GMK 5105 mini-computer. They have a 7″ playfield and a 5″ backglass display. Want one? Contact Scott on Facebook. Glen’s Retro Show has a demo video here. Images courtesy of Scott Sloan.

Balatro is your next gaming addiction – but not because it’s a poker game. It merely uses the card game’s hands as a starting point, and then it quickly goes off the rails. Like fellow indie hit Vampire Survivors, this fast-paced roguelike keeps you hooked with lots of shiny rewards that will help you rack up scores on the edge of math.

Inspired by Bernard Werber’s eponymous fantasy novel, Empire of the Ants is a photorealistic real-time strategy game. You play as 103,683rd, the heralded savior of their ant colony. Build and expand your anthill, conquer other territories, and befriend and fight other forest creatures. Coming to PS5 in 2024.

This fast-paced arcade game asks players to control a flower and a wasp to fight off various enemies in their otherworldly ecosystem. Caleb Wood, one of the concept artists behind the exceptional sci-fi series Scavenger’s Reign, created the game. It’s out now on Steam for Windows and supports single-player and local co-op modes.

Konami dusts off the ’80s run-and-gun classic for today’s generation. While Contra: Operation Galuga mainly offers new graphics and audio to the NES arcade shooter, it also has a few new stages and enemies and adds a four-player arcade mode. It’s time to steal lives from your kids.

Play all your favorite pinball games on one cabinet with a virtual pinball machine from The Pinball King. Their premium models have a 43-inch 4K playfield, an HD backglass, an analog plunger, a shaker motor, haptic feedback, a real DMD (dot-matrix display), and more. They also make a 32″ model. Save $300 on any Kings Choice system with the code “awesomer”.

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBox X-Pants! Microsoft’s game console is the ideal canvas for SpongeBob’s boxy yellow body. The special $699 bundle comes with a colorful cartoon character controller and the game Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 packed in. Grab one starting 3.7.2024 via Best Buy Drops on the Best Buy Mobile App.

We used to play the hell out of the Sega Dreamcast game Crazy Taxi. The ride-and-drive simulator Taxi Life is a far more sedate take on the same. The sim puts you behind the wheel of a cab to pick up passengers in Barcelona, Spain, and also to create and manage your own taxi company. The game hits PS5, Xbox, and Steam on 3.7.2024.

This upcoming adventure game from Slow Bros. features artful animations that started as real-world miniatures, transformed into 3D digital models. Players take on the role of Harold Halibut, a resident of a spaceship submerged in an alien ocean on a quest to find a permanent home for his shipmates. Download and play a PC demo of the game on Steam.

Jeff Minter is the mind behind video game classics like Gridrunner, Attack of the Mutant Camels, Tempest 2000, and Polybius. Known for his offbeat and psychedelic style, 42 of his games have been collected into this interactive documentary, which lets you learn about their creator then play the games. Coming to Switch, Xbox, PS4, PS5, and PC 3.13.2024.

Ubisoft and Netflix just dropped this lighthearted take on Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six franchise with a cartoony Roguelite shooter. Build your squad and head out on stealth missions to save the world of SMOL by defusing bombs, freeing hostages, and taking down baddies. It’s free to play but requires a Netflix subscription. Available now on iOS and Android.

Because the theme song from Super Mario Bros. never gets old, here’s a banjo cover version by the trio Foggy Mountain Spaceship. After bringing their twangy styling to World 1-1, they head down the warp pipe for a banjo version of the Underworld theme. But it’s not all bluegrass here, and things head down a psychedelic prog-rock path by the end.

After releasing its Atari Gamestation Pro retro console, My Arcade is now working on a handheld version of the 8-bit gaming system. In addition to coming with more than 200 classic Atari 2600 games, the Gamestation Portable will have a 7″ display, joystick, paddle, numeric, and mini-trackball controllers built right in. Drops Q4 2024 for $149.