At 10:00 AM Pacific, I could play the Marvel Tokon open beta just fine on PC. By 1:00 PM the game was taken down for maintenance. By 4:00 PM the game won't even boot, getting stuck at the Sony Entertainment screen. Open beta; heard. But I can't recall an open beta getting worse.

Cold Sweat is a PvE extraction shooter in the vein of a Roblox game, but that could be advantage this day and age. www.replayvalue.net/publish/post...

Code Rapid's movement is the highlight, but there's little reason to make use of it. www.replayvalue.net/publish/post...

A Fighter's Nova: Mindara from @badrezgames.bsky.social looks like it's going to kick butt. Can't wait to see it later in development. www.replayvalue.net/publish/post...

Slayblade should be way better but it's weighed down with unnecessary, and poor, design. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

Ithaca is clearly in early development, and there could be something to it, but its demo needs to show more strength. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

Sony says the next-generation hardware won't sell at a 'significant loss', but the fear is of a absurd price is based around a PS6 that launches during the component crisis. Hang on to your PS5.

I understand why people might like it, but Decks of Dexterity could be so much better if cared about balancing the bullet hell instead of letting the cards do everything. www.replayvalue.net/publish/post...

@furyball.bsky.social is a lot of fun to play. The violent pinball action is well done. Looking forward to this one. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

Wind Runners is trying to reinvent the wheel and it suffers for it. www.replayvalue.net/publish/post...

Go North needs a lot of polish before launch. I wish the devs luck. www.replayvalue.net/publish/post...

Tim has an interest in developers pubishing with Epic Games Store. He has an interest in devs using AI in Unreal 6. It's bad business to talk poorly about AI if he wanted to. It's not our fault we don't like AI. Don't use AI. It's simple. www.videogameschronicle.com/news/epic-ga...

Epic Games CEO says it’s ‘really irresponsible’ of Steam to make studios disclose AI use | VGC

Tim Sweeney claims it’s a “Scarlet Letter” which makes players “try to kill the game”…

videogameschronicle.com

I've always thought Bungie was a bad buy for Sony. Bungie couldn't figure out how to adequately monetize Destiny, yet Sony made them the premiere dev of a live-service strategy they eventually (and smartly) backed out of. This sucks for the devs.

It's ridiculous that a boxed game is coming with just a code (Nintendo's included here, too). At least make people feel a little better about it. Make the box art super cool, and worth showing off on collector's shelves. Do something interesting.

Thank You For Your Application accurately reflects the dystopian nature of working for corporations and the society that works with them, but it's almost too good at doing that, based on the demo. www.replayvalue.net/publish/post...

Anomaly President has a lot more to say about running for president, and has a good time while doing it, too. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

Mexican Ninja is relentless with its crude humor to the point it loses its strength, but the overall package is solid based on the demo. replayvalue.substack.com/publish/post...

Moss: The Forgotten Relic looks charming but its stuck with its old VR design that feels odd at times. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

The demo for Granblue Fantasy: Relink, that includes Endless Ragnarok content, isn't a great demonstration of what's possible, or it's exactly showing what's possible. If so, it's not very exciting. replayvalue.substack.com/publish/post...

60% drop in reviews if people even smell AI on your game - full supports the investors, developers, and publishers that took a hard "no gen-AI" stance, despite grifters' proclamations that they were "going to be left behind".

Mr. Hands is making SuccuDeck 😈🃏@mrhands31.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Someone actually crunched the numbers, and using GenAI can decrease reviews for indie game on Steam (a useful proxy stat for sales) by as much as *58%* 🤖

I'm glad Toem 2 is a game. I was satisfied with the first, but I'll certainly take more. It's such a relaxing world with interesting personalities to enjoy. Looking forward to it. replayvalue.substack.com/publish/post...

Just Shoot is just another Survivors-type game, but you aim and shoot. This game helped me realize why aiming and shooting in this format is useless now. replayvalue.substack.com/publish/post...

Trine 6: Together in Time is more Trine. A tricky puzzle-platforming game that looks great. Looking forward to checking out the co-op features in the future. replayvalue.substack.com/publish/post...

Should Microsoft spin off Xbox? open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

New newsletter. Layoffs continue. It's awful. I wanted to know: is there light at the end of the tunnel? I reached out to developers, and they gave invaluable insight. It requires a free registration to access. I hope you can make time to read it. gamingtrend.com/the-bitter-r...

The bitter reality of games industry layoffs in 2026, explained by developers

by humans, for humans

gamingtrend.com

It's easy to lose yourself in @slowroads.io. Beautiful scenery, relaxing sounds. I could watch and listen to this for hours. replayvalue.substack.com/publish/post...

@polyfightergame.bsky.social has a strong base. It's clunky, but it has interesting ideas for a roguelike fighter. There's a ton of potential. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

Rogue Eclipse is chaotic and doesn't know how turn it off. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

The more I played @calderainteractive.bsky.social's The Rabbit Haul, the more I settled in to its cozy tower-defense mechanics. It just warms up to you. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...

With some improvements to storytelling (and punctuation usage), Duppy Detective Tashia has the potential to be an ongoing cozy murder-mystery franchise. open.substack.com/pub/replayva...