They say that they who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it. When it comes to game design though, good ideas fall through the cracks and get forgotten all the time. This week then, I’m going to list a few of my favourite small features from classic or obscure games alike that I think would be cool to see more often, and quite probably ask you for a few of yours. Sounds like a plan? Excellent! Remember, we’re looking for small, specific stuff rather than, say, ‘good combat engine’. The kind of spark that perhaps only one or two games have ever tried, or which have faded for whatever reason over the years, but new games really should steal. Let’s start obscure, with…

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Following a partial victory (and partial defeat) in their legal battle with Oculus over cybergoggles, ZeniMax are trying to shut down a load of Oculus’s software. ZeniMax are owed $500 million in total over Oculus breaking an non-disclosure agreement which gave them insight into John Carmack and ZeniMax’s work on VR, and are now seeking an injunction to shut down anything that benefitted from that knowledge. Basically, they want Oculus to stop using anything built upon that knowledge, stopping the Rift SDK and other software. That’s a big ask which could have huge consequences for Oculus, if approved. … [visit site to read more]

Yar har and fiddle-di-dee, multiplayer ship combat game Blackwake [official site] has sailed into early access. It pits teams against each other with up to 16 players crewing a ship, running around controlling cannons, patching up holes, pumping water, and boarding other ships. That sounds great, that. I do always enjoy that sort of teamwork and inter-reliance, especially when playing with friends. Heck, even disasters are a lark with friends. Check out this trailer, which features broadsiding, boarding, cheeky piratical banter, and more than a few disasters: … [visit site to read more]

Update: Following a little leak, Middle-earth: Shadow of War [official site] is now officially announced. It’s coming on August 22nd and yup, it sounds like more of the same but with an expanded Nemesis system. Check out the announcement trailer: … [visit site to read more]

You might remember that Pip took a good look in 2015 at the art of Hollow Knight [official site], admiring its cute yet sinister hand-drawn world of insects. Pretty to look at, how does it play? You can see for yourself, as Hollow Knight finally came out this week. I’ve not had a crack yet myself but a fair few folks seem jolly pleased with the Metroidvania action-platformer. Here, have a gander in this trailer: … [visit site to read more]

Sundays are for making lists of the best games writing of the week, despite evidence to the contrary presented on the two previous Sundays. Those particular Sundays were for being on holiday and> sick at the same time.

I’ve been following Ooblets on Twitter for months and so has everyone else. Gamasutra looked into why by talking to the developers about their GIF-first development process.

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Now that Mass Effect: Andromeda [official site] has gone gold [for the benefit of younger readers: ‘gone gold’ is a reference to how developers would celebrate finishing a game by dancing around to Spandau Ballet’s Gold -ed.]>, BioWare have confirmed its final system requirements. If Holly’s recent preview has you interested in the new space adventure, hey, read on to discover how much power you’ll need in your datadeck. Your rig. Your GamePig. Your gameslammer. Your roxxor boxxor. Your beast. Your neon demon. Your make-the-pictures-go machine. Your computer, yeah? Is it fast enough? … [visit site to read more]

If you fancy going back through all Dark Souls before the series wraps up with the final DLC in March, now’s a great time to return to Dark Souls 2 [official site]. Today sees the start of Return to Drangleic, an unofficial community-run event to draw players back and revitalise multiplayer. Souls just isn’t the same without online invasions, summonings, ghosts, and messages bringing life to the world, so players are returning en masse to rekindle that spark. Fancy joining them? … [visit site to read more]

Cor, new adventure Four Last Things [official site] does have some gorgeous artwork – but it would, as it’s borrowing from some of the finest Renaissance painters. Joe Richardson has built the game out of paintings, given life with cutout animation. “It’s kind of like if Monkey Island had been made in 16th century Flanders, by a time-travelling Monty Python fanboy,” he says. Fill your eyes with this fooolishness: … [visit site to read more]

As hard as it is to believe, we live in the good timeline. In this reality, Walt Disney did not go crazy with delusions of bringing his animations to life, creating a terrifying place where you can be stalked by cartoon characters. Oh no, he did!> Well, at least the terror of Disneyland is offset by the boredom of long queues for Space Mountain. In our headlining free game this week, there s no such respite. … [visit site to read more]