On March 1, the International Olympic Committee announced the first details of the Olympic Esports Series 2023, the next step in the venerable sporting body’s tentative move into the esports arena. (It previously hosted an Olympic Virtual Series in tandem with the Tokyo 2020 games.) Beginning with qualification this month...
AI can’t replace humans yet — but if the WGA writers don’t win, it might not matter
The first of what is sure to be many labor protests against artificial intelligence has already begun. It started with Hollywood writers who wanted to make sure they won’t be forced to work with — or be replaced by — AI tools like ChatGPT. But it has already grown beyond...
The Mass Effect modding scene did what BioWare couldn’t
Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the remaster nearly a decade in the making, struck a nerve when it was finally released. Fans were thrilled to return to spacefaring as Commander Shepard, but a minor DLC from the first game, Pinnacle Station, was missing. BioWare later revealed that the code for that...
Walt Disney cheated his animators out of profits — and their strike changed the world
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike just shy of a month now, with no foreseeable end in sight. Motivated by a breakdown in negotiations with Hollywood studios over pensions, residual compensation for streaming productions, health care, and protections for writers rooms in the wake of AI,...
Meet the inventors making Hyrule’s most complicated contraptions
When Nintendo first started showing footage from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Hyrule’s hero navigated the world with simple vehicles and gliders. I would have never imagined that Link would eventually cruise around in a hot rod that spits flames — and instead of killing the environment...
How QTCinderella became the heart of the streaming community
Dragging streamers out from their respective dens and into the real-life limelight is a somewhat thankless job. Still, content creator and consummate event planner QTCinderella has made a name for herself doing just that. Last weekend, she put on one of the largest streamer-run events in content creation, The Streamer...
Can you create a fighting game character so strong it destroys computers?
While most “who would win” battles take place in the unfettered realm of the imagination, in 1999 a group of anonymous software developers released a little program called MUGEN that lets you make them a little more real. At first glance, MUGEN looks like one of the zillions of lousy...
Why video game protagonists have become so chatty
The gaming landscape wasn’t always this loud. Recent protagonists have offered a stark contrast to the strong, silent type that historically dominated video game character design. Back then, voiceless playable characters like Link or Gordon Freeman would sit back and let their companions dictate how to save the day. Friendly...
Disney’s Robin Hood is still a life-changing furry phenomenon
The 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company has arrived with the requisite amount of fanfare, from special merchandise and food items at the Disney parks to a new studio logo in front of its movies. 2023 also marks the 50th anniversary of a specific Disney animated movie that may...
What Worf really meant to Star Trek legend Michael Dorn
In television — as in sports — some records are simply unbreakable. No one will ever pitch more complete games than Cy Young, no one will ever hold pro wrestling’s highest title longer than Bruno Sammartino, and no one will ever make more appearances on Star Trek than Michael Dorn....