Tag: author_name|Cheyenne MacDonald

A popular Japanese digital pet with the weirdest mode of interaction is coming to the US

Japan’s hit virtual pet, Punirunes, will be released in the US this summer and I can almost guarantee most of you have never seen a toy quite like this before. A play on the Japanese mimetic word for “squishy” (punipuni), Punirunes has a design quirk that sets it apart from…

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Pikmin Bloom has been helping me meet my outdoor walking goals for years

Over the past few years, I’ve developed a peaceful little routine to make up for time spent cooped up inside working on sunny days: after I’ve closed my laptop for the day, I throw my sneakers on, open Pikmin Bloom on my phone, and go for a long walk to…

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Crow Country is a darkly meditative callback to survival horror’s past

Is it blasphemous to call a survival horror game “cozy”? Maybe so, but while thinking back on my playthrough of Crow Country, the word popped into my mind more than a few times. From the jump, there’s no question about Crow Country’s PlayStation 1 influences, which its creators at SFB…

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Blue Origin successfully sends tourists to the edge of space again after a long hiatus

Blue Origin is back in the space tourism game. Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company successfully flew six paying customers to the edge of space and back this morning, breaking its nearly two-year-long hiatus from crewed missions. This was Blue Origin’s seventh trip with humans on board. The mission — a quick…

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Indie developers are trying to make horse games that don’t suck. It’s not easy

Video game horses tend to play a fairly uncomplicated role, at least in mainstream titles. Like semi-sentient meat bicycles, they often exist as little more than a way to make the player travel faster, jump farther or occasionally defy the laws of physics. With the exception of Red Dead Redemption…

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Tamagotchi collectors rejoice: Bandai is finally rereleasing a beloved model from 2004

Another classic Tamagotchi is getting the reboot treatment. Bandai announced this week that it’s bringing back the Tamagotchi Connection to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the toy’s release. Tamagotchi Connection, which first came out in 2004, was a pivotal entry to the virtual pet family, introducing more modern capabilities like…

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