Justin Wagner
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Articles by Justin Wagner
Nier creator Yoko Taro says he's achieved his career dreams, but he continues working because it's 'good for preventing dementia'
They say that art is never finished, only abandoned—but that doesn't seem to be the case for Yoko Taro, creator of Nier and Drakengard, who you might recognize by the round, smiley Emil mask he wears. According to a report from Denfaminicogamer (via IGN), Taro said at the Tokyo French Institute last month that he's already more or less realized his vision and has considered retiring.
Arc Raiders 2.0 is here, and you can finally turn those lights on your backpack off
I remember being a kid and wishing I had shoes that lit up. I know now that I was a fool. If I festooned myself with garish lights, how would I scavenge for supplies in a frozen wasteland without being spotted by strangers who may or may not kill me before I can use my grappling hook to get away? This isn't a real problem I have, nor is it a real problem Arc Raiders players will have anymore, since your backpack now has an emissive toggle.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance studio co-founder says a lot of RPGs are 'still games for teenagers,' and that he's 'tired of all the RPGs where you are this chosen one'
In a recent interview with PC Gamer's Joshua Wolens, Warhorse Studios co-founder Martin Klima traced the inspirations for Kingdom Come: Deliverance back to boredom with the typical RPG—kill the dark lord, romance a companion or two, and so on. Klima added that this formula is still a mite too widespread even now for his tastes, and wondered if gamers haven't outgrown it by now. "I play a lot of RPGs, it's a genre I really like," he said.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance studio co-founder says a lot of RPGs are 'still games for teenagers,' and that he's 'tired of all the RPGs where you are this chosen one'
6 hours ago "Hearst Magazines and AOL may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." It’s wild to think that the first PlayStation hit shelves more than thirty years ago. For those of us who were PS1 diehards in a Nintendo-dominated world, our time has finally come: Lego just released a …
RuneScape is getting a new character type that promises a fresh start, but existing players are wary of splitting the community up
It's very easy to look at RuneScape Reignited's announcement blog or fancy trailer and assume it's a new upgraded version of the classic game—it certainly walks and talks like one, not dissimilar to the upcoming World of Warcraft: Forever. "Begin the journey anew with a year of restoration changes paving your path," et cetera. But it's actually a new character type in the existing RS3, and existing players aren't all convinced it'll be good for the MMO.
Deadlock is the king of MOBA character designs, and it's all thanks to Valve's embrace of New Yorkyness
The Cursed Apple, wherein Valve’s latest MOBA Deadlock takes place, is ‘an urban fantasy setting’ in the same way that Limp Bizkit is ‘an American rock band.’ Sure, the label is accurate, but Deadlock is unmistakably, crucially, and specifically New York the same way Fred Durst is sort of like the living avatar of Jacksonville, Florida. The latest batch of new heroes just unveiled as part of the City Never Sleeps embraces this aspect of the game and takes it to new heights.
The Witcher 3's remaster just brought it to a new all-time concurrent player count peak
It's hard to believe it's been over a decade since The Witcher 3 first released, and even harder to believe they found a way to make Geralt's tub transformation even shinier. The seminal open world RPG's hotly anticipated remaster has finally arrived, and it's pulling people back into the Continent all these years later (now more than ever on Steam, according to SteamDB). The new screaming high is a whopping 123,359, which it just reached an hour ago as I write this.
Shadow the Hedgehog is supposed to be dead
It's hard to imagine Sonic the Hedgehog without his Jungian counterpart: the gun-toting, swear-uttering Shadow the Hedgehog. But Shadow is a relatively late addition to the series' extensive roster of anthropomorphic animals, debuting long after the Genesis days in Sonic Adventure 2—more than that, he was never supposed to stick around.
Shadow the Hedgehog is supposed to be dead
It's hard to imagine Sonic the Hedgehog without his Jungian counterpart: the gun-toting, swear-uttering Shadow the Hedgehog. But Shadow is a relatively late addition to the series' extensive roster of anthropomorphic animals, debuting long after the Genesis days in Sonic Adventure 2—more than that, he was never supposed to stick around.
After 12 years, Dark Souls 2 is finally playable in co-op without interruptions
I've always been content to admire the Dark Souls games from afar, rather than get particularly into them myself, and part of that is probably a crumb of leftover resentment from trying to wrangle the multiplayer features in those early games. Love it or hate it, it's esoteric at the best of times and not terribly consistent. If you've a mind to mod those annoyances out of Dark Souls 2, now's your chance. That's thanks to Yui, a soulslike modder who made similar mods for Elden Ring and Dark Souls.
Gears of War story director laid off mere days after E-Day went gold
Gears of War: E-Day is almost here, but that doesn't mean its developers have been spared in Microsoft's latest wave of layoffs as part of the Xbox "reset." While The Coalition, the studio currently working on the Gears of War series, was not mentioned by name in Matt Booty's "Continuing Our Reset" blog post, story director Juan Vaca announced on LinkedIn that he is now looking for work. "I am part of this round of Microsoft layoffs and am open to new opportunities in games/film/tv," he wrote.
Shadow the Hedgehog is supposed to be dead
It's hard to imagine Sonic the Hedgehog without his Jungian counterpart: the gun-toting, swear-uttering Shadow the Hedgehog. But Shadow is a relatively late addition to the series' extensive roster of anthropomorphic animals, debuting long after the Genesis days in Sonic Adventure 2—more than that, he was never supposed to stick around.
Shadow the Hedgehog is supposed to be dead
10 hours ago There were lots of furry and feathered pets on show in Salisbury Cathedral this week during a special service of thanksgiving for animals. In Bristol, a mural designed by AI was painted on a pub wall and taken down a few days later after backlash from the community. And new students were welcomed to …
Latest Xbox layoffs reportedly devastated Age of Empires developer and canceled its next game
Microsoft 1 hour ago Microsoft gutted the Age of Empires studio while folding it into Activision TechSpot - Skye Jacobs • 1h What we know so far: World's Edge, the Microsoft studio that oversees the Age of Empires franchise, has lost nearly half its staff in the latest … Xbox Game Studios 2 hours ago Xbox almost spoiled the best time of year for games Polygon - Oli Welsh • 2h Patch Notes is a weekly newsletter bringing you the best of Polygon, sent on Fridays and published on the site on...
Latest Xbox layoffs reportedly devastated Age of Empires developer and canceled its next game
The latest stage of Xbox's delicately named "reset" arrived last Tuesday—but its impact on World's Edge Studio, the developer now behind the Age of Empires series, was only briefly mentioned in Xbox CCO Matt Booty's announcement. On sites like resetera and LinkedIn, former employees of the RTS developer have shared that it was hit especially hard. "What a morning," said former World's Edge creative director Adam Isgreen on resetera, posting under the verified account name Tempus Chaoti.
A 27-year-old tech forum with over 100,000 Warcraft 3 modding threads is closing its doors
"Anyone want help on anything." That's the title of the oldest post I could dig up on The Helper's Warcraft 3 world editor help forum, posted by Neo_HoJo all the way back in July 2002. It's one of over 100,000 similar threads, collectively containing approximately 859,700 comments. It seems to be the biggest forum on the site by far. But just as Warcraft 3 grapples once again for a new lease on life, The Helper is turning in.
A 27-year-old tech forum with over 100,000 Warcraft 3 modding threads is closing its doors
MMOGs 22 hours ago World of Warcraft Forever will "very aggressively punish gold buyers," as Blizzard admits the MMORPG has been "too lenient" pcgamesn.com - Ken Allsop • 22h World of Warcraft Forever is taking the practice of buying gold "very seriously," and will be "aggressively" laying the law down on anyone who looks … Gaming 1 day ago WoW: Forever Players Are Gushing Over Lighting Updates Kotaku - Rebekah Valentine • 1d World of Warcraft: Forever‘s beta is officially online, which means...
An ambitious fanmade expansion for Baldur's Gate 3 is out after almost two years in development
1 day ago A Steam player dismissed Luminary’s voice acting as AI-generated, prompting Refractive Entertainment’s creative director Keith Kolod to reveal that the game’s only voiced character is actually his wife. Someone playing Refractive Entertainment’s recently released action-RPG Luminary for less than an …
An ambitious fanmade expansion for Baldur's Gate 3 is out after almost two years in development
Baldur's Gate 3 is pretty great right out of the box, but it could be argued that its second act lacks some variety. If you aren't endlessly dazzled by shadowy forests and J.K. Simmons, you might have wished you could hang out after the family drama in the Shadow-Cursed Lands is sorted and explore some less gloomy vistas before arriving in the game's eponymous metropolis. As always, modders have you covered.
Hearthstone just got its first new class in four years: Warcraft's fire-breathing panda monk
At today's Blizzcon opening ceremony, it was announced that Hearthstone will receive a third post-launch class—the game's first since the Death Knight released in 2022. It's none other than the Monk, a class with origins you can trace all the way back to Warcraft 3's pandaren brewmaster. Represented by the playable Chen Stormstout, the Monk will get a full reveal next year.
Square Enix scrambles to fix Final Fantasy 14 bug where new beastmaster could crash entire servers
Final Fantasy 14's latest job has just hit the proverbial shelves, and you know what that means: emergency maintenance to fix an extremely bizarre bug. On Sep. 8, the same day that the new beastmaster class dropped, Square Enix had to quickly patch out a bug where "if the player's character leaves the area due to a connection loss at the moment the pet uses a weapon skill that restores its master's HP, the server may crash." Yes, this bug wasn't crashing the player's own game, but the server.
The WoW 'Classic+' rumors were true: World of Warcraft: Forever promises to be another timeline's bizzarro version of the MMO
The rumored game known to World of Warcraft fans as "Classic Plus" is real, and it has a proper name now—World of Warcraft: Forever is a new branch of the MMO that once again resets the clock to 2004, the year WoW first launched. But unlike WoW: Classic, the goal of WoW: Forever isn't just to take a trip back to the MMO's origins to relive those heady early years. WoW: Forever will explore new parts of Azeroth, telling stories that weren't told during the MMO's original progression.
Overwatch's newest hero is a robo-vampire, and reworks are on the way for Roadhog and Sombra
As was revealed in today's Blizzcon opening ceremony, Overwatch's newest hero is on the way: Doctrine, a vampire with a cyborg arm and mechanical bats. He was debuted via a story trailer that reveals a connection to Doomfist, the game's resident punch man. Breakout | Doctrine Hero Trailer | Overwatch | BlizzCon 2026 - YouTube Watch On A hero trial is active now, in case you want to try him out, and it will remain live through the weekend.
Hearthstone just got its first new class in four years: Warcraft's fire-breathing panda Monk
At today's Blizzcon opening ceremony, it was announced that Hearthstone will receive a third post-launch class—the game's first since the Death Knight released in 2022. It's none other than the Monk, a class with origins you can trace all the way back to Warcraft 3's pandaren brewmaster. Monk Cinematic Trailer | Hearthstone - YouTube Watch On Represented by the playable Chen Stormstout, the Monk will get a full reveal next year.
Heroes of the Storm gets first new hero after supposed death and 6 year wait
It's rare that a MOBA comes out, rarer that it manages to stick around, and perhaps rarest of all that it surges back to life after years on the backburner. While Heroes of the Storm never quite had its lights turned off, the constant downpour of new stuff you'd expect in a live service game did wind down. Until now.
Saber CCO Tim Willits is still bullish on AI, but concerned about its environmental impact: 'Elon wants to put servers in space. That could be the answer, right?'
AI in gamedev is about as hot as hot topics get—the tech is polarizing for all sorts of reasons, not the least of which is its environmental impact. The data centers AI relies on come with grave heat and water use concerns at a time when our species' ecological footprint is already leaning toward the catastrophic.
Dwarf Fortress co-creator Tarn Adams was amazed other devs had heard of his game the first time he went to a convention: 'I didn't know that anyone knew what we were doing'
Dwarf Fortress is a bit like caviar—not everyone's into it, but the people who are describe their experiences with it like a religious awakening. But the game's legendary co-creator, Tarn Adams, didn't even know it had a big following for many years, as he told PC Gamer's Joshua Wolens in a recent interview at Gamescom 2026. "It was something like 2013, 14 going to PAX in Seattle, and there was an indie mega booth at the time," he recalled.
Saber CCO Tim Willits blames layoffs on games industry overspecialization: 'Studios that have a couple hundred employees that work on one game are going to struggle'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. With mega-games like GTA 6 on the way, it's hard not to feel like games are always getting bigger—both the software itself, and the teams that make it (GTA 6 has an entire dedicated NPC team "art-directing" its every background character).
Saber CCO Tim Willits blames layoffs on games industry overspecialization: 'Studios that have a couple hundred employees that work on one game are going to struggle'
Ann Patchett Recommends 4 Backlist Books That Will Transform You Think of your favorite books on your shelf—the ones that helped shape your view of the world. We often turn to stories to learn, to gain empathy and …
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 wins best PC game at Gamescom
When Total War: Warhammer first debuted, I was much more into the wargame setting's sci-fi counterpart. This would be cool if Space Marines were in it , I remember thinking, somehow unaware that Total War: Warhammer would end up being one of the best strategy games on PC . Not that my theory was wrong: Space Marines are finally in Total War, and it is, in fact, cool.
A Star Wars Galaxies community server was allegedly hacked with AI assistance by a Reddit moderator harboring a primeval grudge
Star Wars Galaxies Legends, one of many community servers offering a version of the defunct MMO with custom additions, reportedly had its assets decrypted by a hacker with the username levarrishawk (via Massively OP). In a post on the Star Wars Galaxies subreddit, Levarris confirmed the details of a Discord post shared by the server's development team. "[W]e’ve confirmed that Levarris, aka levarrishawk from r/swg, used AI tools to decrypt our client side game asset files," the Discord post reads.
Total War: Warhammer 40,000 wins best PC game at Gamescom
1 hour ago GIANTS Software on the Future of Farming Simulator and Gaming YouTube • 1h Speaking to CGTN's Peter Oliver at Gamescom in Cologne, GIANTS Software Chief Strategy Officer Boris Stefan discusses the company's plans and the future of its successful Farming Simulator franchise. GIANTS Software is showcasing Farming Simulator 25: Beans & Alpacas at Gamescom, with the franchise having reached five million sales for Farming Simulator 25.
Thanks to a dedicated team 'art-directing' every single NPC, GTA 6 has over 10 times as many unique animations as GTA 5
There are big-budget blockbusters, and then there's GTA 6. If you want any sense of just how big this thing is, look no further than a recent interview Rockstar North co-head Aaron Garbut gave The New York Times (via Techradar). In it, he said the studio dedicated an entire new team solely to making NPCs. "We art-directed each individual one of them," Garbut said in the interview.
Am I out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong: The Wii and PS3 are 'retro' now, according to iconic Japanese gaming show
Retro gaming is just regular gaming to a sick, twisted mind like mine (and that of everyone I know, since we spend all our time playing old crap). But what makes something retro in the first place? Is it bits? Console generation? The size and contents of the box it came in, assuming it came in one at all? Whatever it is, it seems like the Wii and PS3 are being grandfathered into the definition—at least on Game Center CX, a Japanese retro gaming TV show.
Am I out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong: The Wii and PS3 are 'retro' now, according to iconic Japanese gaming show
Xbox 1 day ago Xbox CEO drops Helix bombshell with expected Series X|S-style 'family of consoles' gamingbible.com - Jack Marsh • 1d With a quarter of a century of making consoles under their belt, Xbox is making big waves in the upcoming years.
'We didn't have layoffs before, and now all of a sudden we have yearly layoffs': Bethesda artist says 'something has changed' under Microsoft
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Compulsion Games' buyout is complete, so now Microsoft won't get a cut if you buy South of Midnight
South of Midnight was one of 2025's seemingly innumerable highlights—in their 83% review , evergreen writer Andrea Shearon called it "a Deep South delight drenched in superstition and pain." If you've been holding off but nonetheless rooting for the award-winning studio behind it, Compulsion Games, now's a great time to dive in: it's independent again after a lengthy stay under the Xbox Game Studios banner.
Compulsion Games' buyout is complete, so now Microsoft won't get a cut if you buy South of Midnight
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Compulsion Games' buyout is complete, so now Microsoft won't get a cut if you buy South of Midnight
5 hours ago Across thousands of hours spent slaying gods and protecting humanity from the Darkness, one of the most important memories that Mac — better known as Mactics, a streamer and YouTuber who built a career helping hundreds of thousands of Destiny players master the game — has from the franchise seems …
Fallout dev Tim Cain says we should pay more attention to bad games: '[Publishers] often don't learn from failure because they only look at the games that sold well'
"Jesus Christ, I could write this shit:" The great Alan Moore once said that the sort of negative inspiration you get from reading drivel is even more fruitful for aspiring authors than the kind you get from reading the classics. Fallout co-creator and prolific video blogger Tim Cain took it a step further in a video he published Wednesday, saying everyone from bigwig publishers to the casual gamer could learn a thing or two from bad games.
The next big videogame TV adaptation is a Kingdom Hearts anime
. I've long held that no RPG is quite as spectacular as Kingdom Hearts, and I'm careful to specifically use the word "spectacular." For every ounce it is great, it's specifically great to gawk at, ideally with a mixture of awe and bewilderment. This is a game series where, if you die at a climactic moment, Mickey Mouse can emerge from your Christian soul and start killing people with a giant stick. It's incredible.
The next big videogame TV adaptation is a Kingdom Hearts anime
I've long held that no RPG is quite asspectacular as Kingdom Hearts, and I'm careful to specifically use the word "spectacular." For every ounce it is great, it's specifically great to gawk at, ideally with a mixture of awe and bewilderment. This is a game series where, if you die at a climactic moment, Mickey Mouse can emerge from your Christian soul and start killing people with a giant stick. It's incredible.
Star Wars: The Old Republic hopes to recapture the 'classic' experience with difficulty options and a new way to start from scratch
Darth Malgus. I don't know if Stars Wars: The Old Republic is the best MMO around—or even the best Star Wars MMO around—but there's something to be said for keeping the party alive for nearly 15 years at this point, even as developer Broadsword took the reins from BioWare in 2023. If you miss those halcyon days when the game had just dropped, well, you might want to give the imminent 8.0 update a look.
Witcher 3 designer says it wasn't easy to convince players its NPC simulation wasn't 'just fakery': 'People nowadays are interested in those kinds of details, and it really came to haunt us'
Geralt gives a thumbs up. It might seem silly to ask in our post-Red Dead horse testicles world, but how much exacting detail is too much? How much is not enough? Gamedev can go on forever if you don't prioritize the things that players actually notice, but if you're making an immersive fantasy RPG, it's critical that the intended illusions—bustling towns, lively taverns, festering dungeons, and so on—not shatter.
Witcher 3 designer says it wasn't easy to convince players its NPC simulation wasn't 'just fakery': 'People nowadays are interested in those kinds of details, and it really came to haunt us'
It might seem silly to ask in our post-Red Dead horse testicles world, but how much exacting detail is too much? How much is not enough? Gamedev can go on forever if you don't prioritize the things that players actually notice, but if you're making an immersive fantasy RPG, it's critical that the intended illusions—bustling towns, lively taverns, festering dungeons, and so on—not shatter.
Star Wars: The Old Republic hopes to recapture the 'classic' experience with difficulty options and a new way to start from scratch
I don't know if Stars Wars: The Old Republic is the best MMO around—or even the best Star Wars MMO around—but there's something to be said for keeping the party alive for nearly 15 years at this point, even as developer Broadsword took the reins from BioWare in 2023. If you miss those halcyon days when the game had just dropped, well, you might want to give the imminent 8.0 update a look.
Forget Quake, Worms: The Director's Cut just got a free expansion for the series' 30th anniversary
Worms. If you've checked in on Worms creator Andy Davidson sometime in these past few years, you'll know he's been hard at work on Worms: The Director's Cut 1.5, an unofficial but nonetheless Team 17-approved expansion pack for the original strategy-party mashup's Amiga-exclusive sequel. The goods have finally arrived: you can download the whole thing for free now. It's got over 40 custom levels, 50 new sample packs for your Worms' voices, new teams and terrain types, and so on.
The indie parkour game from one of the French brothers behind 2024's best FPS is coming out in just two weeks
The player runs through looming Brutalist architecture in Vholume. When I open up a trailer for a parkour game, I expect breakbeats or bassy electronica. You know, something radical—Vholume zigs where other games zag, scoring its run 'em up action with dejected, atmospheric synths punctuated by lonely footsteps and effortful grunts. A self-billed "melancholic first-person parkour adventure," it looks like the moody stepchild of Mirror's Edge.
Forget Quake, Worms: The Director's Cut just got a free expansion for the series' 30th anniversary
If you've checked in on Worms creator Andy Davidson sometime in these past few years, you'll know he's been hard at work on Worms: The Director's Cut 1.5, an unofficial but nonetheless Team 17-approved expansion pack for the original strategy-party mashup's Amiga-exclusive sequel. The goods have finally arrived: you can download the whole thing for free now. It's got over 40 custom levels, 50 new sample packs for your Worms' voices, new teams and terrain types, and so on.
American Truck Simulator is headed to North Dakota in its latest DLC
Truckin' in the rain. North Dakota may not be the most dazzling US state, but it is one of them, and so it's set to be absorbed into American Truck Simulator's expansive recreation of life on the road.
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