Games Archive
Archives for July 2026
Cameron Faulkner
Andrew Webster
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Brad Bourque
Kirby Air Riders for Switch 2 is 33 percent off for the first time.
The fast-paced racing game is currently on sale for $50 (usually $70) at Amazon, although you’ll have to add it to your cart to see the price. Air Riders features extensive customization and sharing features, and surprising depth considering its light-hearted vibes. This deal’s worth taking advantage of if you’ve been put off by the game’s original price.
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Jay Peters
A hopeful message from id.
The studio, which was hit hard by this week’s Xbox layoffs, says that it still has “the crew we need to build the games and tech we’re known for.”
On that note, I really recommend that you check out the new Doom expansion that launched this week — it shows just what makes id special.
Image: id Software
Stevie Bonifield
Bethesda’s union will hold a “Save Our Devs” march to protest Xbox layoffs.
Game Developer reports the OneBGS union is holding the rally in support of laid off developers on July 15th at ZeniMax offices in Rockville, Austin, Dallas, and Montreal, as the union announced in an email to members:
“Microsoft and ZeniMax leadership have made the devastating decision to slash over 440 positions across BGS, ZOS, id, ZWU(QA) and ZeniMax corporate (including CTO and CSUR). Because we organized and certified our unions, we have hard-won legal rights and protections that non-unionized studios simply do not have. The company wants us to accept this as a done deal and quietly disappear. We won’t let that happen. Our next steps are to mobilize. We need every single member visible and unified.”
Cameron Faulkner
Stardew Valley’s coziness knows no bounds.
First, there was a Stardew Valley cookbook that was just as much about the game’s characters as the ingredients you can pick up during the life sim adventure. In early 2027, there will be an official amigurumi crochet book launching, with 25 patterns to let you build the game’s little critters to put around your house. Sounds chill.
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Cameron Faulkner
Jay Peters
Asha Sharma has been appointed to a Federal Reserve task force about “Productivity and Jobs.”
The Xbox CEO, who announced mass layoffs at Xbox this week, will assess “the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve’s policy judgments.”
She’ll work alongside Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, a Stanford professor who is “on leave” at Anthropic.
Federal Reserve announces the leadership and objectives of its task forces to advance the conduct of monetary policy
[Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System]
Jay Peters
The first two Call of Duty: Black Ops games are now available on PS5 and PS4 for $39.99… each.
As noted by Push Square, the games also have separate season passes that cost $29.99, meaning the total for both titles with all of their content is just under $140. Oof. However, if you subscribe to PlayStation Plus, you can buy the games and their passes at a significant discount ($19.99 per game, $9.89 per season pass) until August 6th.
Andrew Liszewski
Jsaux confirms it’s still making front screen accessories for Valve’s Steam Machine.
After first teasing them last November, months before the Steam Machine was released, Jsaux has shared updated designs for its screen-equipped front plates for the console. Pricing and availability haven’t been announced, but the accessory will come in three versions with E Ink, color E Ink, or dot matrix displays.
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Image: Jsaux
Jay Peters
Bethesda has reportedly lost more than 50 staffers as part of the Xbox layoffs.
That includes “key, high-performing people in the trenches” working on The Elder Scrolls 6, IGN reports. One Bethesda staffer told the publication that the layoffs have had “a crushing effect on morale,” and one said that the QA department was “decimated.”
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