The Verge’s 2024 in review – The Verge

2024: a year in art on The Verge

2024-12-31T09:00:00-05:00

The Verge art team was busy this year, creating illustrations, photographs, and interactive designs to match stories about underwater sea cables, competitive Excel, parental anxiety, AI companions, and so much more. Here's a look back at 20 of our favorite projects from 2024, with comments from those of us who worked on the project.

2004 was the first year of the future

Design by Cath Virginia

In a special issue on the year 2004, The Verge looked 20 years back to examine how 2004 was "the year of the future," setting in motion the internet as we know and use it today. Cath Virginia absolutely crushed the hub design (with three skins! Rememb …

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The best PS5 games in 2024

2024-12-30T09:00:00-05:00

It's been a bit of a rough year for PlayStation exclusives and the studios that make them. While The Final Shape was generally lauded as an excellent concluding chapter to Destiny 2's current story arc, Bungie was faced with all kinds of setbacks including canceled projects and layoffs. Elsewhere, Sony's Firewalk Studios launched Concord, unlaunched it, then closed permanently within the space of a few months after the hero shooter failed to gain traction in a glutted market.

That said, PlayStation still came through this year with a slate of excellent games that will hopefully demonstrate that there's an appetite for more than just live-se …

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2024 was a big year for Windows on Arm

2024-12-29T09:00:00-05:00

I still can't quite believe that I'm using an Arm-powered Windows laptop every day. After more than a decade of trying to make Windows on Arm a reality, Microsoft and Qualcomm finally nailed it this year with Copilot Plus PCs. These new laptops have excellent battery life and great performance - and the app compatibility issues that have plagued Windows on Arm are mostly a thing of the past (as long as you're not a gamer). Microsoft wanted 2024 to be "the year of the AI PC," but I think it was very much the year of Windows on Arm. If 2024 was anything to go by, 2025 is going to be even bigger for Windows on Arm.

Microsoft set the stage for …

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10 terrific Nintendo Switch games from 2024 to check out

2024-12-28T09:00:00-05:00

This holiday season is the swan song for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo told us as much when it said a long-awaited Switch successor would be announced by April 2025. But Nintendo thankfully didn't get a case of senioritis as it looks to graduate to a Switch sequel, as 2024 had a litany of excellent titles come to the nearly eight-year-old console. So we're taking a little look back at some of our favorite games on the Switch for 2024. One of the great things about this year's offering of Switch titles is that they all should work on the follow-up to the Switch - since Nintendo confirmed its next generation will be backward-compatible. (And h …

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9 great Game Pass games for your Xbox

2024-12-27T10:00:00-05:00

Even if it wasn't the strongest year for Xbox exclusive games (and some of those exclusives had their issues), Game Pass was still an extremely good deal for console owners. Mostly, it's the variety; the subscription service continues to offer a great mix of new blockbuster releases, along with smaller indie games and older titles to round out the package. This year had everything from Call of Duty's big coming-out party on Game Pass to a stop-motion adventure game to an expansion to one of last year's biggest RPGs.

Here are nine great games to check out if you're a new subscriber or just looking for something new to play.

Call of Duty: Bla …

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2024’s best games channeled the heart and soul of the ’90s

2024-12-27T09:00:00-05:00

In 2024, we gamed like it was 1997. Games like Metaphor: ReFantazio, Astro Bot, and the solo-developed Balatro remixed genres of console generations past (or, in Balatro's case, remixed the very old game of poker itself) to critical and commercial success, while Capcom was one of the most successful companies of the year supported by a healthy mix of titles across different genres. With the industry's biggest publishers increasingly chasing massive, broadly appealing games meant to be played forever, it was heartening to see old formats come back with some new tricks. And these successes could provide the blueprint needed to pull the video g …

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The best shows and movies on Netflix in 2024

2024-12-26T10:00:00-05:00

2024 will go down as the year Netflix made its huge push into sports. It was the exclusive home for the "disgusting-but-can't-look-away" hot dog eating contest between Joey Chestnut and his rival, Takeru Kobayashi. The streamer also broadcast the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match that would have been abysmally boring if not for the bloody women's match right before the main event. Then there are the million-dollar deals Netflix struck with the WWE and NFL to bring even more live sports to the platform.

Thankfully, Netflix also added a healthy amount of original programming, movies, TV shows, anime, and documentaries that'll be much eas …

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Even Apple wasn’t able to make VR headsets mainstream in 2024

2024-12-26T09:00:00-05:00

Apple's Vision Pro headset is an incredible piece of technology, but even Apple's design and marketing magic hasn't been enough to convince many people to don a VR headset for an entire day. Instead, people seem more willing to use discreet wearables like Bluetooth headphones, smartwatches, and products like the Ray-Ban Meta glasses - so Apple's headset isn't making the waves the company would have wanted.

Of course, an instant transformation of the computing landscape wasn't exactly the point of the Vision Pro. Apple was clearly launching its headset for Apple enthusiasts, first adopters, and people who love VR. At a starting price of $3,4 …

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What podcasts looked like in 2024 — literally

2024-12-25T10:00:00-05:00

In 2024, podcasts have gotten closer to becoming a video-first medium. Though video podcasts have been around a relatively long time, shows from The New York Times, NPR, and many other podcast networks that have been audio-only for years have recently started adding a video component in order to gain new listenership. In fact, Spotify, a major player in podcasts, is about to begin paying podcasters to bring videos to the platform.

And after years of producers trying to get audio shows to go viral on social media, podcasts are now dominating TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts after video producers realized they can just film the ta …

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2024 has been an amazing year for roguelikes

2024-12-25T09:00:00-05:00

The roguelike genre has turned from a relative niche into something much bigger. Roguelike games can be famously tough to crack into; generally, they have a high difficulty that means you'll bang your head against a wall as you learn how to play the game, puzzle out what strategies work best in the procedurally generated levels, and figure out how to overcome tough enemies or challenges. 2024 showed that the genre wasn't only a commercial force through hits like Hades II and Balatro, and also that a roguelike could be almost anything: from a poker variant to a flashy multiplayer action game.

Speaking of Balatro, it was undoubtedly one of, i …

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