Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week – our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! As a reward for sticking with this column for so long, I’m delighted to announce that we’ll soon be rolling out the chance for you to write in with a detailed list of all your most subversive ideas and which books inspired you to hold them, and in return I’ll send you an email alerts if those books ever appear in this column. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is widely considered a classic so I’ll just call it ‘McCarthyism’ for simplicity.
This week, it’s the co-founder of Finji – publisher of such luxury games as Tunic, Wilmot’s Warehouse, and Night In The Woods – Bekah Saltsman! Cheers Bekah! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?
Hello folks, and welcome back to another edition of Box Art Brawl.
Last week, we looked at Mario’s Picross for the Game Boy, and it was quite the heated battle between North America and Europe. In the end, Europe won with 48% of the vote. North America came in second with 40%, and Japan in third with 12%.
The legendary 1995 role-playing game Chrono Trigger is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary, and as part of this, Square Enix has provided a sales update.
According to an official post on its website, combined sales (across all platforms) since the game’s original Super Famicom release have now surpassed over five million copies worldwide.
Mojang hopes to bring it to “as many devices as possible”.
Ahead of the Switch 2’s arrival, developer Mojang has announced Minecraft will be getting a visual graphics upgrade. This was revealed during the latest ‘Minecraft Live’ broadcast for March 2025 and the update is officially titled ‘Vibrant Visuals‘.
The footage on display, captured on a high-end PC, is a visual upgrade that can be toggled on and enhances everything you see in the game but doesn’t impact the gameplay or the mechanics.
There’s no better news than “game that hasn’t had an update in years just received one”, and this week that applies to Battle Brothers. Despite first releasing eight years ago – almost to the day, its eighth anniversary is in a couple of days time on March 24th – and not receiving a new update in two years, developer Overhype Studios has come back to the game not just with some fixes, but with some new content too.
Everybody loves a good fairytale, but I’m sure you can agree that some kind of twist on a Brothers Grimm story is a bit overdone by now, so how about a game based on folklore from Normandy? Carimara: Beneath the forlorn limbs is exactly that, a self described “short and creepy fairytale” that has a look about it where I can easily imagine walking around its world and think “cripes, it smells a bit around here, ‘ey?”
Minecraft is the best-selling game of all time, but it’s looked pretty much the same for the entirety of its almost 14 year run. There’s an argument to be made that it’s showing its age in places, an argument I won’t make because I don’t think so myself, but all the same, as revealed during today’s Minecraft Live, Mojang announced that the sandbox game is getting a pretty big visual overhaul update called Vibrant Visuals. Now, don’t worry, it’ll still be all blocks and squares ‘n’ that, but it will be changing up how lighting looks.
Keita Takahashi is probably one of the most recognizable names in games, in no small part thanks to a game that needs no introduction, Katamari Damacy. That game was made at Namco, before it became the Bandai Namco we know today, and Takahashi actually left the studio back in 2006 around the time they merged, and in a recent interview with GameSpark (as translated by Automaton), the developer has shared the reason behind his departure.
Minecraft Live 2025 is done and dusted, and developer Mojang has announced a long list of new upgrades and content coming to the best-selling video game of all time.
Mojang revealed Minecraft’s first game drop of the year, called Spring to Life. This will introduce a variety of updates to the Overworld that will make biomes “feel more immersive and alive,” such as new variants for cows, pigs, and chickens, and new ambient features and sounds (firefly bush, leaf litter, and more). Spring to Life launches on March 25.
The second game drop of the year doesn’t have a name just yet, but we do know what it will include. There’s a new block called the Dried Ghast that can be rehydrated to form a new mob variant called a Ghastling (baby ghast, essentially), which in turn can become the new Happy Ghast mob variant. The Ghast harness is used to fly the Happy Ghast, which can carry up to four players.
Today’s big update was a major visual upgrade for Minecraft called ‘Vibrant Visuals,’ “the first step in expressing our developers’ vision for a visual upgrade that will transform the way our players experience Minecraft,” Mojang said. Vibrant Visuals does not impact Minecraft gameplay in any way.
Mojang Studios announced the name, launch date, and features of the first game drop of the year, as well as upcoming features in the second game drop of the year.
The first game drop of the year is called “Spring to Life,” and introduces a variety of updates to the Overworld that will make biomes feel more immersive and alive.
The second game drop of the year includes the new Dried Ghast block, the new Ghastling and Happy Ghast mob variants, and the Ghast harness.
The Dried Ghast is a little big smaller than a regular block and has cute little tentacles and a grumpy face.
If you pick up the Dried Ghast from the Nether and put it in water, eventually it will become a much happier Ghastling.
The Ghastling floats around the Overworld like a little balloon. Feed it snowballs and eventually it will grow up to become a flying Happy Ghast.
If you craft a harness for the Happy Ghast, tempt it to come closer with the harness itself, then jump on it. From there, you and up to three other players can fly around on a single Happy Ghast.
The new Locator Bar feature, positioned at the bottom of the screen, lets you see in which direction your friends are. That will be useful for finding friends while flying a Happy Ghast.
Mojang said the Happy Ghast will be useful for Survival Mode builders, because “it’s a bit like being in Creative Mode, but in Survival.” The platform lets you position wherever you like in the sky and dismount.
Mojang Studios announced a visual upgrade for Minecraft, titled Vibrant Visuals.
Mojang revealed an exclusive A Minecraft Movie clip and announced an in-game movie-themed live event.
The live event takes place in Midport Village, and sees players join Steve and his companions from the movie in an evolving multiplayer experience where you defend the village in three mini games. The live event runs from March 25 to April 7, and if you complete all the challenges you earn the Yearn cape.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I love Silent Hill 4: The Room. It was actually the first game I played in the series, and when I did I wasn’t aware that it wasn’t universally loved or even liked at its release. Not that knowing other people’s opinions would have changed my mind about it, I’m the kind of person that will ardently defend a 6/10, but still, I think there’s a lot to love about it… unless you played the game on PC. For a long time, it was missing a few things that were featured in the PS2 version of the game, but GOG’s Preservation Program is adding them back in.
