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! I woke from a terrible nightmare last night. I’d just released a book and every three or so pages, the publisher had inserted a double page spread trying to sell the reader a wireless mouse with Minecraft movie Jack Black’s gormless, gouty grin on it, turning my carefully curated atmosphere to shit! Phew. Thank goodness it was just a nightmare! Just an utter, utter nightmare.
Anyway, never mind all that. The sun is out, and books still exist and are and mostly advertisement free! Here to talk about them this week is game maker, Dicey Dungeons writer, Now Play This festival founder, and The Husbands author, Holly Gramazio! Cheers Holly! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?
We’d waited a long time to extol the virtues of this excellent entry to people who never picked up a Wii U, and the wait, thankfully, was worth it. PJ awarded the Switch edition an ‘Outstanding’ 10/10 in his review, calling it “an absolute must-play” that ranks “up there with the all-time great sci-fi RPGs”.
Well, that’s been quite the week, huh? Let’s chill out with another edition of Box Art Brawl.
Last time, we saw two covers for NSO newbie Nobunaga’s Ambition go head-to-head, and it’s got to be said, it wasn’t even close. The epic Japanese art comfortably walked away with the win, taking 74% of the vote and leaving North America with the remaining 26%.
This is a massive update adding boss updates, control improvements, bug fixes and much more. The team also has much more planned for 2025. Here’s the full rundown via the official Steam page:
There’s a lot we still don’t know about GTA 6, but probably the most annoying thing that has gone unanswered is just when it’s coming out. Not annoying in the sense of, “oh golly gosh I’m so excited please I need to know”, more “come on now, just get it over with!” It’s just a whole thing, and I wish it wasn’t, but Rockstar and their owner Take-Two also clearly know it’s a whole thing, and are riding on that very fact. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick recently spoke with Bloomberg about a whole bunch of bits, and of course the question of when GTA 6 is coming out came up.
We can probably all agree that planting trees is pretty much universally good, right? I can’t really imagine a scenario where planting a tree is a bad thing, we need them to live after all. If you’re not into planting trees you’re probably an oil tycoon, or a squirrel with incredibly bad survival instincts. If you are, though, might I interest you in Treeplanter, a game whose name is exactly what it says on the tin? It was announced just yesterday, and looks quite, quite lovely.
Look, not every dating sim under the sun is insatiably horny, but I don’t think you can argue that Date Everything! isn’t. Like, the whole game is about how you can date everything, from a chair, to a clock, to a fridge. There’s literally 100 different objects you can date, this is somebody’s something for sure. And, as revealed in a new trailer earlier this week, as it turns out all you tabletop fiends out there will be able to date a twenty-sided die.
The weekend is officially here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for Saturday, March 29, below:
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for $40
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake takes the beloved NES game to brand-new heights using HD-2D. For $40, this is an excellent deal and the lowest we’ve seen the game yet. I spent 70 hours obtaining the Platinum Trophy for this one on PlayStation 5, so you can expect a giant adventure ahead.
This weekend, you can save over $100 off the Logitech G915 TKL Lightspeed Keyboard. This wireless mechanical keyboard is perfect for any setup, with a wide variety of customization options available. You can expect around 40 hours of battery with one full charge, with low profile mechanical switches to deliver faster speed and accuracy with each key press.
Apple AirTag 4 Pack
Why buy one AirTag when you can get four for just $69.99, down from $99? Throw one in your luggage, attach one to your keys, slap one in your backpack, and hand one to a forgetful friend. With Ultra Wideband Precision Finding and the Find My network, losing your stuff is basically impossible. This 4-pack is one of the best deals Apple offers, so grab it while it’s discounted.
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection for $34
Ace Attorney Investigations Collection brought both Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit in one package, with Prosecutor’s Gambit releasing in English for the very first time. This release features updated visuals, new animations, gallery mode, conversation history, and more. You can even switch between the old and new sprites!
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for $32.99
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is $32.99 at Woot right now, making this the lowest we’ve ever seen the RPG. The massive adventure across the planet to track Sephiroth was one of the biggest games of 2024, and it’s absolutely a must-play game. A 40+ hour main story awaits, with over 35 side quests available after you clear the story.
World of Goo 2 for $24
World of Goo 2 was a sequel many thought would never happen, but it at last arrived on Nintendo Switch last year after 16 years. This weekend at Amazon, you can take home a physical copy of the game for just $24. Over 60 new levels are featured in this installment, with dozens of new music tracks, too.
Kiki’s Delivery Service Film Comic: All-in-One Edition
Studio Ghibli has produced many of the most beloved anime films ever, and Kiki’s Delivery Service is a prime example. If you wish to experience this film in a new way, the Kiki’s Delivery Service Film Comic: All-in-One Edition is a great way to do so! This hardcover book contains the entire film across 584 pages – perfect for any Ghibli fan.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania for $11
Finally, Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is just $11 for the PS4 version. This release packs in a total of 300 stages, recreating all levels from Super Monkey Ball Deluxe. If you’ve never played a Super Monkey Ball game before, Banana Mania is a great place to start, especially for only $11.
Bah, it’s never fun writing one of these, but unfortunately Myst and Riven developer Cyan Worlds have laid off 12 of its staff members this week, supposedly cutting the studio by about half. Cyan shared the news on its social media accounts yesterday, noting that “industry conditions” have “forced” the studio to “weigh the future health of our studio against the month-to-month realities of game development in 2025.”
Have you been Everywhere? Not like, literally, everywhere, but Everywhere, that sort of Roblox, sort of Fortnite, everything game from Build A Rocket Boy, a studio founded by ex-Rockstar dev and GTA 3 to 5 producer Leslie Benzies. That whole, uh, interactive experience or whatever you want to call it still seems to be in beta. But the first project spun off from it, MindsEye, a near-future action game that really just looks like slightly sci-fi GTA, now has a release date: June 10th, later this year. Except, I’m a little bit confused by it.
