Shacknews • 3rd March 2025

Living the Dream: The Making of Catacomb 3-D

John Romero, John Carmack, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack recount the making of Catacomb 3-D, the team's second FPS.

Shacknews • 9th August 2024

Doom + Doom 2 is the pinnacle of ultra-violence

Following in the footsteps of Quake and Quake II’s enhanced editions, Doom + Doom 2 is not just another Doom port. It’s everything it claims to be: The definitive release of two genre-defining shooters.

Shacknews • 4th March 2024

WWE 2K24 review: Showcase of the Immortals

While WWE 2K24 feels more iterative than last year's edition, the game's roster and celebration of all things WrestleMania hold enormous appeal for fans.

Shacknews • 15th February 2024

Perfect Run: The Quest to Master Resident Evil 2 and Make GDQ History

For all the speedrun records set and broken at Games Done Quick (GDQ), no one had ever finished a game without taking damage. One speedrunner set out to change that.

Shacknews • 10th January 2024

Game design pioneer Jennell Jaquays passes away at 67

Jaquays broke ground in tabletop, video, and PC game design, and was a prominent advocate in the LGBTQ community.

Shacknews • 21st April 2023

How Tears of the Kingdom could tie together Zelda's timeline

With Tears of the Kingdom less than a month away, Zelda fans are debating where it fits on the timeline--but what if that line isn't a line at all?

25th March 2022

Kool Stuff[7]: Floor to Ceiling: Arcade1Up on Mortal Kombat's 30th Anniversary

Arcade1Up's Cyrus Rosenberg talks the company's revamped MK cabinet for the franchise's 30th anniversary, where the Supreme-branded MK cabinet came from, and what goes into licensing retro games for re-release.

18th March 2022

Kool Stuff[6]: How Video Game Ratings Have Changed Since Mortal Kombat II

Long Live Mortal Kombat author David L. Craddock reached out to the ESRB to learn more about its history, and how the ESRB's ratings have changed to keep pace with the rapidly changing way we played video games.

10th March 2022

Kool Stuff [5]: Why Mortal Kombat Never Appeared on NES

Long Live MK author David L. Craddock spoke with representatives from Acclaim and Sculptured Software to find out why MK1 never appeared on the NES.

Substack • 3rd March 2022

Kool Stuff[4]: Unfulfilled Nostalgia: Diamond Select Toys' Mortal Kombat Collectibles, Part 2

Diamond Select Toys's artists walk us through the making of its gallery diorama statues of Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, and Kitana.

Substack • 24th February 2022

Kool Stuff [3]: Unfulfilled Nostalgia: Diamond Select Toys' Mortal Kombat Collectibles, Part 1

Diamond Select Toys discusses the intersection between comics and collectibles, how the company chooses what types of collectibles to support in each line, and each product's multi-step process through design, sculpting, painting, and prototyping.

Shacknews • 31st December 2021

Unraveling the mystery behind Diablo's multiple release dates

Diablo turns 25 today, and it turns 25 next month. Which is the true release date? The answer depends on where you lived.

Shacknews • 31st December 2021

Unraveling the mystery behind Diablo's multiple release dates

Diablo turns 25 today, and it turns 25 next month. Which is the true release date? The answer depends on where you lived.

Shacknews • 15th November 2021

X Factors: Game Developers Reflect on 20 Years of Xbox

Four developers share their their favorite Xbox projects to work on, their favorite games to play, and other memories on the 20th anniversary of Xbox.

Shacknews • 13th November 2020

Bet on Black: How Microsoft and Xbox Changed Pop Culture, Part 1

From Adventure and Minesweeper to Age of Empires and Halo and beyond, explore Microsoft's history in the PC and video game industries. Based on over 100 hours of interviews.

Shacknews • 12th November 2020

A Bit of Foolishness: An Oral History of Age of Empires

As WarCraft II, Command & Conquer, and Civilization II continued to sell, a small group of business programmers toiled away on Age of Empires, a strategy game that combined all three.

Shacknews • 17th September 2020

The console wars as we've known them are over

With Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony all shooting for different goals, there is no war.

Shacknews • 11th September 2020

Never Forget: Traveling with the Xbox team on 9/11

In the home stretch to release the original Xbox, Microsoft developers find themselves in an America forever changed by the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Shacknews • 15th May 2020

Work From Quarantine: How COVID-19 Has Upended Game Development

Developers from Amazon Games, Techland, Behaviour Interactive, and more discuss the pros and cons of making games during a global pandemic.

Shacknews • 13th May 2020

From Chaos: The Aspirational Storytelling of Life is Strange

Developers from Dontnod Entertainment and Deck Nine Games recount the making of the Life is Strange series, and what it contributes to storytelling in video games.