During the current Steam Next Fest, players have noticed a sharp rise in demos featuring AI-generated art or code, prompting complaints on Reddit. One user, ScalesGhost, asked Valve to let players filter out games disclosed as containing AI-generated content and exclude specific tags like 'Incremental Games' from the Discovery Queue. Other users, including EmmaBooney and aesoprowwy, said the flood of 'AI slop' has made it harder to find human-made games and hope for lower engagement on such titles.
A Show HN post introduces Playground, a site that collects browser games built with AI tools like GPT and Claude models. Creators submit games via a form including a play link, cover image, device compatibility and category tags, and each submission is manually reviewed before being listed. The service is free to submit to.
Employees are reportedly arranging to take paid time off or call in sick to play 'Grand Theft Auto VI' once it releases, even though the game has not yet launched. The anticipated behavior reflects strong early demand for the long-awaited title.
Sensor Tower estimates Rockstar had pre-sold about 6.45 million copies of Grand Theft Auto VI as of October 20, generating roughly $630 million in revenue. PlayStation 5 accounts for about 74% of pre-orders (4.8 million units) versus 1.66 million on Xbox Series X|S, ahead of the game's November 19 release.
Modder LTSharpe used Anthropic's Claude AI assistant to reverse-engineer The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and build a repeatable benchmarking framework, producing a binary performance fix released on NexusMods. The fix changes no visuals but reportedly boosts frame rates by up to 68% in worst-case scenarios and sharply reduces stuttering, according to user reports.
The Decker hypercard-like software project marked its fourth anniversary by summarizing a year of changes between versions 1.61 and 1.71. Key additions include gamepad input with keyboard fallback, a new IMG3 image codec that cuts file sizes 2-4x for many decks, and new contraption attribute types for configuring settings with structured data or notes.
A free, open-source application called Shader Compilation Stutter Killer (SCSKiller) precompiles game shaders into the GPU driver's cache before launch, aiming to prevent mid-game freezes caused by on-the-fly shader compilation. It works at the engine level, supporting titles built on Unreal Engine 4 and 5, Unity, RE Engine, and FromSoftware's engines, rather than requiring a per-game whitelist. Testers tried it across several games known for stutter issues to evaluate its effectiveness.
Carson Oliver, newly promoted to vice president of the App Store, spoke with Polygon about Apple's gaming strategy following the launch of Indie Games Week, which spotlighted seven new and upcoming iPhone and iPad titles. He said more premium games have launched on the App Store this year than last, including a growing number of console and PC franchises moving to mobile.
A programmer known as Mochi64 ran computational analysis software through millions of word and font combinations to try to decipher the long-unreadable plaque in Super Mario 64's castle courtyard. The software's closest match suggests the plaque reads "Eternal Star" on top and "We hope so" on the bottom, according to Video Games Chronicle. Even modern rereleases of the game retain the same blurry, illegible plaque image.
Developer Alliance Arts postponed a public Steam Next Fest demo for its game Drunken Goddess Reflex, citing worry that AI tools could let others quickly copy its presentation and gameplay before launch. The studio will instead show the demo only in closed sessions with streaming and posting restrictions. Other developers, including Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope and prototype designer Freya Holmér, have described similar concerns after seeing their early work or viral prototypes replicated by AI-assisted copies.
LeTrain, a procedural train simulator originally built with text-based terminal graphics, has been updated for 2026 with a 3D engine powered by LibGDX, adding orbiting cameras and rendered 3D objects for its industrial zones and trains. The update also introduces a record/edit mode with undo and redo controls, plus a scenario export system using plain text files that can recreate identical worlds via shared seeds. The game remains available in both classic 2D terminal and new 3D client versions.
Collectors report that a Japan-exclusive GameCube variant tied to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, released in a distinct console color rather than just a faceplate, now commands prices in the thousands of dollars on secondary markets. Other rare GameCube bundles, like the US Pokémon XD and Japan-only Donkey Konga editions, remain more affordable since they used standard Platinum Silver units with custom faceplates.
GoKawiil