A retrospective look back at Nintendo's GameCube console highlights how it became the company's second worst-selling system ever, moving just 21.74 million units. The analysis points to a limited game library, heavy dependence on first-party titles, and the omission of DVD playback as key factors behind its poor commercial performance.
Hobbyist developers have successfully ported Windows NT 4.0 to Nintendo's GameCube console, building on groundwork laid by a project called Entii for Workcubes hosted on GitHub. The feat was recently showcased in a video by Jiga Tech, demonstrating the modding process used to get Microsoft's decades-old operating system running on the aging Nintendo hardware.
Roughly 12 terabytes of data from Valve's old Steam2 backend, covering games published between 2003 and 2013, has surfaced online after being left exposed in a public repository. The trove reportedly includes prototype builds like an early version of Left 4 Dead with a different HUD, materials tied to the canceled Half-Life 2: Episode 3, and files from non-Valve titles such as Grand Theft Auto 5. Content creators covering Valve say no hacking was involved, and only game data was exposed, not player information.
Phil Schiller, who has led Apple's App Store since 2015 and joined the company in 1987, has stepped down from that role, according to Bloomberg. He'll remain at Apple as a Fellow working on unspecified projects, a title insiders view as a precursor to full retirement. Carson Oliver, a 14-year App Store veteran, will take over daily operations, and the App Store is shifting from marketing to Eddy Cue's services division.
JMGO has released its Iris Ultra Max Google TV projector outside China, featuring a dual-iris optical design that the company says delivers a 10,000:1 native contrast ratio. The device combines a triple-laser engine rated at 6,500 ISO lumens with 4K resolution at 120Hz, VRR, ALLM, and Dolby Vision HDR support, plus a motorized gimbal, optical zoom, and extensive lens shift for flexible placement. Preorders start today at $2,999, with a full retail price of $3,499 and shipping set for October 19th.
Apple and Major League Baseball launched a four-game immersive VR series on Vision Pro, beginning with the Red Sox versus Yankees. A reviewer donned the headset for the full broadcast and found the up-close, 3D visuals striking, but the experience awkward for a sport built around long stretches, breaks, and communal viewing habits.
A developer released a free browser-based logic puzzle called 'Plan The Roadmap' on Show HN, part of a series called Corporate Mind Games. Players drag 16 tickets into four quarterly columns, each with a point target, while satisfying constraints set by simulated meeting participants, winning when all indicator faces turn from frowning to smiling.
Newegg is offering a four-item PC building bundle featuring AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU, 32GB of Corsair DDR5-6000 memory, and a Gigabyte X870E Aorus Pro motherboard for $1,113.99, a $240 discount off the combined retail price. The deal also throws in a free Cooler Master Elite Liquid 240 AIO cooler worth $80 and an AMD game bundle.
Sony will air two consecutive livestreams on September 3 ahead of Tokyo Game Show, starting at 9AM ET. The first broadcast covers updates from PlayStation Studios and partners worldwide, closing with an extended look at Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, followed immediately by a Japan-focused stream spotlighting Asian developers.
The unofficial Android Auto app Xtream Player, successor to Fermata Xtream, has released version 1.4.0 with a new Games add-on for Premium subscribers, starting with Chess and Connect 4, meant only for use when the car is parked. The update also refreshes app icons, improves YouTube Music playback behavior, and fixes a bug that caused a black screen when using the side-panel skip control.
A how-to guide details a method for turning an iPhone into a substitute gaming controller for PCs using the Remote Gamepad app, which works with Mac, Windows and Linux systems. Rather than pairing via Bluetooth, the setup connects the iPhone to a computer over a shared Wi-Fi network to relay controller inputs into PC games.
Meta has launched Pocket in the US, a mobile app built by the former Gizmo team that lets users create interactive game prototypes—called 'gizmos'—simply by typing text prompts, with no coding or code visibility involved. Finished creations can be shared in a TikTok-style feed with likes, comments and reposts, but users have no way to export or use them outside the app.