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‘He’s tiny, dumpy and funny – so his BMX tricks are hilarious’: Tanuki: Pon’s Summer, an adorable slice-of-life adventure

Denkiworks’ debut lets players pull off tricks and pull pints in a stunning, Japan-inspired settingA freeloading tanuki, mounting debt, and a town full of possibilities will sound familiar to fans of Animal Crossing. Alas, while you won’t find accountability from Tom Nook, Kyoto-based studio Denkiworks has stepped in to heal your financial trauma with a […]

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Big Walk review – larking around with mates elevated to an artform

Switch 2, PlayStation 5, PC; House HouseThe creators of Untitled Goose Game return with an online, open-world adventure that delivers slapstick silliness and bucolic majesty in nearly equal measureRadiant sunsets glinting on lapping waves; bushland valleys that beckon with secrets; modernist buildings sat atop craggy ridges: Big Walk’s setting is as arresting as it is

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Beast of Reincarnation review – a taxing reflection of human-made damage

PC, Xbox, PlayStation 5; Game Freak/FictionsGame Freak channels a post-apocalyptic reality that reflects our own repetitive erosion cycles, with a fair bit of hand-holdingMost of your time in Beast of Reincarnation is spent collecting last words. You cross paths with robots lying on the ground, who muster whatever energy they have left to provide guidance.

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Ring Cycle review – AI staging dispenses with drama to create banal bric-a-brac

Bayreuth festival theatre, BayreuthFor the festival’s 150th anniversary, the creative team have turned to AI to generate visuals reflecting Wagner’s tetralogy’s past, present – and future. The hyperactive result is a dismal, mindless messUnveiled the same week in which tech company Anthropic admitted that its AI model Claude had gone rogue during testing, Bayreuth festival’s

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The end of the world: how players mourn the death of their favourite online games

Online multiplayer changed the trajectory of games, but the cost of keeping servers running means every virtual world is doomed to die – sooner or laterNevan Hagarty had an idea. If he and other Halo 3 players stayed online the night of 13 January 2022, they could delay the impending server shutdown. Players knew this

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Disruption review – anti-AI thriller boasts knockout cast but tech commentary needs an update

Pershing Square Signature Center, New YorkJohn David Washington leads an exceptionally talented cast in a sleek off-Broadway thriller that feels a little datedMaking its US debut three years after its London premiere, Andrew Stein’s Disruption faces the typical battle of the topical play: even with the most expedient fast-track to production, works tackling current events

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‘More than just objects’: Australian book sellers raise alarm over ‘horrific’ destruction of rare titles to feed AI

Secondhand booksellers believe they may have been caught up in the AI supply chain that sees old books scanned then destroyed“Sometimes books tell you more than the content,” says Tim White, as he lines up carefully dust-jacketed books and pamphlets in plastic sleeves on temporary shelves in Melbourne University’s Wilson Hall.He’s preparing his stall for

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$2m crime novel deal collapses amid questions over AI use

Agents withdraw Jerry Falade’s hotly anticipated debut after saying they can no longer authenticate ‘how the manuscript evolved’A high-profile publishing deal for a debut crime novel has collapsed after doubts emerged over whether artificial intelligence played a role in writing it.The hotly anticipated manuscript Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body, by Jerry Falade, was withdrawn

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