Latest articles by Alex Raisbeck
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto found it hard to watch his own kids playtest Super Mario 64: "Geez, does this kid have any brains?"
News Child's play
Civ 5 caused a commotion at a space agency its creative director used to work at
News "There was a roar across the building"
With games like GTA 6 and Monster Hunter Wilds set to stuff 2025, Helldivers 2 lead says "it was super good we launched when we did"
News "We just happened to release at a very good time when there was not that much competition."
Core Keeper creators channel Terraria with a gorgeous multiplayer survival game "where every pixel is yours to shape, mine, build, or explode"
News Terrarific
After a year of PSN controversy, balance woes, and a 63-day recovery effort, Helldivers 2 devs say "we've been on a rollercoaster, but we're also in an extremely privileged position to be on this rollercoaster"
News "Even with all the ups and downs, I'm so happy to be on this ride."
Veteran analyst is optimistic about Switch 2, hopes it will "more clearly communicate how this is different than the Switch" than the Wii U did with Wii
News Nintendos and don'ts
GTA dev says "day zero" patch mentality is bad news for everyone: "encourages poor development and management practices, and it's a worse customer experience too"
News "It started with the music's 'we'll fix it in the mix'"
Current holders of the ARPG crown congratulate Path of Exile 2 devs on release as Diablo 4 leads admit they're jumping in themselves
News "Now to figure out what class to play…"
Hideo Kojima seems to be testing Death Stranding 2, but it's not going well: "I fell asleep twice while on a delivery and ran the vehicle into a cliff"
News "I'm low on sleep"
As Monster Hunter Wilds finally approaches, veteran dev says making a new monster "takes about one year," and that's not counting "small, detailed adjustments"
News "Though this can jump up significantly in the case of certain special monsters."
The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles strategy game kills Splinter and Shredder before a moment of gameplay happens, all so it can tell its own story
News Cowabunga?
WoW veteran says the MMO's devs had to make "ten times the amount of quests" as originally planned to sate playtesters, and now the game has 38,000 of them
News "The answer, of course, was to simply add more."
OG FF7 director says thanks to the remake "half of Final Fantasy 7 [...] is now owned by the fans"
News "It belongs to them as well as us"
Monster Hunter Wilds director explains balancing plans: "Some weapons, like the long sword and bow, are too easy to use and overpowered"
News "Our policy is to increase the strength of weak weapons"
World of Warcraft devs used to joke about the MMO making $1 million per month - just months before it smashed through $15 million in monthly revenue
News "We had a good laugh about that one, but we all kind of thought maybe it could do that for real."
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director says he rejects the idea of design by committee: "If there are too many people inputting, [...] the work can easily lose its character."
News "I am a strong believe in the idea that too many cooks spoil the broth"
Dev of one of our favorite strategy games of the year says he's unbelievably lucky to be in his position
News "I'm just in the luckiest possible position in the games industry, and that's getting rarer and rarer"
Civ 7 director thought the new Ages system might not work, but says it does fix the "number-one issue" - players not getting to the end of their games
News "I'm getting so many more reports of people playing all the way to finishing a game"
The Witcher 4 dev wastes no time jumping into the new book after its Polish release
News "Today is the day of celebration for everyone who loves The Witcher."
Borderlands 3 creative director says he's borrowing from Borderlands' character designs for his new co-op shooter
News "I believe in giving people heroes that have some backstory."
Avowed dev with credits on RPGs dating back 25 years says this is the most confident he's ever been in a game at this point
News "I'm just overjoyed at how well everything's come together"
Witcher 4 dev not sure if CDPR will take a Baldur's Gate 3-style PC-first release
News "I don't think this is a strategy we want to adopt right now."
After awards haul, Helldivers 2 devs lament the "dire state" of the games industry: "We need to be there to help each other"
News "The games industry is in turmoil"
