Stardew Valley fans, there's been an update on the developer's highly awaited next game, Haunted Chocolatier. But before you get too excited, remember these things take a SquidFest's worth of work to create. The farming/role-playing game's designer, Eric Barone, who works under under the alias ConcernedApe, published a blog post on Wednesday checking in about Haunted Chocolatier's development and reminding fans that it takes time to make a game like this from scratch -- and notably solo. Barone said he'd been working on the recently released Stardew Valley 1.6 update, originally announced in April 2023, which meant he had to bench Haunted Chocolatier for a moment as he added new content and fixed bugs. But the developer said he has "created a'vertical slice' of Haunted Chocolatier, essentially a skeleton of the game with most (not all) of its bones in place."

In 2005 I received a copy of World of Warcraft for my birthday. The game clocked in at 3 gigabytes--a behemoth by the standards of the early 2000s, so big that it had to be distributed across four different CDs. I installed those discs onto our creaking, overworked family PC and, hours later, created my first avatar: a humble dwarf paladin named Pumaras, who set off to explore a realm he would soon call home. World of Warcraft was a singular experience, and completely unlike the lonesome corridors of Halo or Call of Duty. Millions of living, breathing human beings logged on to the game at the same time.

Nintendo Black Friday deals are now live, and they're worth paying attention to if you want to pick up some big games on sale. In addition to video games, you can pick up a few Nintendo Switch bundles on sale as well, including options for the standard Switch, the OLED model and the Switch Lite. The deals are available at retailers like Best Buy, Target and Walmart. Arguably the jewel in Black Friday's crown is a big discount on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Normally 70, Nintendo has the game for 50, but we're seeing even steeper price drops at GameStop ( 45), Target ( 40) and Best Buy ( 40) at the moment.

Nintendo Black Friday deals are now live, and they're worth paying attention to if you want to pick up some big games on sale. In addition to video games, you can pick up a few Nintendo Switch bundles on sale as well, including options for the standard Switch, the OLED model and the Switch Lite. The deals are available at retailers like Best Buy and Target, and of course, direct from Nintendo. Perhaps the jewel in Black Friday's crown is a big discount on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Normally 70, Nintendo has the game for 50, but we're seeing even steeper price drops at GameStop ( 45), Target ( 40) and Best Buy ( 40) at the moment.

At a wide desk in a bedroom somewhere sits a figure, her back facing the camera, supported by an ergonomic white office chair. Her head is bracketed by puffy, white noise-cancelling headphones. Her wrists rest on a foam cloud as she plays a pixelated farm-simulation video game called Stardew Valley on a handheld Nintendo Switch. She is surrounded by screens. On the wall, lights the shape of geometric tiles cast a soft glow in changing colors according to whatever is onscreen.

Much like Christmas is a lot less enjoyable for the person who has to organise all the presents and cook the dinner, game-of-the-year season is rather intimidating for the people who have to put together the shortlists. Every November, I tot up all of the year's acclaimed games I've yet to play, the underground recommendations I've yet to follow up on and the games I loved back in February but forgot about. I feel a mounting panic. And when all of the year-end lists come out, I inevitably find I've missed something anyway. The Game Awards have just announced the nominations for this year's ceremony, taking place on 12 December in Los Angeles.

A Minecraft Movie has dropped its first full-length trailer today, expanding on the blocky world hinted at by the teaser released in September. While the game Minecraft gives players only the barest sense of direction, there will be a traditional story driving A Minecraft Movie. Jack Black provides a voiceover about how his character, Minecraft mascot and stock avatar Steve, was drawn to the mines as a child and discovered the Overworld. He teams up with four other people, seemingly from the real world we know, to protect the Overworld from "dark forces" with their inventiveness and creativity. This all sounds like pretty standard fare for a video game movie -- rag-tag group of misfits band together and learn the power of friendship.

Dust off your pickaxe because Mojang Studios and Merlin Entertainments are building a new series of theme park style attractions called "Adventures Made Real" that will bring the world of Minecraft to life. Merlin Entertainments will create two permanent Minecraft theme park locations including one in the US and another in the UK with a plan to open them between 2026 and 20277. The new Minecraft parks will have interactive attractions from the top-selling video game, along with all the usual experiences like rides, gift shops and restaurants and plans to "expand these experiences to other destinations globally," according to Merlin's statement. Of course, the parks will also involve some level of digital perks. It's not clear what they'll involve specifically, but Merlin claims the parks will include "touchpoints that will allow guests to unlock exclusive in-game content to continue their gaming journey."

There's been a veritable avalanche of great games in 2024, and the big hitters are now up for the gold. The nominations for The Game Awards were announced on Monday evening, with Game of the Year nominees Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Balatro, Black Myth: Wukong, Astro Bot, Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, and Metaphor: ReFantazio dominating the list. Indie games like Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Neva, Indika, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Manor Lords, Pacific Drive, and more are all up for awards, and major releases like Helldivers 2, Silent Hill 2, Star Wars Outlaws, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 are up for awards too -- though not Game of the Year. And for TV fans, Arcane, Fallout, Knuckles, Like a Dragon: Yakuza, and Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft are all nominated for Best Adaptation. Notably, one of the biggest snubs was BioWare's excellent Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which only landed one nomination this year for Innovation in Accessibility.

The global gaming phenomenon Minecraft is coming to the real world for the first time in a global deal to open themed rides, attractions, hotel rooms and retail outlets, starting with the UK and US. Minecraft has struck a deal with UK-headquartered Merlin Entertainments – Europe's largest theme park operator and the second biggest globally after Disney – which runs more than 135 attractions in 23 countries including Alton Towers, Legoland, Sea Life, Madame Tussauds and the London Eye. Under the terms of the deal, Merlin will invest more than 85m ( 110m) in the first two attractions. They are due to open in the UK and the US in 2026 and 2027, in either an existing theme park or as new city centre attractions. Over the longer term the two companies plan to expand the strategic partnership, which is called "Adventures Made Real", to other countries and territories.